Travel chaos to continue as snow to last all week

The swathes of snow causing chaos on the roads, trains and planes is set to continue until at least Friday - accompanied by temperatures as low as -13C.

According to the Met Office, a fresh load of snow is coming over from France, bringing with "violent blizzards".

Met Office spokesman Dan Williams told Aol Travel: "The current cold snap looks set to last for the rest of the week, with widespread below freezing temperatures by night and many places struggling to get above 0C or 1C by day.

"We're expecting further snow on Monday across north-eastern parts of the UK, and we may see some sleet or snow in parts of the South West of England and South Wales on Tuesday."

Another Met Office spokeswoman told The Sun: "Most of the country has had snow from the South West since last Friday.

"But this new batch is moving northwards from France, which is quite rare, and will mainly affect south-eastern, eastern and central parts of England, and the Highlands of Scotland.

"Temperatures will be well below zero in most areas during the coming week, which means the snow and ice that has already built up will stay put.

"Eastern England and Scotland will also have snow combined with gale-force winds to create some quite violent blizzards.

"At the same time there's a weather system moving into the South West which will bring rain and sleet, which will likely freeze when it hits the ground, creating more ice."

According to the Daily Telegraph, the Met Office predicted that up to 10cm of snow could be seen falling in the South West and as far east as Hampshire on Tuesday.

The BBC reports that more than 5,000 schools across the country were closed on Monday, while motorists are being warned of treacherous conditions on the roads.

The site adds that flights are suspended at East Midlands, Manchester and Leeds Bradford airports, and Heathrow has cancelled one in 10 flights because of poor visibility, while on Sunday, passengers were left fuming after 260 flights were cancelled - 20 per cent of the airport's usual business.

According to the Daily Mail, two people have died in car crashes owing to the bad weather, one in Kelvedon in Essex on Sunday and another in Oxford on Saturday.

The rail network is also experiencing snow and ice-related delays and cancellations with East Coast, Eurostar, First Capital Connect, London Overground, Southeastern, Southern, South West Trains and Virgin trains all disrupted.

National Rail warned anyone travelling by rail should be braced for another day of delays and cancellations on Tuesday as at least eight rail networks faced severe delays.


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