Snow wreaks havoc in the UK

TEMPERATURES REACH -10.3oC

Snow storms from Siberia blasted Britain and Ireland yesterday with the worst weather since 1991 – trapping hundreds of motorists on roads overnight in Scotland and closing schools and airports.

With up to 32cm of snow and temperatures as low as -10.3oC in some areas, weather services in both Britain and Ireland issued their most severe red warnings which advise people to stay at home as travel is too dangerous.

“We have seen a lot of snow overnight, blizzards and drifting,” said Clare Nasir, a meteorologist at Britain’s weather services, known as the Met Office. “Communities have been cut off and roads have been blocked.”

The cold spell, dubbed “the Beast from the East”, has been caused by a jump in temperatures high over the Arctic which has weakened the jet stream that brings warm air in from the Atlantic to Ireland and Britain.

Hundreds of people were trapped in their cars overnight on the M80 between Glasgow and Edinburgh and were being advised to stay where they were until police could get to them.

“At its height, about 1 000 vehicles were at a standstill, [with] tailbacks for several miles north and south bound,” police in Scotland said. One doctor said staff were snowed in at a hospital near Glasgow.

Britain’s two busiest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, both warned that flights were to be cancelled yesterday. Flights and trains were cancelled across both Britain and Ireland.

London’s busiest railway station, Waterloo, showed more than half of trains cancelled or delayed at the height of rush hour. Paddington station was closed.

Southern Railways said a 2.4-metre icicle in a tunnel was delaying services between Gatwick and Brighton.

Britain’s Met Office warned that freezing rain was likely across southern England as Storm Emma pushes northwards from Portugal and France.

Freezing rain is likely across southern England as Storm Emma pushes northwards from Portugal and France. Britain’s Met Office