Snow Warning: New Cold Snap Brings More Misery

Britain was bracing itself for more cold weather tonight as Scotland and the north of England were once again battered by snow.

Temperatures will drop well below zero overnight and forecasters warned another six inches of snow could fall amid Arctic winds.

Many areas, particularly the higher ground in eastern Scotland and North East England, will see up to 15cms (six inches) of snow and the central band of Scotland could be hard hit into Tuesday.

The cold weather also meant more misery for road and rail travellers on Monday morning with serious disruption on a number of key commuter routes.

The Met Office has issued a yellow severe weather warning for tomorrow, urging those in the regions likely to be affected by snow to be aware.

The Grampians, eastern parts of the Southern Uplands, the Lake District and the Pennines are expected to be hit hard.

Wales, the Midlands, East Anglia and parts of the South East may also wake to a covering of up to one inch of snow on Wednesday morning and overnight frost is expected throughout the country.

The frost has caused problems for some south-east England train companies that were hit by a build-up of ice on the "third rail" from which trains get their power.

Services in Hampshire, Surrey and Kent were particularly affected, with a number of trains being delayed and cancelled, while passengers were left waiting for trains between Rugby, Northampton and London, and signalling problems in Glasgow led to delays.

Meanwhile, flights in and out of Leeds-Bradford Airport were halted on Monday morning after about 3cm of snow fell.

The A66 across the Pennines between Bowes, County Durham, and Stainmore, Cumbria, was also closed because of heavy snow.

Sky News weather presenter Isobel Lang said the wintry weather would continue even as the spring equinox takes place.

"Snow and strong, cold east winds will cause disruption across eastern Scotland later on Monday and into Tuesday," she said.

"Over 10cm to 20cm (4in to 8in) of snow is forecast, with the highest accumulations over hills. It will feel freezing cold.

"Snow is likely in other areas too, for example across the Cumbrian Fells and Pennines today, and perhaps across eastern England later on Tuesday too.

"Drier, clearer weather midweek will lead to some widespread sharp frosts with lows of minus five to minus 10 Celsius."

Lang said the current conditions are in marked contrast to those last year when high pressure brought a settled and sunny period to much of the UK.

She explained: "Temperatures popped up to 22.8C at St James' Park at the end of the month, and broke Scottish records for March when Aboyne in Aberdeenshire hit 23.6C on March 27."