Nottinghamshire has been blanketed in snow as Storm Larisa batters the UK. There has been widespread travel disruption and some schools in the county have closed.
A yellow warning for snow has been issued by the Met Office, lasting until 2pm today in Nottinghamshire. The forecaster warns of travel delays as well as possible power cuts and disruption to other services, such as mobile phone coverage.
The warning states that “heavy snow” could cause “travel delays on roads stranding some vehicles and passengers”. It also says that “some rural communities could become cut off”. The Met Office has issued three amber warnings for northern England, the Midlands, North Wales and Northern Ireland, where “significant disruption” to transport and power supplies is expected.
READ MORE: Train services suspended as tree falls on to Nottinghamshire rail line
Many commuters are facing problems getting to work this morning (Mar 10) after a tree fell onto train tracks near Mansfield, meaning no services can run between there and Nottingham and Worksop. East Midlands Railway said there was a Network Rail team on site working to remove the tree, but, “due to the size, this is proving difficult”. It is not currently clear when services will resume.
National Highways issued a “severe weather alert” for snow covering the North East, North West and Midlands regions until 8am on Friday, where motorists have been warned not to drive unless their journey is essential.
Storm Larisa has been named by the French weather service, as the country faces strong winds. Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said: “Storm Larisa, which Meteo France have named, is the same low pressure system that is bringing us the bands of rain.
“But essentially, we’re on the northern side of the low pressure system and it’s the southern side of that low pressure system that is going to be bringing particularly strong winds to parts of France.
“So that did originate out in the Atlantic and then it tracked its way eastward towards us, and the weather fronts that are swirling around that low pressure system have then been pushing into the cold air that has been in places across the UK and allowing that rain to start falling as snow across several areas.”
In Nottinghamshire today, snow is likely to fall intermittently throughout the morning, with the skies clearing later in the day. It will be a cold night, with temperatures dropping to -3C in places.
Saturday will be and fairly dry until the evening, when rain or sleet will begin to fall at around 7pm. Sunday and Monday will then be considerably warmer, before temperatures come down again next week, but not as low as they have been.
Elsewhere, there are amber warnings in place for large parts of Northern England and North Wales. Drivers on the M62 trans-Pennine motorway have reported being stuck in their cars all night as snow brought traffic to a standstill.
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