New menace after Dennis
A JET of cold air from Greenland 500 miles wide is set to bring snow and ice to Britain from Tuesday.
The cold spell, which has been dubbed “winter’s sting in the tail”, will follow up to two inches of rain in northern England tomorrow, with wind gusting up to 75 miles an hour.
It comes after a third consecutive weekend of stormy weather brought further flooding misery to communities in the Yorkshire Dales and thewelsh borders yesterday.
The RAC was braced for 5,000 call-outs today and 8,000 tomorrow.
Simon Williams, a spokesman for the breakdown rescue service, said: “Monday’s storm is worse timing than Ciara and Dennis, as the roads will be much busier. The worst effects of the previous storms were at the weekend when people can stay home.”
The Met Office said the nationwide cold spell on Tuesday and Wednesday will have daytime highs of 2C to 7C, (35-44F) which for most will feel like -1C to 3C in the windchill.
It has predicted a 60 per cent chance of snow in London and the west of England on Tuesday night.
The Met Office said an inch of snow is due in the North on higher ground, with the -4C temperatures overnight turning surface water to ice. More downpours and gales are forecast from Thursday into next weekend. This month is set to be one of the wettest since records began 254 years ago in 1766, with 106mm of rain, more than double the monthly average, having fallen in England and Wales, according to Met Office figures.
The Environment Agency had 90 flood warnings in place yesterday, as well as 153 flood alerts, covering areas from Wiltshire to Cumbria. Two severe flood warnings, meaning an imminent danger to life, remain in force for the River Lugg at Hampton Bishop, near Hereford.
Flooding was reported across the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales on Friday night with the village of Horton-inribblesdale cut off by rising water. Firefighters rescued four people from a stranded vehicle in Skipton and helped with flooded properties in the village of Giggleswick.
The A65 between Gargrave to Settle was impassible due to flooding on Friday night and there were problems on the same road between Ilkley and Burley yesterday morning.
Motorists were also warned to avoid Billams Bridge in Otley yesterday.
Brian Gaze, a forecaster for Weather Outlook, said: “Winter threatens a sting in the tail with cold air from Greenland pushing the snow risk the furthest south it’s been all winter.”
Met Office forecaster Luke Miall added: “Snow showers could happen anywhere, with western areas at highest risk.
“There are ice risks on Tuesday and Wednesday nights with damp surfaces and -4C (24F) lows in the North and 0C (32F) in the South.
“It then turns wet and windy from Thursday into the weekend.”
Meanwhile, a crocodile was spotted in the Severn yesterday ... but it turned out to be plastic.