LONDON: Snow and ice forced hundreds of schools to shut in the UK and badly disrupted travel across the country and neighboring France on Monday, grounding flights in some of the coldest weather of the winter so far.
The UK’s Met Office issued fresh amber weather warnings for Monday and Tuesday for snow and ice for Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England and said cold weather health alerts for all English regions would remain in place until Friday.
The disruption follows a cold snap in recent days in the UK.
Temperatures dropped to a low of -10.9C in the high hills of Shap in Cumbria, northwest England, on Sunday night.
There was then heavy snowfall in some regions, with Tomintoul, near Inverness in northeast Scotland, recording the highest amount, 52 centimeters (20 inches), as of 10:00 am (1000 GMT) on Monday.
“Overnight into Tuesday temperatures will once again fall below freezing for much of the country, with the lowest temperatures over lying snow possibly dipping to -12C,” the Met Office said.
A total of 212 schools were closed in Northern Ireland on Monday, the authorities said, with dozens of schools also shut in Scotland, Wales and northern England.
Flights were canceled at airports including Liverpool in northwest England, Aberdeen and Inverness in northeast Scotland, and Belfast in Northern Ireland.
At France’s major Paris airports of Charles de Gaulle and Orly, heavy snowfall forced airlines to reduce their flights by 15 percent.
Some 250 snowplows were on standby at the two airports, French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot told a press conference, adding there would likely be “cancelations and some delays.”
Local, regional and international railways across the UK were also affected.
In Paris, snow disrupted the bus network on Monday afternoon and roads, particularly in the northwest Normandy region as well as in the French capital, were badly affected with long tailbacks.
The Eurostar train service linking the UK to the European mainland advised passengers traveling between London and the Netherlands to postpone their journeys as services could not operate beyond Brussels due to the weather in the Netherlands.
British railway authorities meanwhile deployed snowplows in Scotland to try to clear tracks hit by heavy snow.
In Scotland, the police cautioned road users not to try to drive through closed roads.
The UK’s roadside assistance provider, the AA, said there had been a 40 percent spike in callouts compared to a typical Monday.
Belfast Zoo remained closed due to the weather conditions on Monday, while snow, ice or low temperature warnings were in place across neighboring Ireland.
Snow, cold snap in UK, France triggers school, travel disruptions
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Snow, cold snap in UK, France triggers school, travel disruptions
- Temperatures dropped to a low of -10.9C in the high hills of northwest England, on Sunday night
- Flights were canceled at UK airports including Liverpool, Aberdeen, Inverness and Belfast
In show of support, Canada, France open consulates in Greenland
- Decisions taken in a strong show of support for Greenland government amid threats by US President Trump to seize the island
COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Canada and France, which both adamantly oppose Donald Trump’s wish to control Greenland, will open consulates in the Danish autonomous territory’s capital on Friday, in a strong show of support for the local government.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island for security reasons.
The US president last month backed off his threats to seize Greenland after saying he had struck a “framework” deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater American influence.
A US-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss ways to meet Washington’s security concerns in the Arctic, but the details of the talks have not been made public.
While Denmark and Greenland have said they share Trump’s security concerns, they have insisted that sovereignty and territorial integrity are a “red line” in the discussions.
“In a sense, it’s a victory for Greenlanders to see two allies opening diplomatic representations in Nuuk,” said Jeppe Strandsbjerg, a political scientist at the University of Greenland.
“There is great appreciation for the support against what Trump has said.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Paris’s plans to open a consulate during a visit to Nuuk in June, where he expressed Europe’s “solidarity” with Greenland and criticized Trump’s ambitions.
The newly-appointed French consul, Jean-Noel Poirier, has previously served as ambassador to Vietnam.
Canada meanwhile announced in late 2024 that it would open a consulate in Greenland to boost cooperation.
The opening of the consulates is “a way of telling Donald Trump that his aggression against Greenland and Denmark is not a question for Greenland and Denmark alone, it’s also a question for European allies and also for Canada as an ally, as a friend of Greenland and the European allies also,” Ulrik Pram Gad, Arctic expert at the Danish Institute of International Studies, told AFP.
“It’s a small step, part of a strategy where we are making this problem European,” said Christine Nissen, security and defense analyst at the Europa think tank.
“The consequences are obviously not just Danish. It’s European and global.”
Recognition
According to Strandsbjerg, the two consulates — which will be attached to the French and Canadian embassies in Copenhagen — will give Greenland an opportunity to “practice” at being independent, as the island has long dreamt of cutting its ties to Denmark one day.
The decision to open diplomatic missions is also a recognition of Greenland’s growing autonomy, laid out in its 2009 Self-Government Act, Nissen said.
“In terms of their own quest for sovereignty, the Greenlandic people will think to have more direct contact with other European countries,” she said.
That would make it possible to reduce Denmark’s role “by diversifying Greenland’s dependence on the outside world, so that it is not solely dependent on Denmark and can have more ties for its economy, trade, investments, politics and so on,” echoed Pram Gad.
Greenland has had diplomatic ties with the European Union since 1992, with Washington since 2014 and with Iceland since 2017.
Iceland opened its consulate in Nuuk in 2013, while the United States, which had a consulate in the Greenlandic capital from 1940 to 1953, reopened its mission in 2020.
The European Commission opened its office in 2024.
