Major UK airport forced to shut runways as snow causes huge disruptions

Heavy snowfall has forced one of the UK's biggest airports to close its runways.

Be careful what you wish for - you may have been dreaming of a white Christmas, but with snow now causing severe disruptions which could jeopardise your travel plans, you may change your mind about wanting a frosty winter.

As we speed towards Christmas, snow has begun falling across several areas of the UK.

Conditions are predicted by forecasters as only growing more severe.

One of the UK's largest and busiest airports has already fallen victim to the conditions, having been forced to close both of its runways as a result of 'heavy snow'.

Today (Saturday, 10 December) Manchester Airport announced it's closed its two runways, leading to a flurry of delayed and cancelled flights.

In a tweet, the airport stated: "Due to heavy snow fall, we have temporary closed both runways.

"Health and safety will always be our top priority and operations will resume at the earliest opportunity.

"Passengers are advised to contact their airline for the most up-to-date flight information."

One traveller took to the tweet claiming they were left sat on a plane for 'nearly two-and-a-half hours' because of the runways being closed.

They're not the only flier to face delays, with other airports also having been impacted by the colder conditions.

Flight cancellations have been taking place at Dublin Airport and Gatwick has also seen delays as a result of frost and ice on the runways.

A severe weather warning is in place in Manchester across the weekend and the Met Office has also released a yellow weather warning for snow and ice in areas such as Wales, the southwest of England, areas of Northern Ireland and most of Scotland, with conditions expected to continue until 12:00pm on Sunday, 11 December.

Met Office chief meteorologist Dan Stroud warns of 'a risk of organised snow arriving across the South East late on Sunday into Monday'.

"[It's] a continuation of a very cold and frosty theme," he said.

The frost and snow is also affecting other areas of travel, with North West Motorway Police having warned drivers to stay vigilant on the roads.

North West Motorway Police tweeted: "Good morning folks, Snow fall this morning is causing surface water on the regions motorways.

"We are currently dealing with RTC’s on the M58, M62, M61 & A556. Please take care if you are heading out today and remember to allow plenty of time & drive carefully."

Featured Image Credit: @jord_73/Twitter/ Colin Walton/ Alamy Stock Photo

Topics: UK News, Travel, Weather

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.