UK snow in pictures as Storm Bert leaves entire parts of Britain blanketed in major multi-hazard event

Heavy snowfall and beardown winds brought connected by Storm Bert has unleashed chaos crossed the UK - with cars seen rolling down hills and airdrome runways filled with snow

The UK has been battered with heavy snow, ice, beardown winds and rainfall - successful what forecasters are calling a "multi-hazard event" arsenic Storm Bert made landfall this morning.

Large swathes of the northbound person already been blanketed successful snow, with arsenic overmuch arsenic 16 inches acceptable to autumn amid uncommon amber upwind warnings issued by the Met Office for snowfall and ice. Disruption and delays person swept a fig of UK airports, leaving Brits owed to question from Newcastle, Leeds and Bradford stranded connected flights for arsenic agelong arsenic 3 hours.

British Airways has besides been forced to crushed 36 home and European flights to and from London Heathrow today, including 2 round-trips to Glasgow, Manchester and Nice.

It comes arsenic snowfall is expected arsenic acold southbound arsenic the Welsh valleys, peculiarly astir Aberdare, but the heaviest volition beryllium aboriginal successful the greeting crossed Cumbria and Lancashire. Elsewhere, the heaviest of the rainfall is feared crossed the Isle of Man, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders.

Brits person adjacent been urged to banal up connected essentials up of the tempest arsenic the state besides braces for 70mph winds and dense rain. Many person been warned they should expect powerfulness cuts – with immoderate agrarian communities expected to go wholly chopped disconnected implicit the coming days.

British Gas customers were reportedly advised to stockpile 3 days’ worthy of nutrient and h2o if the upwind disrupts question and power. The vigor supplier besides urged Brits to support telephone chargers, torches and batteries nearby.

National Highways issued a "severe upwind alert" for snowfall successful Yorkshire and north-east England - with "blizzard conditions" acceptable to get and up to 5 hours of dense snowfall expected to "accumulate rapidly astatine each levels". It said: "As the snowfall turns to rain, a accelerated thaw is expected to acceptable successful arsenic temperatures rapidly emergence with localised flooding possible."

Met Office spokesperson Oli Claydon said Storm Bert was a "multi-hazard event". He said: "We're looking astatine beardown winds, immoderate precocious snowfall accumulation, dense rain, each successful assorted antithetic parts of the UK. So it's rather a analyzable upwind set-up for the weekend. Generally speaking, it's a precise unsettled play of upwind ahead."