Wintry weather grips the region

Mar 22 2008 by Chris Robinson, The Journal

WINTRY weather gripped the region as the Bank Holiday weekend began yesterday.

Isolated snow showers were reported and strong winds whipped up waves off the North East coast.

Onlookers watched from the safety of their seafront homes as fret was blown off the North Sea by an icy gale.

John Wilson, 43, of Seaham, County Durham, said: “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen waves that size. They were three times the size of the lighthouse.”

Forecasters are predicting snowfall 5cm-10cm deep in some higher parts of the region today and wintry scenes are expected to carry on into tomorrow.

Met Officer forecaster Paul Fox-Hughes said: “Overnight on Friday going into Saturday morning there was quite a large accumulation of snow measuring between 5cm-10 cm with dusts of snow around 2cm at quite low levels in the south.

“The snow will probably not lie because it will be too mild during the day, although it could still be quite disrupting and will be fairly widespread during Sunday before things clear up mid-week.” Police received reports of heavy traffic making its way to the Gateshead MetroCentre, although there were no reports of serious accidents yesterday afternoon.

Heavy traffic was reported on the A19 in North Tyneside and the A596 in Cumbria. The AA said that school holidays now taking place in April have prevented road chaos, despite 6.5 million motorists taking to the roads.

Drivers are being advised to avoid Park Avenue and roads leading off it in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, after a gas leak forced transport bosses to implement an emergency traffic management system.

Routes leading through to Park View, Marden Road, Whitley Road and North Parade are also expected to suffer from a heavy build-up of vehicles throughout the weekend. On the trains, there are 35 major engineering works throughout the holiday period, including a stretch from Haltwhistle to Wetheral on the Tyne Valley line today and tomorrow. Passengers wanting to travel from Carlisle to Newcastle will have to take replacement buses to Haltwhistle.

And on the East Coast Mainline, engineering work between Doncaster and York will mean some services today and tomorrow will be diverted between Doncaster and York via Leeds, causing journey times to be extended by up to 40 minutes.

A spokesman for Network Rail said that the majority of routes were open despite engineering work taking place, adding: “We advise passengers to check before they travel but we are doing everything we can to minimise the impact on their travel.”