Articles Tagged "Front Page News"

BRITAIN ground to an icy halt yesterday as the nation’s gritters again failed to keep roads clear – costing the economy billions.

The big freeze saw more than half of Britons arrive late for work, and millions more stayed at home as road, rail and air networks were paralysed.

With more than 10 inches of snow in some parts and a further eight inches set to fall overnight, forecasters are predicting the worst winter for 100 years. Motoring organisations criticised the inability to get the nation moving and experts estimated the chaos could cost £1.2billion a day.

The sorry picture on the roads was replicated across the rail network and Gatwick and Edinburgh airports also remained closed with hundreds of flights cancelled.

The catastrophic failure of the authorities to deal with a snow fall that had been widely and accurately forecast came after Transport Secretary Philip Hammond promised last week that there was a “strategic stockpile” of grit.

Click source to read FULL report from Mark Reynolds

Updated below with comments by Piers Corbyn

SIBERIAN temperatures will blast Scotland this week with the mercury set to plunge to a low of minus 20ºC (minus 4ºF).

Forecasters said the "brutal" cold snap gripping the country was about to get worse, with blizzards bringing snowdrifts of more than 16ins (40cm) in some areas.

School closures, flight delays and travel chaos lie ahead with roads and rail lines expected to be made impassable by snow and ice.

The coldest place in Scotland overnight on Saturday was Loch Glascarnoch, in the Highlands, at minus 15.3C.

Michael Dukes, the forecast manager with MeteoGroup, said the picture across Scotland was "horrendous". He added:

"This is one of the most severe November cold spells we've ever had."

The cold snap was welcomed by skiers, with around 1,500 yesterday taking to the slopes at CairnGorm Mountain resort near Aviemore. However the Lecht snow centre at Strathdon had to close after roads were blocked by drifting snow.

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BRITAIN faces 15 days of winter chaos as gale-force winds and blizzards bring bitterly cold temperatures.

Ten inches of snow is predicted to fall on higher ground in the North today.

Many areas will struggle to get above freezing over the rest of the weekend.Met Office forecaster Dave Britton said: “No part of the country is immune over the next few days.”

Severe weather warnings are in place for London and the Midlands next week. North-easterly gale-force winds threaten blizzards from Tuesday. Experts say the cold snap could last 15 days as ­biting North Sea winds plunge temperatures to -6C (21F).

There were warnings of “very dangerous” driving conditions as snow froze or melted and re-froze.

Some councils complained that grit firms had not delivered supplies in time for the winter blast.

Authorities revealed they were still waiting for grit ordered as long ago as last winter – when there were promises that there would be enough to go round if Britain froze up this year.

BRITAIN will have a white Christmas, with Arctic blizzards bringing up to eight inches of snow.

Snow will blanket London, the South-east, Scotland, the North and eastern England as bitterly cold winds roar in, weathermen warned yesterday. Snowfalls on Christmas Day are now a “foregone conclusion”.

“It will be nightmarish – no one will escape a return of the cold weather,” said Jonathan Powell, senior forecaster for Positive Weather Solutions.

Unlike the snowfalls earlier in the month which crippled large parts of the country, the next wintry blast will also see gale-force 50mph winds blowing directly from the North Pole. These will bring the risk of giant snow drifts in some regions.

The Met Office has severe weather warnings in place for the whole of the UK this week.

They increase to high risk alerts for Thursday and Friday in the North, West and South-west.

Forecaster Helen Chivers said: “It doesn’t look good. There really is a severe weather front moving very quickly across the country, starting in the North and moving south on Thursday. By Thursday night the whole of the country will freeze solid, with snow and rain turning to ice really quickly.