Hundreds of schools in northern Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and northern England remained closed on Tuesday as snow and ice warnings continued across the UK. The Met Office extended a yellow ice warning for most of England, Wales and southern Scotland until Wednesday morning, while a yellow snow and ice warning remains in place for northern Scotland until midnight Wednesday, where up to 20cm of fresh snow is expected.
The UK experienced its coldest night of the year so far, with a temperature of -12.5C recorded at Marham in Norfolk and -11.2C in Dalwhinnie in the Scottish Highlands. An amber snow warning is in effect for parts of north-east and northern Scotland from 11am to 7pm on Tuesday, with widespread 5-10cm of snow and up to 15cm in some areas.
Storm Goretti, the first named storm of the year, is expected to make landfall on Thursday, bringing further disruption. The Met Office has issued snow warnings for large parts of England and Wales from 6pm on Thursday as a deep area of low pressure moves across the south of the UK, bringing rain, snow and strong winds.
Schools in Shetland, Orkney and Aberdeenshire remained shut on Tuesday after pupils enjoyed an extra day of holiday due to the weather. Schools also closed in Wales, Northern Ireland, Staffordshire and North Yorkshire. Snowy conditions disrupted road, air and rail travel, with some train lines still shut after heavy snow drifted onto tracks on Monday. In Aberdeen, industrial diggers were deployed to clear main roads.
National Rail said train services in northern Scotland would be disrupted until the end of Tuesday, though ScotRail confirmed services between Aberdeen and Dundee would run in the morning. Loganair cancelled flights from Aberdeen and Inverness airports, and several flights to and from Sumburgh in Shetland and Kirkwall in Orkney were cancelled.
