FREEZE TO EASE
HERE COMES THE SUN AS BEAST BOWS OUT WITH DANGEROUS ICE AND HIGH WINDS
WARMER weather has finally arrived after the Beast From The East 2 bowed out by bringing freezing rain, high winds and treacherous ice.
Chilly gusts of up to 80mph blasted parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland during yesterday’s parting shot.
But today we should see the back of the weather system from Ukraine that sent the mercury tumbling as low as minus 23C in Aberdeenshire.
‘Where temperatures were close to freezing in many places last week, we could expect to see 11C or 12C this week,’ the Met Office’s Neil Armstrong said. ‘There are still some wintry hazards to get through, with low temperatures, strong winds and further snow, especially in Northern Ireland.’
Large crowds turned out over the weekend to skate on canals in the Netherlands, but police said ice on the UK’s ponds and lakes was too thin.
The warning came as two 11-year-old girls were rescued from frozen water on the River Trent in Nottinghamshire.
One fell through the ice, while the other got stuck on an island.
Ch Insp Duncan Southall, of Nottinghamshire Police, said the girls were extremely lucky to have been unharmed as a passer-by spotted they were in trouble soon before darkness.
‘They could easily have drowned or suffered from hypothermia had it not been for the fact this person was able to call the police, fire and ambulance service colleagues,’ he said.
An ice hockey match was played on flooded fields in the Fens, near Ely in Cambridgeshire, while Rushmere Pond on London’s Wimbledon Common was also popular with skaters.
But people skating on the pond in Graves Park, Sheffield, were warned against it by police.
And David Stevenson, of Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, warned: ‘Running, walking or playing on frozen water can pose a huge risk of life. If you are out and about in these icy conditions, please ensure you stick to roads and pathways, and stay away from the water’s edge.’