Flights suspended as Arctic air, snow and sleet blast UK

LONDON (AP) — Dozens of flights were suspended in the U.K. and some schools had to close on Wednesday as snow blanketed much of the country.

Britain’s national weather agency, the Met Office, said temperatures in the Scottish Highlands dropped to minus 15.4 degrees Celsius (4 Fahrenheit) overnight, the coldest night recorded this year so far. Freezing Arctic air is expected to blast the U.K. for the rest of the week, it added, warning of travel disruptions and power cuts in rural regions in the north.

Bristol Airport in southwest England was temporarily closed for snow clearing and all flights were suspended Wednesday morning. In London, Gatwick Airport said some passengers experienced minor delays.

In Wales, dozens of schools were closed amid heavy snowfall.

The Met Office said the unsettled weather was a result of a clash between an Arctic maritime air mass and milder Atlantic air. Sleet, snow and freezing temperatures will continue to affect most areas of the U.K. until Friday, it said.

The weather office said it wasn’t particularly unusual for such a cold snap to hit the country in spring, when conditions are often highly variable. Statistically, it said, snow is marginally more likely in March than it is in December in Britain.

Heavy snow also disrupted some travel in Sweden Wednesday.

About a dozen flights were canceled or delayed at Stockholm Airport, and Stockholm public transport operator SL said some bus and rail services were also affected.

The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute issued a yellow warning, the lowest of its three warnings, for continued difficult weather on Wednesday.