London, 22nd December 2009

Evening Standard:

A big freeze will pile even more misery on commuters and Christmas holidaymakers tonight on one of the coldest nights of the year in London.

Temperatures of -6C in the suburbs and -2C in central London are expected to cause major difficulties on icy roads and pavements.

The warning from forecasters came as London and the South-East struggled to deal with the heavy snowfall of last night which closed roads, airport runways and railway lines. Boris Johnson urged people to defy the extreme weather and declared London “open for business”.

Thousands of commuters were stranded today as snow and ice caused disruption for the second time in four days following Friday's blizzard. Motorists were trapped for hours in their cars in Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

There were severe delays on the M4, M3 and M40, to the north and west of London.

Buses were left at the roadside after more than five centimetres of snow fell in under an hour.

Train operators this morning cancelled and delayed many services as Network Rail brought in extra staff to try to keep the tracks clear. The AA said last night was its busiest for breakdowns in 25 years and that at 8am it had around 6,500 breakdowns pending, with 700 coming in every hour.

The Local Government Association this afternoon rejected “unfounded accusations” that councils had been ill-prepared, insisting they had gritted as many roads as possible although they admitted some gritters had broken down.

Forecasters say the freeze could be as disruptive as the heavy snowfall that caused much of the country to come to a halt last night.

“It is going to be one of the coldest nights of the year,” said Met Office forecaster John Hammond.

Temperatures were also expected to rise to just 1C today, meaning snow and ice was likely to begin thawing and then refreezing, making roads and pavements extremely dangerous.

“Luckily there will be no snow today, so the disruption is likely to be less severe,” said Mr Hammond. “However, it's going to be very dangerous on the roads and pavements that aren't treated. The ice could be just as much of a hazard as the snow was today.”

The same problem is expected to hit commuters tomorrow evening, with another freezing night predicted.

“Tomorrow is going to be cold as well, with a maximum temperature of 2C, and another cold night in prospect, so we could see the same problem with ice,” the Met man added. “However, we expect the weather to become milder later in the week — there is only a very slim chance of a white Christmas.”

The heavy snow and ice which brought Britain to a standstill last night was the result of a freezing wind from Eastern Europe, forecasters said today. The band of freezing air came to a halt over Britain, causing temperatures as low as -3C.

The problem was compounded by a low pressure system over Scotland, which “pushed” the freezing air around it, causing it to stall above the South-East. As it mixed with the warmer air over Britain, the extremely cold wind produced a freak shower of freezing rain across parts of Hampshire and Sussex and turned roads into ice rinks.Freezing rain is caused by rain falling through a shallow layer of cold air.

Icy winds also caused heavy snowfalls, creating the “perfect storm” which brought so much of the country to a standstill.

It was snowing for a couple of weeks before that and now several weeks after that article we are still covered in snow and freezing.

In London, which traditionally avoids the coldest weather even we are getting it. They says it's the worst period of weather since before I was born.

And of course, unlike other countries we are un-used to it and have no resources and can't deal with it. Ice covered roads have ground the country to a halt, students cant reach exams, parents cant get to work. People's pipes are freezing, snow brought down electricity lines. Car breakdown companies are so busy. Next door to a relatives house the kids made a very inappropiate snowman that looked like a 5 foot high penis. These kids are aged 5 and below.

I could barely park near the curb on Friday as the snow masked it. I had to dig away 4 inches just to see it.

My feet are freezing and scraping ice off of the car is getting old fast!

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Yodariquo said:

"Boris Johnson urged people to defy the extreme weather"

-2 is "extreme"?

Hello, chaps. My name is GG.