Exact date Britain’s -13C chill set to end – after Brits were left wading through knee-deep snow

THE exact date that Britain’s -13°C chill is set to end has been revealed by the Met Office today.

The forecaster issued fresh weather warnings as wintry conditions caused travel disruption and school closures across the country.

PASnow covers Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales National Park[/caption]

MET OfficeA warning for snow in southern England on Wednesday from 9am until 11.59pm[/caption]

PAPeople walk in the snow near Allenheads in the Pennines in Northumberland[/caption]

A warning for snow and ice is in place across most of south-west England and Wales, and parts of north-west England and the West Midlands, for between 5pm on Monday until 10am on Tuesday.

The same warning is in place for western and northern parts of Scotland for between 4pm on Monday until midday on Tuesday, and in Northern Ireland between 3pm on Monday until 11am on Tuesday.

There is a separate warning for snow in southern England on Wednesday from 9am until 11.59pm.

Met Office chief meteorologist Frank Saunders said: “Hail, sleet or snow showers are expected to affect parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, spreading to Wales and parts of north-west England this evening, before moving into part of south-west England, the Midlands and southern England during the early hours of Tuesday.

“Rain or hail is more likely towards some western coasts.

“Icy stretches which develop overnight as a result of these showers, or the recent wet conditions, could bring some disruption to travel.

“In addition to the ice, we could see snow accumulations of a few centimetres above 200 metres, with a chance of greater than 5cm above 200 metres in Wales.

“The heaviest snow showers may also produce temporary accumulations of 0-2cm at low levels.

“It is not possible to say exactly where this snow might fall, so it’s important that people are prepared.”

Sunday night was the UK’s coldest of the winter so far, with a temperature of -13.3°C recorded in Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands, between Ullapool and Inverness.

It comes as many commuters suffered travel disruption on Monday morning with major roads closed and railway lines blocked.

Manchester Airport’s runways were closed early on Monday morning because of heavy snow but later reopened.

At 1pm, the Environment Agency had 165 flood warnings and 321 flood alerts active across England.

At the same time, National Resources Wales had two flood warnings and 20 flood alerts in place.

MET OfficeSunday night was the UK’s coldest of the winter so far[/caption]

Bav MediaFlooding in the village of Creeton, Lincolnshire, today[/caption]

PAA man clears snow in Catton, Northumberland[/caption]

PAA snow plough and gritting lorry clears snow at Ribblehead in North Yorkshire[/caption]

Tens of thousands of journeys on the M25 in Surrey have been delayed as the motorway is closed after a lorry crashed into the central reservation.

This is affecting many people travelling to Gatwick airport.

The closure is expected to remain in place until at least 3pm while the road is resurfaced.

Several stretches of A-roads across England are also closed because of severe weather.

These include the A66 in Cumbria and the A628 Woodhead Pass in South Yorkshire/Derbyshire.

The A46 in Warwickshire is also closed because of a crash.

National Highways said “a car is reported to have aquaplaned due to flooding in the area”.

Severe weather is also causing widespread disruption on the railway network.

Flooding has forced the closure of all railway lines between Derby and both Nottingham and East Midlands Parkway.

This is affecting CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway services.

The operators are also disrupted by flooding closing all lines between Peterborough and Leicester.

Great Western Railway said its trains between Bristol Parkway and Gloucester were running at a reduced speed because of “heavy rain flooding the railway”.

TransPennine Express said severe weather was causing the same issue for its services between Barnetby and Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire.

Flooding means Transport for Wales services between Manchester and North Wales are only able to operate between Warrington Bank Quay and Manchester.

Manchester Airport said at 7.15am that its two runways had reopened after reporting at 6.30am that they were closed because of “heavy snow”.

Three departures for Monday have been cancelled and a number of other flights were delayed.

Hundreds of schools were closed on Monday in areas including Lancashire, Yorkshire and north-east Scotland.

PAA view of flood waters around the Little Venice caravan park in Yalding, Kent[/caption]

AlamyFloodwater hits the fairground town of Stourport-on-Severn[/caption]

PAWeather warnings remain in force across much of the UK on Monday[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]