Winter bites back as snow showers put meteorological spring on ice
SNOW and sleet fell in parts of Yorkshire yesterday – heralding the start of a week of cold, wet and windy weather.
Wintry showers could fall overnight with temperatures down as low as minus two, leaving commuters facing an icy drive into work for commuters this morning.
A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place until 10am today.
A further yellow warning has been issued for Wednesday, with strong north-westerly winds forecast, leading to possible travel disruption.
This will be followed by further rain and strong winds on Thursday.
Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst said: “Meteorological spring has started cloudy, wet and windy and there’s no signs of it changing yet.
“It looks like the whole week will be wet and windy.
“There’s already a warning for Wednesday for strong winds, when there could be gusts of around 45 to 55mph, or perhaps higher.”
Police forces reported closed roads because of snow yesterday morning, while others said they had been called out to a number of fallen trees.
The Woodhead Pass in the Pennines was closed yesterday because of snow and a collision involving two HGVs, one of which had overturned, and a car, South Yorkshire Police said.
Cars also got into difficulty on a snowy B6255 near the Old Hill Inn in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Leicestershire Police said the fast lane of the M1 between junctions 22 and 23 was “unsafe” because of snowfall.
Devon and Cornwall Police tweeted yesterday: “Police receiving exceptional number of calls from right across Devon and Cornwall re fallen trees across roads this morning due to the high winds.
“Please reduce speed and be vigilant when driving.”