Travel was disrupted, householders suffered power cuts and schools were shut as heavy snow swept across the UK on the coldest day for seven years. Emergency services up and down the UK said they were being inundated and called on people to only travel if they needed to. The coldest spot was Braemar in north-east Scotland, where residents shivered in temperatures of –14.4C (6.1F), the Met Office said – the lowest in the UK since 2012, when it reached –15.6C (3.9F) at Holbeach in Lincolnshire. The Met Office said the sleet and snow would ease in the south on Friday but there could be more wintry showers, especially in the north and east. Mark Wilson, a Met Office forecaster, said the cold temperatures were due to stick around: “Saturday night into Sunday could also be very cold.”

Source: The Guardian January 31, 2019 17:48 UTC