Cold wave in Great Britain: 15°C below zero and three brothers died after falling into a lake

Great Britain, low an arctic cold, temperatures of 15 degrees below zero, snow and closed airports. Bad weather will arrive in France from Monday night.

Sub-zero temperatures have left much of the kingdom covered in snow, with millions struggling to get to work and school, as the country begins to be hit by transport strikes and chaos on the roads and at the airport.it’s because of the snow.

Passengers were stranded inside airports due to snow due to flight cancellations.

The cold air from the Arctic has seen the mercury dip below freezing in most places. The temperature will rise again over the weekend.

And also… transport strike

Travel disruption affecting roads, trains and flights is likely to continue throughout the week as the delays are exacerbated by the action of the transport strikewhich from Tuesday will affect the country for a month.

Sunday was so far the coldest night of the year, with -15.7°C recorded in Braemar, Aberdeenshire at 2.24am. It was also the coldest night on record since February 11, 2021.

Three children die of cold

Three children, aged 11, 10 and 8, died on Sunday after being taken from the frozen lake at Babbs Mill Park in Solihull due to freezing water, West Midlands Police said.

“The boys, aged 11, 10 and 8, were rushed to hospital after being pulled from the water. Sadly, they could not be revived and our thoughts are with their family and friends at this time. deeply devastating. We will have specialist officers who will offer them all possible support,” read a statement from Solihull Police.

A fourth child, aged six, remains in critical condition at the hospital.

“We have worked, together with colleagues from the fire brigade and ambulance services, as we do everything we can to support those affected.

The search of the lake continues as we try to establish exactly what happened and if someone else fell into the water. We understand how painful this is for families and the community at large.

We ask people not to speculate or share any video at this stage,” Solihull Police asked.

highway problems

“The M25 motorway and all other motorways in the southeast and east of England have been reopened,” National Highways said, as heavy snow closed roads overnight. The road into London had been closed for several hours in Hertfordshire due to snow and trucks.

The cleaning, snow clearing and emergency services have reopened all the roads in the region. The M11, M2, M20, A21 and A249 were all closed or running with long delays, with 15cm of snow in part.

National Highways have urged motorists to drive carefully due to the icy conditions.

The Phantom of the Strikes

Despite heavy snow in southeast England, this Monday is the best chance to catch a train this week for most, with the four-day strike starting on Tuesday. The measures of force are it will last for one month and the authorities recommend not traveling at Christmas due to logistical difficulties.

Winter conditions impacted services in the region, with several inches of snow overnight around London, Anglia and Kent.

Operators found it difficult to manage services on some lines, and trains in the south-east issued a “do not travel” warning on Monday morning.

There has also been significant disruption to services operated by Greater Anglia, South Western Railway and Southern. East Midlands trains were also delayed as a freight train derailed at low speed, blocking the line.

While the freezing conditions also caused minor disruptions to some trains in Scotland, which had to deal with snow for a few days, most rail services in the rest of Britain were unaffected by the weather. Even if they have experienced some delays.

Passengers have been warned to exercise caution in places where freezing temperatures have made platforms treacherous.

A new weekday schedule was introduced on Monday, following the official schedule change on Sunday. This means some operators, notably Avanti West Coast, have successfully run more services in the last 24 hours than last week and expect to see more trains running today than last Monday, despite numerous cancellations and delays at Euston this morning.

However, services in Britain will be severely disrupted from Tuesday due to the latest rail strike, with RMT members on Network Rail and 14 rail operators grounded for two 48-hour sections on 13-14 and 16-17 December, with services in December 15 and 18 also affected.

ice, snow and fog

UK Weather: Snow, ice and freezing fog cause disruption at peak times after the coldest night of the year.

A snowplow clears snow from the taxi sidings at Manchester Airport which was closed due to snowfall yesterday.

Hundreds of houses in Sheffield run out of gas during the coldest spell of the year. The “winter perils” of freezing fog, sleet and snow could disrupt travel for “at least a week”.

The most snowfall was recorded in Andrewsfield, Essex at 9cm, followed by Charlwood in Surrey at 5cm (1.9in) and Herstmonceaux in East Sussex at 4cm (1.5in).

UK Met Office chief meteorologist Steve Willington said that “although below average, these temperatures are not unusual for this time of year.”

Snow and ice warnings are in place for parts of the UK until Thursday.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has a level 3 cold warning until Friday, warning of temperatures of 2C (35.6F) until then.

Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said much of England and Scotland should expect snow to remain on the ground through the weekend.

“Cold conditions will last all week. Milder conditions will start to move from the south over the weekend before spreading to other parts of the UK,” he said.

“The snow we saw in the south and east of England overnight will last through tonight. Monday will cause overnight temperatures to drop further. But that snow will remain on the ground, especially in the north and in the higher elevations.”

Met Office yellow warnings for snow, ice and fog cover most of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland until 11am on Tuesday. Cardiff and East Wales are also affected.

The Scottish Highlands, eastern Scotland and north-east England will be affected by snow until noon on Thursday, according to advisories.

London and the South East will see some sun on Thursday and Friday, but it will remain around 2°C or 3°C.

By the weekend, temperatures of 7C and rain will likely have melted most of the remaining snow on the ground.

Improve the electrical system

The threat of energy crisis appears to be improving in the kingdom. National Grid retired two coal-fired electric units, which were placed on standby on Monday.

Units at the huge Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire had been placed on standby to supply additional power supplies.

However, industry sources said the units will now not have to be used as other sources may cover Britain’s energy supply. The amount of wind power being generated is expected to increase later today.

Coal-fired power plants, which are not part of the contingency plans, continue to supply some energy today, accounting for about 3% of electricity generation.

A scheduled trial of National Grid’s “demand flexibility service” is still scheduled tonight, which encourages households and businesses to reduce energy consumption.

In France

After a hot summer, the cold has arrived in all of France.

The return of winter is surprising this year as the summer of 2022 was very hot, with unusual temperatures. Since November 30, an unbearable cold has enveloped the entire country. “Temperatures will soften around December 18,” explained Régis Crépet for La Chaîne Météo.

The current cold will not continue a priori for Christmas, nor for New Year’s Eve. With a 60% chance, January shouldn’t be too cold either.

However, The Weather Channel places 15 departments at “significant risk of snow and ice, from Hauts-de-France to Normandy, via part of Ile-de-France and in the south, from Aveyron to Ardèche and Gard in the Haute – Loire.

“Temperatures throughout the country are expected to be below 0.9°C on average for several days,” specified Régis Crépet. “The thermometer must also drop below -2°C across France for at least one day. That is to say, there is no thaw from north to south and from east to west,” he insisted.

These “cold snap” episodes are therefore very rare.. The latest dates back to February 2018 and the previous one to February 2012. These circumstances are increasingly rare due to global warming, which has led to milder winters in recent years.

Régis Crépet, for La Chaîne Météo, clarified that “We will probably experience the coldest winter in the last three years. Namely from the 2018 season, which had been less smooth and closer to the usual winter socks than the following ones”.

A mild winter would have been welcome given the current energy crisis and feared shortages during the usual peak consumption periods, such as the Christmas and New Year holidays. But despite the cold, this December won’t stop the year 2022 from being the warmest in history.

Paris, correspondent