School closures • Over 4,500 schools across the United Kingdom were closed on 3 February and the reasons given were mostly either accessibility or heating problems, although the blanket closures across whole districts demonstrate that this was not always the case. All schools in
West Yorkshire, including all 197 in the
City of Bradford district were closed, while
Leeds City Council said it was the headteacher's decision whether a school opened. One school in
Halifax,
Calderdale,
West Yorkshire remained closed from 2 to 6 February. Schools in Ireland were also affected. • All of
Surrey's 403 schools closed on 2 and 3 February. 500 schools closed in
Wales as up to of snow fell in some areas. • Most of the schools in East and West
Sussex were closed on 2 and 3 February, nearly all schools in
Brighton were closed on 2 and 3 February. • Every school in the boroughs of
Birmingham,
Dudley and
Solihull in the
West Midlands was shut, after a decision was taken the previous day, while more than 200 other schools in the area were closed. 110 schools were not open on 2 February and many of the decisions on keeping the schools shut for a second day were taken during the same day. • In
Scotland, all 74 schools in the Borders were shut for two days. More than 250 schools were closed across the south-west, with some areas under of snow. • The majority of schools reopened on 4 February, although around 200 remained closed in Wales while other regions saw up to 100 closures. • On 5 February, over 500 schools closed due to snow in the English Midlands • In Ireland, schools across the country were shut from 2 February onwards, with the worst affected areas being
County Donegal,
County Carlow,
County Kilkenny and
County Meath. Some laid the blame of the excessive closures:
not on the public's actual ability to make alternative travel arrangements - to 'cope', but on council and school administrators' having an unhelpful risk-averse 'health and safety driven' legal attitude. Other concerns included parents having to take time off work when the weather was not quite as bad as it seemed.
Swansea University was closed on Tuesday 3 February through concern of the safety of students and staff using icy roads. The
University of Exeter was closed from 15:00 on Friday 6 February because of icy conditions on its hilly campus, while the
University of the West of England in
Bristol and neighbouring institutions the
University of Bath and
Bath Spa University were closed on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th for similar reasons.[http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2009/2/5/snow-thur0830.html
Flooding On 9 February, heavy rain and melting snow caused flooding in southern England, exacerbated by high tides which trapped water in river systems. Heavy snow and floods closed roads in
Cornwall,
Devon,
Oxfordshire,
Somerset,
Hampshire and Sussex. Areas of
Gloucestershire,
Herefordshire and
Worcestershire endured power cuts because of damage caused by the weight of snow on equipment or trees falling onto power lines. In Somerset, 20 people were rescued from their cars in
Taunton and
Yeovil because of floods, and rivers burst their banks.
Transport hauling
The Talisman from
Darlington to London on 7 February. It is seen here passing through
Hertfordshire] Transport links in many parts of the regions were greatly affected by the bad weather. Railway services were reduced in frequency, with the south-east of England most affected, but were reintroduced over the following two days.
South West Trains's services to and from
Waterloo were disrupted, as were
Southeastern and
Southern trains services from
Kent and the
South Coast. By 3 February, only the
District line saw route delays through London. Many rural and urban bus services in Britain and Ireland were suspended.
Transport for London reported that several bus routes had been "suspended or redirected" due to blocked roads. All buses were cancelled on 2 February after 20 buses slid off the road the previous day. London did not have enough snowploughs to cope with the widespread problems. In Ireland
Dublin Bus experienced delays on 3 February, particularly in the southside of the city, around
Lucan,
Tallaght,
Rathfarnham and
Enniskerry. No buses were able to gain access to Lucan village or estates in Tallaght. In other areas buses generally took amended routes, avoiding side roads or rural lanes and using only main roads. In England and Wales both
Severn crossings were closed on 6 February because ice began falling from overhead gantries, affecting both the
M4 and
M48 motorways across the
Severn Estuary; traffic was diverted into
Gloucestershire and onto the M50. This was the first closure because of a weather-related incident of the second Severn crossing since the structure opened in 1996. They reopened on 10 February.
Birmingham and
Bristol. On 5 February heavy snowfalls closed
Dublin Airport in Ireland, leading to the cancellation of approximately half the flight operation or almost 200 flights. The airport closed at 01:00, blaming slippery runways, and flights were diverted to other airports. It reopened at 19:45 that evening
Casualties The icy conditions led to many casualties on roads and exposed areas. Hospitals across the region reported great increases in injuries sustained from falling in the snow as large numbers of people came outside to partake in the winter weather. Sites across south-central England, covering
Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire,
Oxfordshire,
Hampshire and the
Isle of Wight, reported that their emergency departments were very busy with minor injuries, with figures of more than one-quarter of all patients suffering falls. • Two military helicopters were called in to assist ambulance crews in
Devon and
Cornwall, some parts of which were under of snow and claimed to be cut off.
North Devon District Hospital and several hospitals in the region cancelled all outpatient appointments, while others in the area restricted their services to emergencies only. • In
Kelty in
Fife,
Scotland, two ambulance crew members were injured when the vehicle overturned on the A909 en route to an emergency call on 2 February. • Five girls were involved in an accident while sledging on a makeshift
sledge, reported by
BBC News Online to have been the roof of an old Land Rover, at
Rother Valley Country Park in
South Yorkshire. One was airlifted to
Sheffield Northern General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, while the others went by ambulance, having sustained non-critical injuries. • Three men were injured while sledging at
Devil's Dyke in
West Sussex and were rescued by a
4 x 4 support vehicle. • In the West Midlands of England, two men were airlifted to hospital after injuring themselves in separate accidents, one at
Baggeridge Country Park in
Sedgley. • On 2 February, four road accidents were reported on one stretch in
County Sligo,
Ireland. • Amidst heavy snowfalls on the
Wicklow Mountains in Ireland, four motorists became stranded in two 4X4 vehicles in the
Sally Gap on 3–4 February. Mountain rescuers on skis had brought them food and blankets until they could be airlifted to
Blessington. • Around 200 motorists had to be rescued in Devon on 6 February, after their vehicles became stranded in heavy snow. • A mother gave birth to twins in Devon after firefighters were mobilised to her aid when ambulances and rescue helicopters were hindered by the snow.
Deaths • A man died of hypothermia in
Aberdeen where the temperature dropped to . • A man was killed in a car crash at Sandy Bridge in
Llanelli,
Wales on 2 February. • A 16-year-old girl died whilst sledging down a hill on a car bonnet near
Rotherham, South Yorkshire. • A 6-year-old boy died after falling through an iced-over pond at
Streethouse, West Yorkshire on 7 February. He was airlifted to Pinderfields Hospital in
Wakefield, but later died.
News coverage News coverage of the snow received very high ratings, with over 7 million watching the
BBC's
18:00 and
22:00 news programmes. The
BBC News channel received its biggest audience since the
2007 London car bombs, and their website was sent 35,000 pictures and videos from people of the snow, their highest number ever.
Sporting changes and disruptions The region's sporting schedule for the early and latter parts of the week was severely affected by the extreme weather conditions. Sports such as
hurling,
camogie,
gaelic football,
association football,
rugby union,
rugby league,
horse racing,
motorsports and
fox hunting were all disrupted in various ways summarised below. • The English
FA Cup fourth-round replay between
Arsenal and
Cardiff City in North London was postponed, as were
Football League Championship matches involving London sides
Queens Park Rangers and
Crystal Palace. • Sixteen out of twenty-four matches in
Football League's One and
Two were cancelled on 3 February, as was an
FA Trophy match. • The winter
football transfer window for Premier League clubs in Scotland and England, which had already been extended due to 31 January falling on a Saturday rather than a midweek day, was provisionally altered so that clubs could complete transfers. Clubs had to provide evidence that a transfer could not be completed before the 17:00 deadline because of the weather. Leeds United had to miss out on the signing of
Liam Dickinson because the transfer papers came at 17:14, 14 minutes after the deadline because of the weather. • Horse-racing events scheduled for 3 February were cancelled at
Market Rasen,
Sedgefield and
Southwell and the meeting at
Ludlow (scheduled for 4 February) was cancelled the same day. • In rugby union the
England Saxons vs
Ireland A match was cancelled. • In
rugby league,
Halifax vs
Blackpool Panthers,
London Skolars vs
Dewsbury Rams and
Oldham R.L.F.C. vs
Rochdale Hornets had to rearrange their
Northern Rail Cup fixtures. Of the three
Super League games due to take place during the weekend of 6–8 February,
Leeds Rhinos vs
Crusaders and
Wigan Warriors vs
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats went ahead, but
Harlequins RL vs
Bradford Bulls had to be postponed due to a frozen pitch. • The football fixtures were disrupted again on 7–8 February. Games in the Football League Championship between
Barnsley -
Crystal Palace,
Charlton Athletic -
Cardiff City and
Watford -
Southampton were all called off. Only three matches were played in Football League One after eight were postponed and it was a similar story in Football League Two with just five matches going ahead, while in the
Conference National, only two matches were played. Several matches were called off in Scotland, at
Airdrie,
Aberdeen (both
Scottish Cup),
Elgin (Division Three) and
Peterhead (Division Two). • On 8 February
Gaelic football and
hurling fixtures in Ireland's
Allianz National League were disrupted by that day's fall of snow. Eleven games were postponed in the
Allianz NHL:
Galway v
Kilkenny,
Offaly v
Carlow,
Laois v
Down,
Meath v
Kildare,
Wicklow v
Armagh,
Donegal v
Longford,
Tyrone v
Fingal,
Sligo v
Monaghan,
Laois v
Down,
Cavan v
Fermanagh and
Roscommon v
London. One match in the
Allianz NFL was postponed for the same reason,
Leitrim v
Carlow. • All
camogie fixtures were cancelled and in the
Leinster Under-21 Football Championship 3 games were cancelled:
Wicklow v
Longford,
Wexford v
Kildare and
Louth v
Dublin. • In motorsports, the Irish Championship Rallycross at
Mondello Park was cancelled. • A point-to point meeting in
Gorey,
County Wexford in Ireland was cancelled. • The
Island Hunt Foxhounds was cancelled on 8 February. ==Reaction==