'Nowhere left to put snow' – and today it's Scotland's turn

Published on Monday 2 February 2009 21:07

EASTERN Scotland was braced for further blizzards today as forecasters issued a severe weather warning of heavy snow blasting in from Europe.

Up to 8in is expected to fall in parts of the North-east, with twice that on higher ground.

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The warning followed the worst white-out conditions across parts of England for 18 years, which closed airports and led to chaos on roads yesterday.

Heavy snow also closed Edinburgh airport for just over an hour last night, with flights diverted to Glasgow. It reopened at 6:37pm. BAA Scotland said: "The airfield operations team worked hard to clear the runway, which is now open to both inbound and outbound flights."

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Heavy snow closed two roads in north-east Scotland, police said. The A93 Braemar to Spittal of Glenshee road and B974 Banchory to Fettercairn road were both shut.

Conditions on other roads in the area were treacherous and drivers were urged to think carefully before getting behind the wheel. Traffic Scotland warned of heavy snow causing danger on routes across Scotland.

On Snowdon in north Wales, two climbers were killed, and in Worcestershire a teenage boy was treated for hypothermia after falling into a freezing lake.

In Fife, two members of an ambulance crew responding to an emergency call were taken to hospital after their vehicle overturned in snow near Kelty.

Both runways at Heathrow airport were closed for a time. A Cyprus Airways plane with 104 passengers on board slid off a taxiway on to grass after arriving from Larnaca.

Nearly 800 flights at the airport were cancelled, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded. They included all British Airways and Bmi services to and from Scotland. BAA, which runs the airport, said it was running out of places to put snow cleared from the runways.

BA warned the disruption would continue today.

Several long-haul flights into Heath-row were diverted to Scottish airports, including six to Prestwick, which included jumbo jets from Beijing, Tokyo and San Francisco.

There was also disruption at airports including Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Southampton, Newcastle and Leeds-Bradford, several of which had to close their runways. More than 150 flights at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports were cancelled as a result.

London was hit badly, with all buses cancelled because they could not leave depots safely, and trains and Tubes badly hit. TomTom, the satellite navigation firm, said a traffic jam stretched for nearly 54 miles on the M25 between Watford, north-west of London, and Reigate, south of the city.

Courts, West End shows and even some parks had to close.

Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, said the city was not equipped to deal with such unusually heavy snow. He said: "This is the kind of snow we haven't seen in London in decades. We don't have the snow-ploughs we would need to be sure of getting the roads free."

There were estimates the disruption could cost the British economy 1.2 billion, with the London Chamber of Commerce estimating a loss to the city of 48 million.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research said people would spend extra on heating and clothing, and damage would push up spending on repairs.

Among the largest snowfalls was that at Epsom in Surrey, which had 1ft.

The climbers killed on Snowdon were believed to be brothers in their 30s, who fell about 1,000ft on the mountain's west side at Clogwyn Coch.

The Met Office issued a severe weather warning of heavy snow for today in Lothian and the Borders, south-west Scotland, Fife, Central, Tayside and Grampian.

It added: "There is a high risk of a severe weather event affecting parts of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and eastern Scotland during Tuesday.

"Periods of snow are expected through the day, with heavy falls likely in places. Although marked variations will occur from place to place, 2-4in is likely, especially over higher ground."

Dozens of schools will be closed today, including all 74 in the Borders.

The Met Office said the last such widespread snow was in February 1991, when much of Britain was covered with more than 4in. Snow also hit France, with Paris blanketed, bringing airports, railways and roads to a halt.

Meanwhile, Carol Vorderman, the ex-Countdown maths supremo now working with the Tories to improve numeracy, claimed enough snow fell in Britain yesterday for everyone in the country to make a quarter of a million snowballs each.

FACTS

A WEATHER front being pushed unusually far south to meet cold air from the east has produced the heavy snowfall.

The Met Office said the jet stream – high-level winds that drive our weather – was further south than normal, pushing an area of low pressure south over France. This was then chilled by the easterly cold air.

The jet stream is normally further north at this time of year, keeping significant snowfall to northern Scotland. Likewise, cold east winds from Europe are normally associated with high pressure around Britain in the winter, producing chilly but dry conditions.

The more southerly position of the jet stream also caused flooding last summer. It is thought the movement in the jet stream might be linked to the polar icecaps being at a lower temperature.

The Met Office said: "High pressure over Scandinavia will maintain the strong, cold, easterly flow over the UK.

"Troughs embedded in the flow move rapidly westwards, while a warm front over central France/Germany will swing north-west towards the UK."