Heaviest snow in 20 years brings large parts of Britain to a halt

by Sanjay Jha | February 2, 2009 at 02:37 am

1342 views | 33 Recommendations | 18 comments

The heaviest snow in 20 years is causing disruption across England and people are forced to work from home.

Heavy and drifting snow caused travel chaos for morning commuters as all London buses, trains and tubes were withdrawn from service due to the bad weather.

Several trains have been cancelled after heavy snow overnight. Trains coming from the Southeastern side have been cancelled. Heathrow Airport – Both runways closed, flights cancelled, diverted and delayed.

The Met Office has issued an extreme weather warning for London and the south east of England today with more than 15 cm of snow falling in London.

Thousands of people are unable to travel as London's transport network has been disrupted due to snow.

The entire bus network and three Underground lines - the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Waterloo & City lines - have been suspended.

London City Airport has been closed, while both runways are shut at Heathrow.

The snow caused a Cyprus Airways flight to slip off a taxiway at Heathrow and land in grass.

Passengers were unharmed in the incident which took place at about 0820 GMT, British Airports Authority said.

The authority added it was the last flight to land before the runways were closed.

London has seen the heaviest snowfall in 18 years, weather experts said.

Buses and Tube

Up to 10cm (0.3ft) of snow has already fallen in some parts of Greater London, with 6cm (0.2ft) of snow reported at Heathrow Airport.

The conditions led the Met Office to issue an extreme weather warning for London and the south east of England.

On the Underground, the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Waterloo & City lines are fully suspended. The Bakerloo, Jubilee, Piccadilly, Northern and District lines are partly suspended.

There are severe delays on the Central Line. Several Tube stations are also closed.

If you are stranded and would like to share your experinece please write to us.

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azzayindia

at 04:31 on February 2nd, 2009

and Mussoorie has not recieved snowfall it does this year.Is this Global Warming effect?

harringtola

at 05:54 on February 2nd, 2009

It is a moderate to severe winter for 2008/2009 in the United States. We have been enjoying fairly mild ones in the North East USA recently for the most part. There have been many snow and ice storm events this winter already. It seems to average at least one a week. I wonder if this is a La Nina or El Nino weather effect.

agdobson

at 08:56 on February 2nd, 2009

In the 70's and 80's I remember we used to get some great snow in Britain, then it disappeared for 20 years, and now I don't live there anymore, it's come back! Typical.

Rachel Nixon

at 10:04 on February 2nd, 2009

Yep, you're right. I used to walk to school in snowdrifts almost every winter in Yorkshire. (Or perhaps it just seemed like a snowdrift because I wasn't that tall.)

Babel-Fish

at 09:15 on February 2nd, 2009

Oh well its been like a summers day in UK today pretty cold here for the tropics today.

Can't say this ex-pat misses the snow as if I was at home now my left leg would stiffen up and I would not only be slipping but limping. But I bet the status quo is just the same when there is even a snow shower Britain becomes crippled the train service bad and the snow plows are snowed in before they can be de-freezed and used.

At least it help cull all the hype of a total financial collapse and funny enough the currency exchange rate is climbing and I am getting an extra peso per pound. Possibly that's because the MP's on the opposite bench are staying at home or that the media's so call finacial experts have been snowed in.

Let it let it snow let snow.

Yes tomorrows news at a guess will be about feeding snowed in cattle and sheep and there was so much snow on the little hand of Big Ben the chimes went of early. lol

Some bright spark will build the biggest ever snowman and the queen will get hit by a snow ball.

Snow news is good news

mudricky

at 10:00 on February 2nd, 2009

I love snow and we were prob the only parts of the UK that never got a heavy blanket.

Everytime it snowed today it stopped then melted.

Sunday Grrl

at 12:09 on February 2nd, 2009

see www.flickr.com/sundaygrrl for a few more pictures of snow in the midlands

Sunday Grrl has contributed a photo to this story.

158

at 12:09 on February 2nd, 2009

Good report.

jo92

at 13:07 on February 2nd, 2009

Many of the schools were closed today as teachers and pupils struggled with the snow clogged roads. Many more local authorities have already abandoned school for tomorrow with more snow forecast.

So today I saw happy children playing in the snow, building snowmen or careering down the snowy hills on sledges and toboggans.

I only hope the heavily pregnant ewes and early newborn lambs will withstand the wintry conditions.

Tomorrow I shall be out and about with my camera to capture the wonderful snowy scenes.

tj.blackwell

at 13:11 on February 2nd, 2009

It's been a snowy but beautiful day in the North of England; the council services have been working round the clock to spread grit on the roads to keep them safe and have largely succeeded so far. The weather at the moment is mostly sleet but the Met Office has forecast at least 12 inches of snow for the Pennine area overnight as the storms work their way up from the South.

Simon Crubellier

at 13:13 on February 2nd, 2009

Simon Crubellier has contributed a photo to this story.

Dann Cahill

at 13:52 on February 2nd, 2009

Good report.

I've come to England from Spain to do a year of college and I really wasn't expecting to see this, it's beautifull. Oh, and by the way the way I'm glad yu liked my pictures.

Take care. :)

weneigh

at 13:54 on February 2nd, 2009

weneigh has contributed a photo to this story.

David Coldrey

at 00:07 on February 3rd, 2009

Axle deep in snow

David Coldrey has contributed a photo to this story.

pabcorr

at 00:43 on February 3rd, 2009

This photo was taken around 6.30 am in Brentford.

pabcorr has contributed a photo to this story.

hutt24 (not verified)

at 01:21 on February 3rd, 2009

Heavist snow in |Britian for 20 years. yeh right!!! Just because the south east got a small covering it shuts down completely. New York, Warsaw, Munich etc etc get this all the time and you know what? They cope just fine. Stop whingeing and get to work, keep the airports open, the trains running, and the M25, well that never changes!!

Surprise surprise it is winter all over the Northern Hemisphere and they manage. Any excuse.

Heather McCutcheon Photography

at 08:58 on February 4th, 2009

We never get snow like this in the UK, so me and my friends decided to go out and make the most of it. This photo was taken in my local cemetary, it was so quiet there and all the snow was untouched - a good chance to take my camera out and get a few shots.

Heather McCutcheon Photography has contributed a photo to this story.

Jim Venner (not verified)

at 17:09 on February 6th, 2009

Jeeeeez, worst snow in twenty years ? If thats the case then we have had a snow 'Drought' for twenty years. for the first 15 years of my life this would be considered normal, average. Extreme snow falls would leave six foot drifts (ok, in places) and would occur two to three times a year.

Have we suddenly forgotten how to deal with more than an inch of snow ?

Ffs ! this is not bad weather. It's winter as winter should be.