Schools shut, drivers stuck as gales and blizzards batter UK

LONDON (AP) — Trains have been canceled, schools shut and drivers stuck for hours as a blast of snow and wind hits Britain for the second time in a week. The worst-hit area Friday was northern England and north Wales, where 50 mph (80 kph) wind gusts were accompanied by up to a foot (30 centimeters) of snow. Some drivers spent more than seven hours in their cars after traffic ground to a halt on the M62 highway that cuts across northern England. Many roads on high ground in central England’s Peak District were impassable, and the train line linking the cities of Manchester and Sheffield was closed by fallen trees.