Snow at Bristol Airport has caused flight operations to be suspended – several flights have been cancelled with numerous other flights being diverted to other parts of the UK
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Met Office: Heavy snowfall expected for Northern England
Flight operations have been suspended at Bristol Airport amid snow, with officials citing the “challenging weather”.
A Bristol Airport spokesperson said: “The Bristol Airport team are working hard on snow clearing but challenging weather means that flight operations have been suspended until later tonight. This will mainly impact inbound flights but any concerned customers are advised to contact their airline for more information.”
The suspension is expected to more strongly affect inbound flights. The tracking website FlightRadar indicated a number of flights were diverted earlier this evening to other airports in the UK including Cardiff, Belfast and Birmingham.
So far, at least seven inbound flights have been cancelled and at least 17 flights were diverted to other airports in the UK. Cancelled flights include inbound flights from Geneva, Amsterdam and Paris. Bristol Airport said in an update on its website that customers should contact their airlines for the latest flight information.
One passenger, who was due to catch the Geneva flight with easyJet, said on X: “Currently raining in Geneva but our flight home cannot take off as snow has shut down Bristol airport… The world upside down..”
It comes amid an amber warning for snow and rare freezing rain covering most of Wales and central England, including the Midlands and the north-west cities of Liverpool and Manchester, is in place from 6pm on Saturday to midday on Sunday. A second warning for snow covering most of northern England including Leeds, Sheffield and the Lake District, has been issued from 9pm on Saturday to midnight on Sunday.
There are further problems in the southwest with traffic stopped on the M5 southbound due to a number of collisions between junction 24 at Bridgwater and junction 25 at Taunton. National Highways South West said on X: “Please be aware, a number of collisions have occurred on the #M5 in both directions between J21 #WestonSuperMare and J25 #Taunton.”
The National Grid said there were a number of power cuts where it was working to restore power across the Midlands, south-west England and South Wales on Saturday evening, including in Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff.
A Met Office spokesperson confirmed the temperatures reached a low of -8.6C in Aboyne in Aberdeenshire overnight. Chilly conditions were expected to continue for most of Saturday, with most places ranging from 2-5C, with highs of 7C in south-west England. The coldest temperature recorded in January last year was -14C, in Dalwhinnie in the Highlands.
Milder air will briefly cover some southern areas during the weekend before a new northerly flow allows colder conditions to return across the UK next week, the Met Office said. Deputy chief forecaster Dan Holley said temperatures would remain below average with some areas struggling to get above freezing for several days.
Further weather warnings could be issued for the start of next week.
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