Travel Disruption and School Closures as Cold Snap Grips UK
BBC News
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Snowfall and ice have forced the closure of hundreds of schools in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and disrupted travel across the UK
Yellow warnings for snow and ice are in place across much of the country, with a warning of more widespread snow later in the week
Sunday night was the coldest night of the season so far for England and Wales, with temperatures in Shap in Cumbria dipping to -10.9C
Trains and flights have been cancelled, Eurostar services to the Netherlands are suspended, and the runway at Liverpool John Lennon Airport is closed
Images have appeared of frozen canals, snow-covered seafronts, and people skating on a frozen field, while others have spoken of the deep snow gripping Aberdeenshire in Scotland
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Edited by Rorey Bosotti and Jamie Whitehead, with reporting from the BBC Weather team
Aberdeen Airport has suspended operations due to what it described as “deteriorating extreme weather conditions”.
Flights are to be grounded until at least 17:00, when a review will take place.
They advised passengers to contact their airline directly for more information.
Services to London Heathrow, Manchester, Amsterdam and Dublin are among those cancelled as a result.
Jacob Phillips
Live reporter
People play ice hockey and skate on a frozen flooded field in Upware in Cambridgeshire
Thousands of pupils hoping to be reunited with their school friends after the Christmas holidays will have to wait a little longer.
Hundreds of schools remain closed in parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as the cold snap continues.
The north east of Scotland feels like the worst it's been in the past 15 years, our shivering Scotland team writes.
A yellow snow and ice warning is in place across the north of Scotland and will remain active until midnight tonight. Similar warnings are also in place in the north east of England, East Midlands, Yorkshire as well as the south west of England and parts of Wales.
The weather is also causing travel disruption, with Liverpool John Lennon Airport forced to close its runway, which remains covered in ice.
The runway at the City of Derry Airport is also closed while flights have been cancelled at Belfast International Airport.
Train services have also been cancelled or delayed, with Network Rail Scotland warning that “heavy and drifting snow” has stopped some services.
In Wales, emergency services have been called to motorists stranded in the snow and bus services have been suspended due to “atrocious” driving conditions.
But some people have been taking advantage of the icy conditions. A group were spotted playing ice hockey in a frozen, flooded field in Upware in Cambridgeshire while someone was spotted ice skating nearby.
Sophie Wallace
BBC News, reporting from Birmingham
A canal in Birmingham has frozen over during the cold snap
It is a bad day to be a canal boat owner in Birmingham, the canal is frozen solid in the city centre.
On my walk to work earlier, the only things moving on the water were the local seagulls – all the boats were frozen in place.
Thankfully the pavement was not too frozen but I’d advise caution if you’re walking in the centre, wear sturdy shoes.
Meanwhile, the city looked picturesque and like it had been blanketed in icing sugar. The snow made the city feel about as calm as rush-hour Birmingham is able to be.
Bridgewater canal in Salford has frozen over this morning
Labradors demonstrating a frozen field is no deterrent to a morning's run
A cat surveys its snowy surroundings in Staffordshire
A good idea to tuck in to one of these while you follow our updates
Richard Smith captured this stunning image of the snow-covered peak of Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon
Any gardening will need to be postponed in Fachwen as snow covers every inch of this lawn
As we continue to bring you updates on travel disruption, we've seen a new "do not travel" warning put in place between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
London North Eastern Railway is advising customers to avoid travelling between Edinburgh Waverley and Aberdeen until 14:00 GMT on Tuesday.
It says this is "due to heavy snowfall". We'll bring you any further updates as we get them.
Mairead Smyth
BBC North West
We earlier reported the runway at Liverpool John Lennon Airport will remain closed until at least 13:00. That's now been extended to 14:00 at the earliest.
Staff say the issue was the overnight drop in temperature to about – 6C after heavy snowfall.
There were more than 30 cancellations alone this morning. Many people have had to rebook flights for later today or other days this week.
Efforts are continuing to clear the runway.
Eurostar trains from King's Cross St Pancras are unable to reach the Netherlands due to the poor weather.
Eurostar has strongly advised passengers travelling between London, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam to postpone their journey.
"Please don't come to the station if your train is shown as cancelled," a statement says on the Eurostar website. "We regret that trains that can run will be subject to severe delays and possible last-minute cancellations."
Last week the Eurostar was thrown into chaos after a power supply problem caused significant disruption in the Channel Tunnel on Tuesday, leaving thousands struggling to travel ahead of New Year's Eve.
The runway at Liverpool John Lennon Airport will remain closed until at least 13:00 GMT.
The airport tells the BBC that there is still lots of ice on the surface but that its teams are working flat out to try and clear it.
A number of EasyJet flights to locations such as Belfast, Prague and Amsterdam have been cancelled due to the poor weather, according to the airport's departure board.
Several Wizz Air flights from the airport have also been cancelled.
Malu Cursino
Live reporter
Kyra Beswick and her mother hiked through deep snow as part of her journey to Aberdeen Airport
For Kyra Beswick, returning to her home in Frankfurt after a family Christmas in rural Aberdeenshire has already been something of an odyssey.
Beswick was due to return to Frankfurt this morning but, due to the ongoing weather, decided to start her journey to Aberdeen Airport yesterday.
Snow was a metre deep outside her family's house, near the village of Glenkindie. “The cars were completely buried… in the end we tried to put my luggage on a rucksack to go to a friend’s house”.
To do this, Beswick and her mother dressed in their snow gear and distributed her belongings across backpacks to venture outside on foot. They arrived at the friend's house 2 miles (3.2 km) away two hours later.
Cas stranded in deep snow in rural Aberdeenshire
Her flight was scheduled for 09:00 today, but it has been cancelled due to the weather, she says.
“They’ve booked me on one this evening, which would mean staying overnight in Heathrow.”
She says this is something she'd rather not do as she has an appointment in Frankfurt Tuesday morning. For now, Beswick will be staying put at Aberdeen Airport in the hope that someone else cancels and she can get away sooner.
Ken Banks
BBC Scotland North East and Northern Isles reporter
Major travel disruption has been caused by the conditions in the north of Scotland
The continuing severe winter weather being experienced here in Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland feels like the worst it's been in the past 15 years.
In November and December 2010 the area endured many consecutive days of deep snow, which again closed schools and caused major travel problems.
In recent days, people have reported the snow depth being up to their knees.
The amber warning into Monday has now eased into a yellow warning for snow and ice, which may offer a little hope of conditions easing slightly.
But it's not yet clear when closed schools will start to re-open this week.
Jake Liggett
BBC News NI
Randalstown in county Antrim, Northern Ireland, on Monday morning
Flights have been cancelled at Belfast International Airport while the runway at the City of Derry Airport is also closed to clear snow and ice.
Translink, which runs bus and rail services in Northern Ireland, is warning of delays to all routes, with some services operating on main roads only.
Meanwhile, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is urging motorists to take extra care on the roads, especially in areas which may not have been gritted.
Around 4,000 miles of roads have been salted to try and deal with the snow, according to the Northern Ireland Road Service.
Philip McCullagh made the decision to close St Patrick and St Brigid's College in Claudy due to the weather.
The principal says about 500 pupils are affected by there were "too many risks involved" to keep the school open.
“It's as bad as I've seen it," he adds.
Philip McCullagh decided to close St Patrick and St Brigid's College due to the snow
Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent
Hundreds of thousands of households are receiving some financial help through the benefits system during the period of freezing temperatures.
Cold weather payments have been triggered across hundreds of postcode areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A payment of £25 is paid to a household on certain benefits for each seven consecutive day period when the average temperature in a local area is recorded as, or forecast to be, 0C or below.
The money is paid automatically into a bank account within 14 days to those eligible.
You can read more here What are cold weather payments and who can get them? – BBC News and also find links to check whether you are eligible.
A separate winter heating payment system operates in Scotland.
Rozina Sini
BBC News
Earlier we brought you the news of flight cancellations at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
I've been speaking to Emily Ashall from Widnes. She was supposed to be flying to Berlin from Liverpool at 06:00 GMT. She says they have recently been told the flight has been cancelled.
Emily says that the flight boarded on time at 05:30 GMT but the pilot said the runway had not opened and they would not take off until 07:00.
"At around 6:40 they asked us to disembark back into the terminal till 09:00," she says.
"Since then it’s got later and later and it still does look icy out there."
The airport is "packed to the brim" and no flights have arrived or left all day, she adds.
"Its a terrible situation but it is what it is."
Heavy snowfall fell overnight in northern Scotland, bringing school closures and travel disruption for many.
But for Alan the dachshund in Aberdeen it's a stress free snow day – even if walks today are heavy work for small paws.
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Alan the dachshund frolics in the snow in Aberdeen
Sarah Keith-Lucas
Weather presenter
As icy conditions beset much of the UK, forecasters are closely monitoring weather data for the end of this week, which indicates potential for further disruptive weather.
Late on Thursday and overnight into Friday a deep area of low pressure is expected to approach from the south-west and move across the southern half of the UK.
Cold air to the north will interact with milder air to the south, bringing a risk of strong winds and heavy rain. There is also a chance of more widespread snowfall too.
The timing and exact position of the low pressure will determine the impacts we may see, and these details will be firmed up over the coming days.
People have been taking advantage of the freezing weather by ice skating and playing ice hockey in Cambridgeshire. They're shown among the photos continuing to come in displaying the wintry conditions across the country.
People play ice hockey on a frozen flooded field in Upware, Cambridgeshire
A woman ice skates on a frozen flooded field in Cambridgeshire
A pony stands in the snow in Bridgend in Aberdeenshire
A squirrel enjoys the snow in Wednesfield in Wolverhampton
A tractor clears a snowdrift outside Drumoark School in Aberdeenshire
Hundreds of schools across Scotland are closed on Monday due to the conditions.
Those in Aberdeenshire, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are all shut, while more than 60 in Moray and more than 20 in Aberdeen city are also closed.
Others in Aberdeen have delayed opening until 11:00 to allow the worst of the weather to pass.
In the Highlands, pupils were not due to return until Wednesday, so are unaffected, but the University of Highlands and Islands has closed all of its campuses.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast, Jim Savege, chief executive of Aberdeenshire Council, said: “I’ve been speaking to some of our pupils yesterday and they are disappointed not to be in school.”
We’ll take that with a pinch of salt.
National Rail says services across England, Scotland and Wales may be affected by the wintry weather on Monday.
It warns ice can coat overhead power cables, leaving trains stranded without electricity, while snow and ice can build up on track blocking points, the equipment that allows trains to move between tracks.
Transport for Wales says a number of its routes have been disrupted by the severe weather.
No trains are running between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog all day and travellers have been told not to travel between Machynlleth and Pwllheli as there are no trains and no rail replacement bus.
Network Rail Scotland says on X that the vast majority of its routes remain open but "heavy and drifting snow" has stopped some services.
The Aberdeen-Dundee, Aberdeen-Inverness, Inverness-Wick/Thurso and Inverness-Kyle of Lochalsh services are unlikely to run until midday due to the weather.
Dylan Greene
BBC Wales
In Wales, emergency services have been called to motorists stranded in the snow, with bus services suspended due to “atrocious” driving conditions.
A yellow weather warning for snow and ice has been issued across most of the country until 11:00 GMT on Tuesday, with north and west Wales expected to see the worst of the cold weather.
Schools in Gwynedd and Rhondda Cynon Taf are among the worst affected this morning, with dozens closed across Wales due to health and safety concerns.
Snow has also caused disruption on the roads this morning. Those travelling on the A5, A470 and A458, among others, are seeing extra time added to their morning journeys, with police called to several stranded motorists in areas such as the A487 south of Caernarfon.
North Wales Police are advising motorists to only travel if “absolutely necessary”, and to allow plenty of time for essential journeys.
Unsafe driving conditions have also disrupted public transport in parts of Wales. Gwynfor Coaches, which runs buses in Anglesey, Caernarfon, Llanberis and Snowdonia, have suspended some services due to “atrocious” driving conditions, “much worse than expected”.
Photographs have been flowing in of the wintry weather gripping the UK, with homes, communities and oceanfront walks covered in snow.
Dog walkers braving the wintry conditions in Whitley Bay near Newcastle
Horsey Windmill in Norfolk following the snowfall
Snow fall in Caernarfon in Wales
Nellie in the village of Liss in Hampshire has been enjoying her first snow
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