Hundreds of schools are closed and many roads are blocked or treacherous to drive on as the UK feels its first significant blast of winter, with snow blizzards, ice and freezing temperatures.
Many parts of the UK experienced the coldest night of the season. The Met Office issued eight separate yellow snow and ice weather warnings for Thursday, covering Devon and Cornwall, parts of Kent, the east coast of England and East Anglia, north-east England, south-west and north-west Wales, Northern Ireland and northern Scotland.
On the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Wolds a rare amber weather alert from 3am to 9pm was also in place, warning of occasional blizzards and significant snow falls of up to 25cm on hills “likely to cause substantial disruption”.
The snow brought significant disruption to everyday lives, whether that was not being able to travel, power cuts or the often last-minute school closures.
In Scotland, the worst-hit region was Aberdeenshire, where more than 90 schools did not open. In Wales, 36 were closed in Pembrokeshire, 14 in Carmarthenshire and seven in Ceredigion.
About 30 schools in North Yorkshire, eight in East Yorkshire and a handful in Northumberland did not open because of the poor weather.
Roads were closed because of snow in northern England, including, for more than two hours from 8am, the northbound carriageway of the A1 between Morpeth and Alnwick in Northumberland.
The A171 was closed, with police advising motorists to avoid travelling to Malton, Scarborough, Whitby and Filey. Other main road closures included, for much of the morning, the A169 Pickering to Whitby as well as many rural roads.
Drivers in North Yorkshire were advised to make only necessary journeys, while in Pembrokeshire the county council warned there were “extremely hazardous conditions on most roads” in the area as snowfall continued.
Motorists were advised to drive more slowly and more smoothly. Shaun Jones, an AA expert patrol, said: “When snow and ice hit, the roads can quickly become treacherous. Stopping distances can increase tenfold on icy surfaces, so slowing down and leaving plenty of space is absolutely vital.
“Drivers should plan ahead, stick to main routes and allow extra time for their journey.”
On dog walks and radio phone-ins the main topic of conversation in some parts of the UK was people not being able to remember it being this bad so early in the season.
Many attractions were closed, including Ryedale Folk Museum in North Yorkshire, which was forced to close for snow for the first time in 10 years. The museum closes for the winter in January but Rose Barrett, a researcher at the museum, said it was really unusual that it had to close so early, albeit just for the day.
Barrett told BBC Radio York she had been through historic photos and there were not many snowy Novembers. “There was one in 1925, a bad snow year, but generally snow is later in this region,” she said.
The Met Office said it had been the coldest night of the winter so far in Northern Ireland, Wales and England, with temperatures dropping to -6.6C at RAF Benson, Oxfordshire, -6.4C in Sennybridge in Powys and -2.8C at Altnahinch Filters in Co Antrim.
On Thursday night temperatures could drop to as low as -10C in rural Scotland, the Met Office chief forecaster, Neil Armstrong, said.
The Met Office also said “thundersnow” – where thunderstorms form in wintry conditions and cause heavy downpours of snow – had been seen in Aberdeenshire and off the coast in the north-east on Wednesday. A spokesperson said: “There is a risk we could see more today off the coast of eastern Scotland and north-east England.”
Temperatures will begin to rise closer to averages for this time of year at the weekend, when wetter and windier weather arrives, but it will not be as “exceptionally mild” as it was earlier this month, the Met Office said.
An amber cold health alert issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) remains in force across northern England until 8am on Saturday.
For some the snowy weather was an opportunity rather than a problem, whether taking atmospheric photographs, building snowmen or sledging.
The abundant snow also prompted the bookmakers William Hill to shorten the odds on there being a White Christmas in the UK this year, with odds now offered of 6/5 in Aberdeen, 7/4 in Newcastle and 7/1 in London.
