More travel chaos expected as fresh snowfalls due to hit UK

I'll be too busy to post much over the next four or five days or so, but I thought I would like to keep American readers up to date with the current cold spell we are enduring here.

The satellite photo to the left shows what the UK looks like from the air. The entire country is literally covered in snow and the temperatures are lower than anything I can previously remember.

The mercury plunged to -22.3C (-8.1F) in the Highland village of Altnaharra earlier and UK temperatures generally remained stuck well below freezing.

And they are forecasting that it is going to get even worse:

An easterly wind combined with fresh heavy snowfalls is expected to cause further disruption to Britain over the weekend, with the combined danger of snowdrifts and a bitter wind chill factor, forecasters said today. The warnings came after the country suffered its coldest night of the winter so far last night. An easterly wind was forecast to move from the south of England across the country over the weekend, bringing with it a biting chill factor as the coldest spell for more than three decades shows no signs of abating.

Schools are closing and the disruption to road, rail and air travel has been extensive.

Just to give you some indication of how cold it is over here:

The lowest recorded temperature overnight was in Altnaharra, in the Scottish Highlands, where the mercury reached -21.6C, almost on a par with the south pole, where it is currently -22.9C.

I know we are supposed to dream of a white Christmas, but I am becoming extremely Bah Humbug about the whole thing....

I am sick to death of feeling bloody cold...

UPDATE:

The opportunistic shamelessness of the Tories simply knows no bounds. The government today announced that they were to cut the amount of salt used on the roads by 25% to conserve supplies. It prompted this from the opportunists:

The Tories accused ministers of losing control of the situation, having "sat on their hands" despite previous warnings.

Shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman said: "This is an admission of utter failure. The lessons of last February's extreme weather have not been learnt.

"The Government has failed to build up a strategic Highways Agency reserve and Labour ministers have sat on their hands instead of putting measures in place to safeguard grit supplies.

"Families will continue to suffer from the Government's incompetence.

"The consequence of Labour's grit crisis is that many roads will not be gritted and it will be dangerous and difficult to drive.

"The Government appears to be rapidly losing control of the situation. We need an urgent reassurance from them that they can keep Britain's roads open if the Arctic weather continues."

Last February's cold spell was over in a matter of days. There is simply no comparison between what happened in February and what we are experiencing at the moment. And this current cold snap was unpredicted by all of our weather agencies.

But, just as they tried to blame Brown for the economic crisis brought about by the American subprime mortgage crisis, so they now try to blame Labour for their reaction to the worst weather conditions for more than three decades.

They do themselves no favours by making these ridiculous accusations. They look like the pathetic opportunists that they are.

Most of us find this weather incredibly annoying, but we also accept that it's no-one's fault. It's weather for God's sake...

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Tags: United Kingdom, weather, snow