Forecasters, February 04: The Met Office has issued more than a dozen severe weather warnings, spreading across much of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
BAA has cancelled one-third of Sunday’s flights from Heathrow Airport.
Heathrow’s chief operating officer Normand Boivin said the decision to introduce a revised flight schedule before snow has fallen was taken in an effort to minimse disruption to passengers.
A list of which flights will operate will be available on the Heathrow website from around 1800 GMT on Saturday.
Passengers are advised to contact their airline for more information.
Air travel has already been disrupted across the whole of Europe – flights from Rome and Amsterdam’s Schiphol airports to UK destinations, and Saturday morning flights to Amsterdam from Birmingham, Manchester and Heathrow were cancelled or delayed.
Due to the worsening conditions, British Airways says it will allow passengers booked on Sunday flights to re-book for flights between Monday and Thursday.
While there had been no specific cancellations confirmed so far, a spokeswoman said the airline would assess flying conditions throughout the weekend.
Sporting fixtures have been badly affected, with many football and race meetings cancelled.
The Met Office has issued amber “be prepared” snow warnings for Yorkshire and Humber, north-west England, north-east England, west and east Midlands, eastern England, south-west England, London and south-east England, Wales, Grampian, Strathclyde, Tayside and Fife, south-west Scotland and the Lothian Borders.
Yellow “be aware” warnings were issued for the Highlands and Northern Ireland.
BBC Weather forecaster Laura Gilchrist said the snow would represent the most significant fall so far this winter.
“There is potential for transport disruption,” she said.
“Before hitting the roads you should be prepared. Take shovels, warm clothes and fully charged phones. If you’re traveling by rail, check the websites first.” Salt stocks She said a band of wet weather would move towards the east and south-east of England throughout the day, falling as snow when it hits cold air.
Our forecaster said the highest chance of disruption would be in central and eastern England and the South East in the late afternoon and night.
As the rain cleared away, ice would become an added danger on the roads, she added.
February, traditionally the coldest month of winter, has seen daytime temperatures plunge four or five degrees lower than average over the past few days.
A temperature of -10.6C was recorded in Chesham, Buckinghamshire at 02:00 GMT on Saturday, and -10.3C in Benson, Oxford shire.
The cold conditions are likely to continue into the early part of next week.
The Local Government Association said motorists were being advised to check the latest weather and gritting updates on council websites and “gritter Twitter” feeds.
British Gas said its engineers were on stand-by in all-weather 4x4s, and the Department for Transport said Britain’s salt stocks stood at more than 2.4 million tonnes – a million more than last year.
The charity Age UK said it was a dangerous time for older people with low temperatures raising blood pressure, which put people at greater risk of heart attacks and strokes as well as the risk of flu.
Courtesy: BBC