Major incidents declared as UK grapples with floods, snow and ice

Heavy rainfall struck central England on Monday, causing severe flooding in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire, and prompting a declaration of a major incident. Fire crews in Leicestershire received hundreds of calls for assistance and rescued 59 people. In Lincolnshire, 50 children were safely evacuated after their school became surrounded by floodwaters.

Meanwhile, in North Yorkshire, police discovered the body of a man in floodwaters in the River Ouse at Bishopthorpe. Nearly 200 flood warnings were issued across parts of England, including a new severe warning issued in Leicestershire on Monday evening, indicating that "major evacuations are required." The severe warning for the River Soar covered a caravan park near Barrow upon Soar, signifying a danger to life.

Furthermore, yellow weather warnings for ice and snow were issued for parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the northwest and southwest of England, valid until Tuesday morning. Travel disruptions occurred across the UK on Monday due to the cold and wet weather, affecting roads, railways, and airports. In Leicestershire, rescuers helped evacuate residents from flooded homes and assisted drivers trapped in their vehicles. Leicestershire County Council stated that it had received 160 flood-related incident calls in the county so far.

In Lincolnshire, volunteer drivers in 4x4 vehicles safely transported students away from Edenham Primary School near Bourne after roads to the school were flooded by heavy rainfall. Another 16 people were rescued from homes in Billingborough, near Bourne, and were temporarily housed in the village hall on Monday evening. North Yorkshire Police stated that the man found in the River Ouse at Bishopthorpe is believed to have entered the water on Saturday or Sunday. Police said the man has been formally identified, but they are still working to find his next of kin, and there were no suspicious circumstances.

As of Monday evening, there were 184 flood warnings (meaning flooding is expected) and 301 flood alerts (meaning flooding is possible) in place across England. Wales had one flood warning and 12 flood alerts. The Met Office's snow and ice warning for much of Scotland came into effect at 4 pm and will last until midday on Tuesday. Northern Ireland's yellow ice and snow warning will last until 11 am on Tuesday. Yellow ice and snow warnings for Wales and parts of northwest and southwest England came into effect at 5 pm on Monday, lasting until 10 am on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses in Ireland experienced water and power outages. The cold weather also led to school closures and some transport disruptions.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his thoughts were with all those affected by the flooding and thanked "the responders working hard to keep communities safe." In the House of Commons, Environment Minister Emma Hardy told MPs that flooding was a "personal priority" for her, adding that the Environment Agency was particularly focused on Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Nottinghamshire. She pledged an overhaul of the government’s approach to funding flood defenses “to ensure that the challenges faced by businesses as well as rural and coastal communities are taken into account when providing flood protection,” and warned that more localized flooding is expected in the next 24 to 36 hours.

The UK’s coldest temperature so far this winter was recorded on Sunday night when the temperature at Loch Glascarnoch in Scotland dropped to -13.3 degrees Celsius (8 degrees Fahrenheit). On Monday morning, schools in northeast Scotland and northern England were forced to close due to snowfall, the first day back after the Christmas break. Thousands of homes and businesses in northeast England had their power restored after experiencing outages due to the cold snap, according to network operator Northern Powergrid. Roads across the UK have been impacted by the weather. Severe flooding in Gloucester forced the closure of the M5 motorway on Monday morning. The M25 motorway in Surrey was also closed after a lorry overturned and blocked lanes. Rail lines across the UK have been impacted by flooding, while Manchester Airport was again forced to close two runways following heavy snowfall.

The weather will be calmer tonight as the low-pressure area that brought snow and rain this morning has moved eastwards. There will be widespread frost, with temperatures generally falling below freezing, and a risk of ice almost everywhere. Further wintry showers will arrive in the evening and overnight, brought by north-westerly winds. In northern and western Scotland, 5-10cm of wintry showers are expected above 200 meters. There will be more isolated wintry showers in the same area tomorrow, but for many it will be very cold and dry with plenty of sunshine. Separate snow warnings are in place for the southern counties of England from 9 am to midnight on Wednesday, with 2-5cm of snow possible.

Global temperatures have risen by more than 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times. Winters in the UK have changed as a result. While the climate continues to warm, and we will still see short-term extremes of hot and cold weather, extreme cold snaps are likely to become less frequent. Climate change will bring us more rainfall. Warmer atmospheres are able to hold more moisture, so more intense rainfall is expected to become an increasing feature of UK winters, with a higher risk of flooding.