UK snow disrupts flights after coldest night of year

theguardian.com:

Dozens of flights have been cancelled in the south of England amid snowfall across the nation after the coldest night of the year.

The Met Office said temperatures at Kinbrace in the Highlands dropped to a UK low of -15.4C overnight, and snow was on the way for much of the country through the rest of the week.

Bristol airport was temporarily closed for “snow-clearing operations”, with morning flights cancelled, and passengers at other airports in the south of England were facing delays.

Forecasters expect night-time sub-zero temperatures in all four countries of the UK until at least Friday. The Met Office issued several yellow weather warnings for snow and ice that it said might lead to injuries from slips and falls and could cause travel disruption.

At least 27 flights due to depart from Bristol on Wednesday morning were affected by snow, and several arrivals were diverted to Birmingham.

A spokesperson for the airport said additional staff were on site to “assist with the adverse weather response” and passengers had been advised to check with their airline prior to arriving.

Gatwick airport said some passengers had minor delays on Wednesday morning but “the airport is open and flights are operating”.

Network Rail is advising passengers to check their journeys in advance because of the Met Office warnings, but a spokesperson said there had been “no significant weather-related disruption” on the lines so far.

The warnings for Wednesday covered northern and eastern Scotland until 10am, and Northern Ireland and southern England until 9am.

Forecasters said that in most places the snowfall would continue until Friday, with a yellow warning for snow covering all of the UK north of Birmingham from 3am on Thursday until 6pm on Friday.

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