Heavy snow causes disruption

2 February 2009

The last time such widespread snowfall affected Britain was February 1991.

Snow fell extensively and often heavily between the 7th and 9th, leaving a covering of more than 10 cm over large areas of England, Wales and eastern and southern Scotland.

Bingley in Yorkshire was reported to have 51 cm of snow on the morning of 9 February, while in central London, some places had close to 15 cm of snow.

The snow, which caused major disruption in parts of the country, is set to continue overnight and tomorrow.

On Sunday night, as the Met Office had warned, snow showers pushed west across many eastern parts of the UK, with the south-east of England worst affected. Bus services in London were cancelled; train travel disrupted, and some airport runways temporarily closed.

Deepest snow depths on 2 February 2009
Location	Depth (cm)	Depth (inches)
Epsom, Surrey	31	12
South London	28	11
Woking, Surrey	26	11
North Downs, Kent	25	10

The wintry conditions will continue, with further heavy snowfall for northern parts of Britain overnight. Tuesday will bring further snow into the western parts of England and Wales, but the bulk of England will see a drier day. Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland will also have heavy snowfall. The wintry weather will continue for the rest of the week.

Helen Chivers, spokesman for the Met Office, said: "This further snowfall, on top of what has already fallen, will cause further disruption. Some areas which have already had a lot of snow could see a further five or six inches.

"As well as the snow it will be extremely icy by Tuesday morning. With these conditions our advice to people is that if their journey isn’t essential then don’t venture out."

 

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