As temperatures fall to -17C, Britain prepares for the 'big refreeze'
Stay at home
Fog and snow has made travel risky for Britons and their visitors for the holidays. With the weather conditions set to worsen, people have been warned to stay indoors.
Black Ice
Drivers have been warned of "black ice" a thin, almost transparent and very slippery thin sheet of ice on the roads that is considered lethal as it may be almost invisible to drivers.
As per RAC (Royal Automobile Club) UK, black ice may seem as a glossy sheen on the road, adding "you may see it glinting in the sunlight, or spot cars ahead swerving for no obvious reason."
AA president Edmund King as per Independent warned "Often, when you’ve had snow, it melts a bit, then it freezes overnight. Then the next morning you cannot see the ice. It’s black ice or you just can’t see it".
(Image courtesy: Telegraph & Argus)
Busiest day for roadside assistance service
The Met Office as per a Daily Mail report has extended a yellow warning for snow and ice covering northern Scotland and northeast England until Friday noon.
RAC spokesman Simon Williams warned that some roads would be "treacherous" after "a big refreeze overnight”.
The British roadside assistance revealed that "Yesterday (Monday) was officially our busiest day for breakdowns on record, with around 12,000 drivers needing help" since the company began uniformed patrols in 1901.
Freezing -17C temperature
Tuesday was UK's coldest night since February 2021, with temperature dropping to a low of -17.3C (0.8F) In the early hours of the night in Braemar in the Scottish Highlands.
Rail services down
On Tuesday, only around 20 per cent of rail services were working reports BBC. This was in part due to the members of the RMT union staging a walkout over pay and conditions.
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