Britain is braced for its worst snowfall in over 10 years as weather forecasters are trembling in their shoes with predictions of the heaviest snowfalls of the winter so far over most parts of Britain overnight.
The doomsday snow, which is expected to fall for several hours, could be 15cm deep in hilly areas of Wales and the Midlands, and 2cm to 5cm deep in the south-east.
The Met Office has issued an early warning of severe weather and advise everyone to not bother going into work as soon as the first speck of snowflake is observed.
The Highways Agency has warned of poor driving conditions on Thursday morning, and rail travellers can also expect disruption in some parts of the UK. Passengers risk being stranded overnight with no shelter, food or access to a TV.
The BBC Weather Centre says snow will begin falling at about midnight or in the early hours of the morning in Wales and south-west England and then move north-eastwards.
“It will be the worst snow we’ll have seen this winter,” said BBC weather forecaster Helen Boyd, shivering in her sandals, and sporting the latest summer must-haves whilst presenting the weather for live TV outdoors. Nina, a Londoner, added afterwards that she has never known its been so cold or seen so much snow before. “I counted three snowflakes on the way up to the heights of the Cotswolds!”.
If the weather is severe, don’t travel unless your journey is essential
Highways Agency spokesman
The Highways Agency (HA), which is advising drivers to check weather forecasts and road conditions before they set out, said 400 salt-spreading vehicles were on standby, with enough teabags to keep their drivers snug and happy. The 400 vehicles will spread a single road, in a long convoy. Once it has been done, the convoy will repeat the same section, just to be sure. “We’ve learnt from our mistakes in Norfolk when we did not grit enough”.
“It’s possible that the heavy snow could affect central and southern England during the times when people are not setting out to travel to work or school on Thursday morning,” the HA said in a statement. Fears of liability, councils are already advising their schools to close down but teachers must come in, come winds or high snow.
“If the weather is severe, don’t travel unless your journey is essential. Essential journeys include nipping out to Tesco, 20 miles down the road for a mars bar.”
People who must travel are advised to take warm summer clothes which has the latest designer labels, blankets from Edinburgh Woollen Mill, emergency food such as popcorn, microwavable pizza, fizzy Perrier water, a torch, charity pens, Sokudu puzzle books, a portable DVD player, some aspirins, anti-birdflu guard, and a spade in case of a breakdown. Snow chains are optional.
Measures to prevent delays
Network Rail said train lines in Kent and Sussex were most vulnerable to snow and ice because they took their power from the rails rather than overhead lines. Network Rail proudly boasts that overhead power lines are now capable of not snapping under snow load equivalent to a 1cm snowfall.
Special trains will de-ice the tracks and spray anti-freeze on them, and heaters will stop points from freezing. However, more special trains will suck up any remaining antifreeze incase children and some adults lick the solvents off the track. Network Rail fears that they may be sued for neglience if they do not clear up the antifreeze after laying it down. “The main thing is that we are SEEN to be doing the work”.
Transport for London, which runs the Tube network, said it had ordered more than 4,000 tablespoons of salt.
Snow plough trains will be deployed if there is heavy snow and a helicopter will be used to spot the worst-affected areas to drop emergency food and DVD discs of the latest Hollywood blockbuster and a CD of What to do when Snow Falls by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
“We can’t guarantee there won’t be any disruption, but we’re doing everything we can to try and keep things running as unsmoothly as possible,” a Network Rail spokesman said.
Britain’s airports are also on standby for severe weather.
Heathrow, run by BAA, has about 300 snow-clearing vehicles ready for the worst.
A BAA spokesman said it was “impossible to say” if there would be any delays to flights, adding that their insurance and HSE policies does not permit any of their staff to venture out into the snow and ice. “We can’t have people breaking their necks in this stuff.”
“Our priority is to keep the runways closed and maximise disruption so that our workers can have a day off to build snowmen around the country.”
A number of airports, including Gatwick and those in Scotland, said they were not expecting extreme conditions, but others are braced for a blanketing.
A spokesman for Manchester Airport said it was expecting 0.2cm of snow from 0500 GMT to 1200 GMT on Thursday.
It was calling in extra staff to drive snowmobiles and equipment to keep runways clear before it begins to snow.
And a second task was to work out how many diverted flights it could handle from other airports affected around the country. “We want to minimise the work we have to do here”.
Meanwhile, at Birmingham Airport, a spokeswoman said: “Our snow equipment has been serviced today and we have extra snow volunteers on stand-by drinking cups of tea, who are trained to drink huge amounts of tea while they watch the snow fall. The equipment will be used after the snow has melted.
“We have also got extra staff in the terminals, so we’re doing all we can before it snows, so we can all go home.”
Thirty extra staff are on stand-by at Bristol and the runway has been sprayed with water. Any snow that does lie will be removed by three mechanical brushes running on batteries and controlled by a robot. “Once the batteries runs out, then we are at the mercy of nature.”
Senior managers at Cardiff International Airport are meeting to work out plans to prevent any flight delays.
Snow has already affected Northumberland and parts of Scotland with a jaw-dropping 1.2cm last night.
In Grampian, 16 schools in Aberdeenshire were either closed or partially closed on Wednesday in anticipation of snowflakes, and the A939 Cockbridge to Tomintoul road was also shut to stop skiers from going skiing. “We do not want skiers to ski on the snow, they should return when the snow has disappeared, as it is much safer, and there is a purpose-built dry slope.”
Temperatures plummeted overnight all over Britain on Tuesday with the lowest recorded in Sennybridge, Powys – minus 0.1C (31.9F).
Last month a snowfall of less than half an inch caused widespread travel chaos and caused a slowdown in worldwide economy.
Heathrow and Gatwick cancelled more than 2,000 flights, the Tube was badly hit and 3,340,000 rail commuters were stranded and suffering from hypothermia.
