Snow showers have swept across almost all of Britain as bitter easterly winds continued to bring Arctic conditions to the country.
Almost every corner of the UK woke up to between 0.8in (2cm) and 4in (10cm) of snow, with the east coast worst hit by flurries and sub-zero temperatures. And the cold blast from the North Sea was expected to continue to batter eastern areas throughout the day, even bringing snow to London and the South East.
Severe weather warnings were issued by the Met Office for almost all regions with London, the South East, the East of England, the East Midlands, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber, the North East, North West and Wales all on alert for heavy snow well into the morning.
Grampian, Strathclyde, Tayside and Fife, south-west Scotland, Lothian and Northern Ireland were all warned to expect widespread icy roads.
Temperatures in the north-west Highlands dropped to minus 15C (5F) on Monday night, with the Met Office warning the mercury will barely rise above 0C (32F) for the rest of the day.
Tiffany Curnick, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: “We’ve still got these showers streaming in from the east bringing some further accumulations of snow. The areas that won’t be affected are Cornwall and western Scotland – anywhere sheltered from the easterly winds.”
On Monday, thousands of motorists were hit by one of the worst days on Britain’s roads, flights were cancelled and hundreds of schools were forced to close.
The AA said it was one of its busiest on record after it was called to more than 20,000 breakdowns, but today could rival it.
Edinburgh Airport has reopened after closing at 6.15pm on Monday, but a number of flights arriving and departing from the snow-stricken transport hub faced disruption.
