Winter has paralyzed parts of Great Britain, which in many places have been covered in a decimetre-thick blanket of snow. Ireland’s weather service Met Eireann also issued an orange weather warning on Monday evening for freezing fog and very dangerous road conditions.
And the unusually large amount of snow for the islands has caused chaos in traffic, where cars drive or skid off the roads and the queues in many places have been long. According to the motorist organization RAC, it has received more than 9,000 emergency calls from distressed motorists in need of assistance, reports Sky News.
– I’m trying to keep my spirits up, but when you’re sitting in the car all by yourself and it’s freezing cold… It’s not fun, it’s for sure, says Mark Ritchie in Essex, who was stuck in his car on the M25 motorway in over three hours, to Sky News.
Even the train traffic that is so important in Great Britain has been affected with many canceled trips and even more delays, according to The Guardian. Commuters are being warned that the traffic chaos will continue overnight into Tuesday.
Closed schools
Air traffic to and from the major airports around London, which was largely down on Sunday, has started but is being dragged along with major delays. It is also warned that the trains to and from the airports are among the worst affected by delays.
According to the weather institute The Met, Monday’s day looks set to be the coldest the island nation has experienced since 2010. The entire nation had temperatures below freezing and hundreds of schools were kept closed and will remain so, reports Mirror.
Overnight into Tuesday, temperatures are expected to drop to -10 or colder across much of the UK, and the yellow weather warning for a cold weather issued on Monday remains in place for Tuesday.