WHITE WHITBY
Four die on roads across Britain as temperatures plunge and heavy snowfall makes driving treacherous
The seaside town of Whitby in North Yorkshire is covered in a blanket of snow as Britain shivers in a Siberian cold spell. The bitterly cold temperatures look set to continue for the rest of the week. Parts of the country could see their coldest spell since 1991.
FREEZING TEMPERATURES and heavy snowfall swept Britain yesterday as four people died on the roads, while the nation is expected to remain in the grasp of the wintry blast throughout the rest of the week.
Treacherous driving conditions caused major travel disruption and the bitterly cold temperatures led to hundreds of schools being closed – including more than 50 in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Three people were killed in a crash in Lincolnshire and another man died after a collision in Cambridgeshire yesterday morning.
Forecasters yesterday predicted between two and four inches of snow are expected to fall today for most areas of the UK, with up to 15 inches possible for higher ground in Scotland.
Met Office meteorologist Emma Sillitoe said: “There will also be further disruption throughout the day as these showers become widespread across the country.”
Conditions are not likely to improve for several days, with forecasters warning that snow will continue well into the week. Retailers said they had not seen widespread panic buying, after some shoppers reported supermarkets were busier than usual.
An amber snow warning was expected to remain in place for the North East and Scotland from 6am today through until noon tomorrow, with up to 15 inches of snow expected to fall during that period.
Forecaster Frank Saunders said parts of the country could see their “coldest spell of weather since at least 2013, and possibly since 1991”.
The fatal crash in Lincolnshire which yesterday claimed the lives of three women when a car was involved in a crash with a lorry happened at about 6.15am on the A15 near Baston, while a three-car collision claimed the life of a man on the A47 near Peterborough.
There were 20 collisions within three hours on Lincolnshire’s roads, including a school bus with 45 pupils on board, police said. The children were unharmed after their bus collided with a car and veered off the road near Deeping St James.
Many schools across the
Parts of the country could see the coldest weather since at least 2013. Weather forecaster Frank Saunders.
country were shut, including 29 schools closed in North Yorkshire, 22 in West Yorkshire and two in Bridlington. Farnborough in Hampshire saw the lowest overnight temperature of Monday night, of minus 8.9C.
British Airways has cancelled dozens of flights from Heathrow Airport, while easyJet warned disruption to its flights was expected.
It is predicted that temperatures could plummet to minus 15C where there is snow on the ground, rivalling temperatures forecast for parts of northern Norway and Iceland.
Elsewhere in Europe, at least eight people died in freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. Poland’s police said five people died as a result of temperatures which dropped as low as minus 22C – bringing the number of deaths from hypothermia in the country to 58 this winter. Meanwhile, three deaths were reported in Romania as blizzards battered the country.