Britain prepares for Arctic Easter
Angela Balakrishnan guardian.co.uk, Wednesday March 19 2008
guardian.co.uk
Forecasters are warning Britons to brace themselves for bitterly cold temperatures and travel delays over the Easter holiday period.
The country is expected to face biting Arctic winds, snow and some of the worst weather on the roads over the earliest Easter since 1913.
Scotland, the north-east and eastern England were likely to be hit with snow from tomorrow night, but the Met Office said this could spread to the south-east by the weekend.
Advisory notes have been issued, warning of snowfall of up to 10cm in some places in the north.
Temperatures were expected to hover between 4C and 8C during the day and drop as low as –3C at night.
"There will be a mixed bag of what is falling from the sky," a Met Office spokesman said. "Rain, hail, sleet, snow, anything is possible."
The cold snap was expected to last until next week.
Last Easter, when the long weekend fell in April, temperatures hit 20C.
Motoring organisations, meanwhile, warned that families hoping get away on extended breaks might face difficulties.
The AA said 6.5m cars were expected to be on the road over the weekend, with traffic tomorrow and on Easter Monday expected to be 10% heavier than normal.
Coastal towns, and roads surrounding major attractions would be the worst affected, with icy roads exacerbating the problem.
The AA patrol of the year, Adam Ashmore, said: "Motorists might be under the impression that, due to the very early timing of Easter this year and the fragmentation of school holidays, the roads will be much quieter than usual - but we don't expect this to be the case.
"This year everyone hitting the road for an Easter break will be setting off at the same time and on similar routes region-by-region so congestion could potentially be worse than usual."
Railway users were also expected to face delays and cancellations due to Network Rail engineering work.
In London, Euston station would be closed to Virgin West Coast services over Easter, while all lines into Liverpool Street station would be closed on Sunday and Monday.
After major work overruns in the New Year, Network Rail is under pressure to ensure this next batch of bank holiday projects is completed on time. |
