London weather: No sign of snowfall in capital

 
UK snow: yellow warnings remain in place for Sunday (Picture: PA)
Owen Humphreys/PA Wire
Standard Reporter17 January 2015

Temperatures in the capital plummeted this weekend, but there was no sign of snow on Saturday despite Met Office warnings.

People living in Essex and Hertfordshire awoke to a blanket of snow this morning, with Devon, the Chiltern Hills, the Cotswold and high areas in Wales also expecting to be hit.

Alerts still remain in place for sleet and snow as many regions are expected to struggle to stay above zero overnight.

Sub-zero temperatures are expected to bring sleet and snow by Sunday, forecasters say.

England is likely to experience colder than average conditions over the next five days, but a spokeswoman for the Met Office said that overall it is a case of "typical British winter weather".

Spokeswoman Laura Young said: “It doesn't really warm up in Scotland and northern parts of England all weekend, so there is a very good potential for ice on Sunday. People really need to be aware of that.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Finally some snow in Hertfordshire <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&amp;id=222025&amp;p=http://t.co/85RWWqcP2d" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-113851-http://t.co/85RWWqcP2d" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/85RWWqcP2d</a>— Ems (@Loading__Ems) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/Loading__Ems/status/556416953859211264" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-113851-https://twitter.com/Loading__Ems/status/556416953859211264" data-vars-event-id="c23">January 17, 2015</a>

"Basically, snow and sleet, then it becomes very, very clear, but then the temperatures really drop, and then it freezes."

Ms Young said that, despite the number of warnings, there has not been a record number.

She said that by this time last year, almost every day had had some form of severe weather warning since the beginning of December - mostly wind and rain - while there have been fewer this winter.

"We have very short memories, as human beings, for weather. We're forgetting that this time last year huge parts of the country were completely under water.

"We also just had all the storms over Christmas (2013) ... some people were still without power by now," she said, also pointing out the storms that battered Britain in February.

Ms Young said that while it is "colder than average", and there are more snow and ice warnings than this time last year, the current weather is "typical British winter weather".

While it may be "typical", the Met Office has issued an amber severe cold weather alert for north east and north west England, Yorkshire and Humber, and the East and West Midlands.

The amber alert, level three, "requires social and healthcare services to target specific actions at high-risk groups", the Met Office website said.

South west England, south east England and the east of England have been issued with a yellow alert for "alert and readiness".

Public Health England has urged people to look after elderly friends, relatives and neighbours who are at risk.

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