Fresh snowfalls blanket England

Children play next to a row of cars covered in snow in Alnwick, NorthumberlandThe north of England has seen the heaviest snowfalls
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Snow is spreading across much of England causing travel problems and school closures.

Falls spread from the North to the Midlands and Merseyside overnight, with the South East and London now seeing snow.

Hundreds of school closures have been announced in the North East, Yorkshire, the Midlands, Kent and Cornwall, with more expected.

Early flight delays were announced at Newcastle and Leeds-Bradford airports.

Met Office UK severe weather warnings are in place for much of England.

BBC broadcast meteorologist Alex Deakin said: “It will be bitterly cold with a bone chilling wind blowing across the whole of the country.”

Nearly 100 commuters travelling from central London to Ashford in Kent were stranded on a SouthEastern train for more than two hours with no power after the tracks froze in the sub-zero temperatures on Monday night.

The 2307 GMT service from London Victoria became stuck between Borough Green and West Malling before being towed to safety by another train.

Many roads in northern and eastern England have been affected by heavy snow.

The A169 is closed in the Whitby area because of drifting wet snow, while the M1 is down to one lane between junction 41-39Main roads are impassable in Barnsley and the M18 was closed overnight after a snow-related road accidentIn Cumbria the A66 remains closed, as is the A686In Lincolnshire, the A157 Wragby to Louth is impassable

A rescue operation was launched in Lincolnshire on Monday night to free up to 60 cars stuck on a road which had become impassable.

Police and farmers worked to move the vehicles, which became trapped on a hill on the A153 near Louth.

The UK has been experiencing the earliest widespread snowfall since 1993.

The unusual weather is being caused by high pressure over Greenland and low pressure in the Baltic states, forcing cold winds from the north-east across Europe.

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UK forecast for 30/11/2010

Map Key

land colour Landcloud colour CloudLakes, Rivers & Sea colour Lakes, Rivers & Sea

Fog Fog Colour Range

Light
Heavy

Frost Frost Colour Range

Light
Heavy

Pressure Fronts

Cold Front IllustrationCold
Warm Front IllustrationWarm
Occluded Front IllustrationOccluded

Rain Rain Colour Range

Light
Heavy
Extreme

Snow Snow Colour Range

Light
Heavy

Temperature tab only

Temperature (°C) Temperature range chart

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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