Big freeze – with worse to come

Big freeze – with worse to come: "

Northern Britain is hardest hit as the arrival of Arctic air causes temperatures to plummet. Now all of the UK is forecast to see snow by midweek

Snow storms and freezing winds caused chaos across Scotland, Northern Ireland and north-east England yesterday. Forecasters warned that the disruption and bitter conditions will spread across the rest of Britain later this week.

Falls of up to 14 inches of snow were reported yesterday, causing police in many areas to urge people to stay indoors. The AA said it had been called out to 16,000 breakdowns by the end of Friday. Yesterday, calls from motorists were pouring in at the rate of 900 an hour. 'On that basis we will probably exceed 12,000 by the end of the day, up 40% on a normal Saturday in November,' a spokesman said. 'There are lots of flat batteries and lots of people failing to get out of the driveway, and ice is causing a lot of problems.'

Two people were injured in a multiple vehicle pile-up on the M1 near Sheffield where snow has covered minor roads. All three lanes of the southbound carriageway between junctions 34 and 33, near the Tinsley viaduct at Sheffield, were closed while emergency services tended to the injured.

The East of England Ambulance Service also reported a spate of traffic accidents, with cars skidding into ditches, lampposts, fences and fields, while Northumbria police urged motorists to stay off the roads.

The Met Office said the earliest widespread snowfall for 17 years has been caused by high pressure over Greenland and low pressure in the Baltic region, forcing cold winds across Europe. High-altitude jet streams had also moved south allowing a mass of Arctic air to move south over the British Isles.

Forecasters warned that heavy snow is likely to spread to other parts of Britain in the next two days with southern England likely to experience falls today or Monday.

'By Tuesday and Wednesday the snow and freezing weather will have spread across most of central and southern England,' said Met Office forecaster Tom Morgan. 'There will be few places in the British Isles that will escape.'

London could see snow and temperatures that could drop to –2C this week, he added. Temperatures in most other areas will reach –3 or –4C, even in major cities, while in some rural areas they will drop to below –10C.

Trawscoed in Powys saw the mercury dip to –10.2C on Friday, while Dalwhinnie in the Highlands recorded –8.2C and Glasgow –3.5C. In England, Chesham in Buckinghamshire was among the coldest places at –7C, and at Preston in Lancashire the temperature fell to –5.8C.

Flights at some airports were delayed or diverted yesterday. And although Scotland and north-east England experienced the worst of the weather, the Met Office reported that snow was drifting across Wales and the south-west. The M4 westbound in south Wales saw a 26-mile tailback.

The RSPCA urged pet owners to keep dogs away from lakes and ponds which may have iced over and to avoid shutting cats out of houses for long periods. 'Winter can be hard for wildlife and every year the RSPCA rescues lots of animals which are dehydrated, hungry and cold,' said RSPCA wildlife scientist Sophie Adwick.

Yesterday's horseracing at Newcastle was cancelled after almost seven inches of snow fell on Gosforth Park overnight, as was the meeting at Towcester, Northamptonshire. Today's events at Leicester and Carlisle have also been called off.

Meanwhile, Thames Water has offered its meter readers and maintenance engineers the use of 'anti-skate overshoes' to prevent slips. The shoes are normally used by people who work in ice houses or maintain ice rinks and have studs on the sole that bite into the ice.

Maintenance engineer Pete Cotton said: 'It's icy out there, which causes more burst pipes – and you can't fix pipes if you're floundering around like Bambi on ice.' "