TALE OF TWO BRITAINS
Snow in North – but South may be hotter than French Riviera!
A FINAL blast of winter brought yet more snow to the North yesterday – but in the South spring finally reared its head.
Parts of the South East and East Anglia could be milder than the French Riviera tomorrow. Nice is set to reach just 14C (57F) at the weekend, while forecasters predict 15C (59F) in sunny areas of the UK.
But as families in the South began venturing out without a scarf, the North remained on ice alert. The Met Office warned of up to 4in of snow on high ground in northern areas yesterday as a weather front crossed the country. Travelling conditions were particularly bad in Lancashire, Leeds and surrounding parts of West and North Yorkshire, Merseyside and North Wales.
Cars overturned or skidded into ditches, while a bus reportedly lost control on ice in Wakefield and hit a wall. There was relief, however, for villagers in Nenthead, Cumbria, who were left cut off by 20ft drifts after the Beast from the East last week – but who had no further snow yesterday. Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said most of the snow was now out of the way.
He added: ‘We could have the warmest temperatures on Saturday afternoon where the sun comes out in sheltered parts of East Anglia or the South East. Where there are breaks in the cloud, it will certainly be feeling quite spring-like, in contrast to the type of weather we have been having recently.’
While the country might be starting to thaw out, the big freeze is still have an effect on the roads, motoring experts warned yesterday.
Initial figures show pothole related breakdowns have already doubled following last week’s widespread snow and ice, according to the RAC. Freezing water in road cracks when the Beast from the East struck has broken up surfaces already plagued by potholes, the firm said.
RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘While the snow caused serious short-term travel disruption, motorists will sadly be suffering its consequences for months and possibly years to come.
‘Our roads were already in a poor state of repair before the extreme cold weather hit.’
The RAC received an average of 218 daily call-outs for pothole related issues – such as damaged shock absorbers and broken suspension springs – between Sunday and Tuesday. This is compared with 104 a day from February 1 to March 3.
Separate figures from the Department for Transport show 22 cyclists have been killed and 368 seriously injured where a poor or defective road surface was a factor since 2007.