Worst day yet after another night of snow

School closures and travel information

Up to 40cm (16in) of snow is expected to cover parts of the home counties as arctic conditions continue to grip the country, paralysing roads, trains and airports and causing havoc for schools and businesses.

Firefighters are urging people to take care after two incidents in 24 hours where dogs have fallen through ice.

In the latest incident yesterday afternoon at Humberston Country Park in Cleethorpes, the female owner was trying to go into the water to rescue her pet when the first officer turned up. The dog got out itself.

On Monday firefighters used a ladder to rescue a dog which had gone through the ice in a lake at Barton-upon-Humber.

Complaints about icy paths and roads not being gritted in Hull and the East Riding continued yesterday.

Hull Council said it had redeployed street cleaners and grounds maintenance staff to help grit pavements around the city, but said it was "impossible" to cover its 1,000 miles of footpaths.

East Riding councillor Keith Moore claimed East Riding Council had been "caught on the hop", leaving elderly people imprisoned in their own homes.

He said despite requests, the road to Hook Primary School, near Goole, hadn't been gritted.

However, the council said it gritted a higher proportion of its network than most other councils – up to 60 per cent.

Police said there were no reports of serious accidents.

Hospitals in the region have been forced to scrap clinics and postpone some operations with staff unable to reach work, while scores of patients have cancelled appointments.

Ambulance chiefs suspended transport services for routine, non-urgent hospital appointments yesterday and today, though patients with essential appointments for kidney or cancer treatments will still be picked up.

Some doctors and nurses at Airedale Hospital, near Keighley, were last night due to spend the night there to ensure staffing levels were maintained after some colleagues were unable to get to work. Similar arrangements were being made in Barnsley. An Airedale spokeswoman said most outpatient clinics had been cancelled but the hospital was "coping well" despite the conditions.

Many public buildings have been closed, including libraries and leisure and health centres.

Many shops shut early or remained closed across the region but there was a boost for some larger stores which reported huge increases in sales of winter goods.

A spokeswoman for B&Q said: "The big freeze is certainly having an impact on weather-related products. In the last three weeks, compared to last year, sales of rock salt are up 150 per cent, shovels up 200 per cent and wellies up 120 per cent."

Tesco said soup sales were up 80 per cent on two weeks ago, while Halfords said it had seen a five-fold increase in sales of snow chains for wheels to increase road grip.

For thousands of youngsters, the icy conditions mean nothing more than extra days off school and an opportunity to enjoy sledging and snowman-building, with more than 500 schools closed across the region yesterday.

In Huddersfield, the council said yesterday that it had enough grit for only one more day and was awaiting further deliveries.

Councillor David Sheard, cabinet member for highways and transportation on Kirklees Council, said: "We are doing our best to keep the priority routes open against what are proving to be relentless weather conditions, quite possibly the worst cold snap for two decades."

In Wakefield the council decided to close non-essential services – including leisure centres, galleries, museums, recycling centres and libraries – from yesterday afternoon.

In Leeds, refuse collection crews turned up for work yesterday morning and attempted to empty bins but had to turn back for safety reasons. The council put them on gritting and snow-clearing duties.

The cold snap is also thought to have caused several water mains to burst. Major traffic delays were caused by a burst main on the A65 Otley Road in Guiseley, Leeds.

In Sheffield city centre, stores on Fargate including WH Smith and River Island were shut due to the bad weather and a power cut. Castle Market also closed as did numerous sports centres including the Don Valley Stadium.

Although Meadowhall shopping centre was open as usual in the morning, it closed at 4pm – five hours earlier than usual.

In Rotherham 74 schools closed yesterday, as did 61 in Doncaster, 52 in Sheffield and 30 in Barnsley, where the council admitted it was running out of grit.

A spokesman for Barnsley Council said: "Although our stock levels are reducing rapidly, we are not yet in a critical position. We are currently experiencing a great strain on our resources."

After the north of England and Scotland were worst-hit by the cold snap yesterday, the Met Office warned of "extreme weather" for much of southern England, with only marginally better conditions elsewhere.

Forecasters said Hampshire, Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire could see "exceptionally heavy snowfall" as the blizzards moved south.

Between 15cm and 30cm (6in and 12in) of snow is expected but there could be "in excess of 40cm (16in)", the Met Office said.

"This is expected to cause widespread disruption to the transport network and could lead to problems with power supplies.

"The public are advised to take extreme care," the forecaster warned.

Gatwick Airport was forced to close overnight due to heavy snowfall, with flights at Luton, Birmingham and Southampton also being suspended.

Staff at Manchester and Liverpool Airports were working to return to normal after heavy snow forced them to close temporarily yesterday.

Passengers at Heathrow, Glasgow and Leeds Bradford International also faced delayed flights.

On the roads, motorists in the north face widespread icy roads after temperatures plunged to below freezing overnight turning yesterday's snowfalls into dangerous driving conditions.

Hundreds of drivers were stranded overnight on the A3 in Hampshire, with many other motorists elsewhere in the snow-hit county forced to abandon their vehicles as roads became impassable.

Among other roads badly congested last night were the A1 northbound at Newcastle Upon Tyne, A30 eastbound in Cornwall, A27 westbound in West Sussex and the M27 eastbound in Hampshire.

Train operators across the country are also warning of disruption to their services.

South West Trains - whose routes pass through worst-hit Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset - is running a restricted service today.

Chiltern Railways also said it was running an amended timetable, while Virgin Trains warned that trains on all routes via Carlisle were being delayed because of broken down trains caused by the poor weather.

Elsewhere, filming was suspended on television soap Coronation Street because of heavy snow in Manchester. The city was also forced to suspend its bus services for a time.

Thousands of children enjoyed an extra day off yesterday after schools up and down the country were forced to shut their doors.

All schools in Aberdeenshire, Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders were shut, while students across the north of England, Wales and Cornwall were also sent home for the day.

More than 1,000 schools were closed across the North West, while schools across the Pennines also bore the brunt of the closures with around 160 shut in North Yorkshire and nearly 130 in the Bradford area.

Many people revelled in the snowy conditions, taking to sledges and building snowmen.

Organisers hope a historic outdoor curling competition could go ahead for the first time in more than 30 years thanks to the prolonged cold snap.

The Grand Match - held three times since 1945 - could happen if thick ice forms on Scotland's lochs.

National Grid, which issued only its second ever gas balancing alert (GBA) on Monday after a 30% surge in seasonal demand, said the warning would not be repeated today.

GBAs are a way of warning customers on "interruptible contracts" to ease off on the fuel as well as encouraging suppliers to bring in more gas.

A spokeswoman said the situation was being monitored on a daily basis but stressed supplies were in place to cope with demand.

Grit stocks in England are generally holding up to demand, according to the Highways Agency.

But in north London, Harrow Council said only 650 tonnes of salt remained - enough for four days at the heaviest rate of spreading, or more than a fortnight at a lighter rate.

Budget airline easyJet cancelled more than 70 services today, from airports including Gatwick, Bristol, Belfast, Newcastle and Luton.

A total of 34 flights from Gatwick have been scrapped, as well as 15 from Luton.

British Airways also warned of more flight disruption today.

"Customers are strongly advised to check the status of their flight before they leave for the airport," the airline said.

North Yorkshire Police said a serious accident had closed the A1.

The road was shut southbound between the junctions with the A6136 and the A684, and northbound between junction 49 and the A6136.

The Highways Agency said the A66 in Cumbria was also shut between the A1 and the A685.

Hundreds of schools were shut again today due to the bad weather.

Salford City Council said all its schools, children's centres and local authority nurseries were closing.

At least 108 schools in Manchester have also been shut, with Warrington closing all its schools in the borough.

Several dozen schools in Gloucestershire - including Cheltenham, Stroud and Tewkesbury - are also not opening.

And more than 10 establishments in Surrey are closing their doors.

Other local authorities reporting school closures included Cumbria, St Helens and North Yorkshire.