UK weather: All flights cancelled at Glasgow Airport – as warnings for …
Fresh weather warnings for snow and ice have been issued for swathes of the UK as temperatures plummeted below freezing.
Forecasters have warned the wintry conditions could affect some road and rail journeys with icy surfaces posing the risk of injury from slips and falls.
Glasgow Airport was forced to suspend flights for a time on Saturday morning due to heavy snow, but services were later resumed.
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New yellow weather warnings have now been issued by the Met Office for the North East and much of Wales running into Sunday.
Existing yellow warnings for the northern coast and southwest Scotland, as well as the South West and the eastern coast of England came to an end this morning.
Amber cold health alerts are also in place for five regions: the East Midlands, West Midlands, North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber until 5 December.
This means the impact of the cold weather is “likely to be felt across the whole health service for an extended period of time”.
Temperatures dipped as low as -11C (14F) in northern Scotland overnight.
The freeze is expected to continue over the weekend, with several sporting events cancelled due to snow and icy conditions.
Crewe’s match with Bristol Rovers in the second round of the FA Cup on Saturday has been called off and rearranged for 12 December, with the playing surface judged unsafe.
A number of Scottish Professional Football League matches were also postponed ahead of the weekend, with Dundee United’s trip to face Morton at Cappielow called off and the game between Ayr and Arbroath at Somerset Park cancelled.
Saturday’s high-profile racing fixture at Newcastle has been abandoned due to snow on the track.
Bayern Munich’s home game against Union Berlin was called off because of heavy snowfall on Saturday.
“It was decided not to play the game because of the security risks for all involved,” Union said in a statement just under six hours before the Bundesliga game was due to start.
Munich airport has also cancelled all flights until at least noon because of heavy snow, according to a statement on its website.
Around 320 of 760 flights planned for Saturday had been scratched so far, it said.
Trains in and out of the Bavarian city’s central train station have also been cancelled.
The Environment Agency in the UK has urged people to take care near rivers, canals, lakes and ponds, while the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and North Wales Police have issued safety advice.
A Glasgow Airport spokesman said: “Flight operations were suspended this morning until 8.40am due to a combination of heavier than forecast snow and freezing conditions throughout the night and early morning.
“Our snow-clearing teams have been deployed since 10.30pm last night and we are now working with our airlines to resume operations.
“We ask passengers to contact their airlines for further information and thank them for their understanding.”
There was disruption to trains in the west of Scotland, with signalling affected by snow.
Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth said many towns and cities will see temperatures hover around -4C (25F) on Saturday.
“There’ll… be some snow showers continuing across southwestern Scotland throughout Saturday morning, mainly falling over the high ground above one or 200m, but there could be some sleetiness to lower levels across parts of the Lake District, for example, by lunchtime,” she said.
“Elsewhere, though we’ll see the mist and fog slowly clear, it could remain quite murky for a lot of the morning across central and eastern areas.
“The best sunshine will be across northern areas of Scotland, but further south and west, you can see things starting to change a little bit [by Saturday afternoon] with a greater risk of some showers.”
While a change in wind direction could make it feel a little less cold in the South West during Saturday, she said: “Elsewhere, though still feeling bitterly cold, not much above freezing.
“Those showers in the South West then do push further inland throughout Saturday night, and as they bump into the colder air, they could bring some snow to parts of Wales and central areas such as the Peak District, for example.”
The lowest temperature recorded on Friday was -9.4C (49F) in Shap in Cumbria.
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