FREEZING FRIDAY
Snow and ice hit UK ... but did they really need to cancel 85 flights?
SNOWSTORMS brought chaos to roads and airports yesterday as an icy blast blew in from Canada – with promises of more to come today.
More than 80 flights were cancelled before the first snowflake had fallen, while roads were brought to a standstill as snow flurries and cold winds froze the nation.
Meanwhile, a seaside town was being evacuated last night as gale-force winds and huge waves were forecast to cause flooding havoc on the East Coast overnight.
The Met Office described the freeze as a ‘real taste of winter’ and said up to eight inches of snow could fall as much of the country was put under weather warnings.
The freezing conditions swept in from northern Canada and temperatures were expected to plummet as low as -4C (25F) overnight with more snow on the way.
Parts of the North and Scotland woke up to a blanket of deep snow yesterday before the flurry moved South.
Up to 2cm (0.8in) fell in London in the evening rush hour, causing tailbacks and disruption across the city. Photographs showed people enjoying the white stuff, although elsewhere cars crashed on treacherous roads and a pile-up on the M62 near the Pennines caused ten-mile tailbacks.
Heathrow cancelled 80 flights ahead of last
‘Accidents on treacherous roads’
night’s snowfall, and Gatwick Airport cut five while warning more could be axed or delayed. Some passengers had to wait on planes for up to four hours at Gatwick before taking off.
Snow and ice were expected to hit much of the country again this morning, with car journey times expected to be up to a third longer. The Met Office said the big freeze was caused by a polar air mass spreading across the UK. Met Office forecaster Emma Sharples said last night: ‘The system working its way across the South will have cleared out of the way, leaving some snow and icy patches as we go through Friday morning.’
The extreme weather followed a wet and windy day on Wednesday for Scotland and the North of England that left homes without power.
The temperature dipped dramatically in North Wales last night and roads became treacherous, with accidents throughout the region. Ten cars and a bus got stuck on the A470 on a pass near Dinas Mawddwy, south of Dolgellau.
In Flintshire several cars were in a pile up on the A5104 at Treuddyn, near Mold, but police said no one was hurt. A gust of 93mph was recorded at High Bradfield in South Yorkshire.
Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy was among those caught up in the chaos. He took to Twitter to thank a gritter driver who helped tow his car out of a snow bank in Scotland after he hit a patch of black ice. He wrote: ‘ Thankfully no harm to me or car but be careful folks!’ Last night transport union bosses added to fears that the severe weather would cause chaos for national rail services and London’s underground after they claimed their staff would be unable to cope with the additional stress caused by snow and rain.
Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, claimed cutbacks would ‘guarantee’ disruption.
Heathrow last night defended its decision to cancel flights before snow began to fall across the UK. It said it had decided to cancel a ‘small portion’ of flights to introduce an element of slack into the system so that it could cope as conditions worsened.
Officials added that the decision had been taken in agreement with air carriers in order to provide more time for flights to land and take off.