yes its snowed again and the country,s come to a standstill still you can keep warm with grumps eh ??
MUCH of Britain woke up to its heaviest snowfalls for 18 years today.
experts predicted ten inches in some areas by tonight, with more than a foot in the NORTH by tomorrow.
Temperatures plunged to -2°C (28°F) last night as Siberian winds swept in, with the SOUTH EAST and PENNINES bearing the brunt.
And forecasters warned thermometers could drop to as low as -5°C (19°F) later in the week.
Motoring groups warned drivers to avoid unnecessary trips with the winds tipped to hit 35mph.
London and large parts of East and South East England got a taste of the whiteout as four and a half inches fell overnight.
London Transport suspended its bus services because of dangerous conditions on the roads.
Both runways at HEATHROW AIRPORT are currently closed.
It follows a plane sliding on to the grass at Heathrow, the country’s biggest airport, which was blanketed in snow. All flights from there have now been cancelled until at least 5pm.
A British Airports Authority spokeswoman said a Cyprus Air aircraft was taxiing at Heathrow airport shortly after 8.30am when its front wheel “went on to the grass”.
No one was injured in the incident, which did not happen on a runway, but passengers were still on board and airport officials were working out a way to get them off, she said.
Travellers at STANSTED AIRPORT in Essex have been warned to expect severe delays.
Runways at GATWICK and LONDON CITY airports were temporarily closed for de-icing last night. Gatwick is open, but there have been significant delays and cancellations, and London City is still closed.
Passengers flying out of NEWCASTLE AIRPORT were also affected by the freezing weather conditions, with flights being delayed and cancelled.
A snow shower forced the temporary closure of the runway at BIRMINGHAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, a spokeswoman said.
Flights at LUTON AIRPORT were suspended this morning as snow brought runways to a halt.
An airport spokeswoman said there had been 15 departure cancellations and three arrival flights, while other flights were diverted elsewhere.
A number of train services linking LONDON and the SOUTH COAST were also delayed or cancelled as snow drifted on to the tracks.
This morning, parts of the M25 were at a standstill and all London Underground lines except for the Central and Victoria lines were suspended or part suspended.
Hundreds of schools across the country have been forced to close – with more than 100,000 parents told their kids were off school by text.
Schools in southern England were among the worst affected.
In ESSEX alone, around 400 schools were closed, about three quarters of the schools in the county.
NORTHUMBERLAND and DURHAM were also badly affected with a total of 63 schools in Co Durham and 54 in Northumberland shut all day, councils said.
A further three primary schools in SUNDERLAND were also shut for the day.
In CUMBRIA, 123 schools were closed, the county council said. Lancashire County Council said that 19 schools were shut, with the majority in EAST LANCASHIRE.
In GREATER MANCHESTER, two schools were closed in BURY, one in SALFORD and one in ROCHDALE as a result of the adverse weather conditions.
HAMPSHIRE County Council said most of its 540 schools were closed today due to the weather.
In OXFORDSHIRE, 31 schools were either closed for the day or due to close this afternoon, the county council said.
In SURREY, all schools were closed while more than 150 more were forced to shut in BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.
Crown courts have also been hit with the Old Bailey in London shut down and no courts sitting at SOUTHWARK because of “travel difficulties for staff, jurors, judges and defendants”.
ISLEWORTH, in west London, has also suspended “all sittings”, but HARROW “hoped to sit some courts”, while WOOD GREEN reported “business as normal as far as we know at the moment”.
Tom Defty, head of Forecasting Operations at MetService, said: “Parts of SOUTH EAST ENGLAND, including London, will see anywhere from 10-15cm of snow today, perhaps above 20cm over higher ground.
“Accompanied by strong winds, the worst of the snow will arrive in KENT before spreading NORTH and WEST to the rest of England during the afternoon."
Last night thousands of drivers were held up for hours as snow coated the M25 motorway. Parts of the M20 in KENT were also closed.
The Met Office’s Nigel Bolton warned: “It’s going to be the worst snow since 1991."
A spokeswoman for TomTom said the longest queue of the morning formed on the M25 between junction 19 at Watford and junction 8 at REIGATE.
At about 8.45am, motorists in a whopping 53.8 mile tailback faced a delay of about two and a half hours.
A snapshot survey by employment law firm Peninsula revealed more than one in five people took the day off work because of the snow.
One in four bosses said they would allow staff who made it into the office to leave early, according to the study.
The PENNINES took the brunt of the extreme weather. Cops closing the A66 route which links CUMBRIA and CO DURHAM for at least 24 hours.
But LONDON and the SOUTH EAST will be unusually badly affected too.
Last night blizzards were causing problems in CENTRAL LONDON. Rail services to KENT and the south coast were delayed or cancelled due to drifts on tracks.
Earlier locals ventured out for a walk on a snow-coated beach in Walberswick, SUFFOLK. This winter has been the coldest for 13 years. Bookies William Hill have cut the price of 2009 being the UK’s coldest on record from 12/1 to 8/1.
It's snow joke out there | The Sun |News
AAG
what is it with this country a bit of snow and the whole of the uk grinds to a total halt.
havent they heard of snow ploughs gritters and doing some physical work with a shovel ?
my goodnights when i was younger (by the way im 43 now 44 in may) when it snowed we still had to go to school the buses ran the trains ran and everyone just got on with it .
now the slightest covering of snow and its pandemonium everywhere how do you think the russians or even the canadians cope with it and they get it worse than us.
although there is one good thing thats come out of this and although i am actually a yorkshireman now living in nottinghamshire the good thing is that the southerners have got all the heavy snow this time
they dont know what snow is down south .
AAG
:(