UK looks more like Lapland after widespread snow – and there’s more to come
Snowy scenes like this in England never used to be much to write home about, with children building snowmen every winter.
But winters have been getting warmer and wetter, and big dumps of snow spaced further between over the past decades.
Today saw plenty of the white stuff, however, with even London seeing some flurries in the morning rush hour.
Elsewhere, there were proper piles of it, sprinkling roofs like icing sugar on a cake (unless anyone was up to no good), making perfect slides for tobogganing, or on a less welcome note, causing widespread travel disruption.
Nottingham saw 12cm, while Leek in Staffordshire and Powys in Wales saw 8cam and 9am respectively.
It’s not over, either, with the Met Office forecasting more snow and ice in places.
Weather warnings remain in place in the east coast, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and will not lift until between midnight and 12pm tomorrow depending on the area.
The Met Office said wintry showers would be ‘skirting the coasts and more widely across northern Scotland’ with ‘rain and sleet’ in places across the south.
Here’s how the first snow of winter looked today.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued the first amber cold weather health alert of the season, warning conditions could be dangerous for vulnerable people, including the elderly.
It covers the east and north of England, the Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber, while yellow alerts are in place for the South East, South West and London, all lasting until 6pm on Saturday.
National Rail warned the cold climate would affect various routes on northern train services until at least 2pm today.
Met Office Chief Meteorologist Neil Armstrong said: ‘With cold Arctic air firmly in place over the UK, continued winter hazards are likely through much of this week, with further updates to warnings likely in the coming days.
‘The current focus for upcoming snow and ice risk is from later on Tuesday and overnight into Wednesday, with snow showers likely moving in off windward coasts in the north and east, as well as drifting into parts of Northern Ireland and Wales.
‘In excess of 10cm of snow is possible over higher ground within the warning areas, with 1-2cm possibly settling at lower levels, which has the potential to lead to some travel disruption. Ice is an additional hazard and is likely to form quickly on untreated surfaces.’
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