LONDON – Severe winter weather battered the United Kingdom on Thursday, November 20, 2025, unleashing widespread chaos from coast to coast. Heavy snowfall, biting winds, and plummeting temperatures forced the closure of hundreds of schools, snarled major roadways, and left thousands of homes in the dark as Arctic air swept across the nation. The Met Office issued a cascade of warnings, including a rare amber alert for snow in northern England, while forecasters cautioned of potential “thundersnow” – a dramatic phenomenon blending thunderstorms with blizzards – striking vulnerable regions in the hours ahead. Additional yellow warnings for snow and ice blanketed much of the country, signalling a cold snap poised to linger into Friday and beyond.
The onslaught began overnight, transforming familiar landscapes into treacherous terrains. In northeast Scotland, more than 100 schools shut their doors, stranding pupils at home amid drifts that piled up to 9 centimetres in places like Altnaharra in the Highlands. Further south, closures rippled across England and Wales, with 33 schools in North Yorkshire alone declaring a snow day, alongside eight in East Yorkshire. In Wales, the toll was equally stark: 36 schools in Pembrokeshire, 14 in Carmarthenshire, and seven in Ceredigion remained closed, as icy roads rendered travel not just impractical but outright perilous. Local authorities, from Highland Council to Pembrokeshire County Council, cited a deadly combination of black ice and heavy accumulations as the culprits, with some institutions also grappling with heating failures caused by power flickers.
Travel networks buckled under the strain. Major arteries in North Yorkshire, including sections of the A171 near Scarborough, ground to a halt as blizzards whipped up by gusts exceeding 40 mph created whiteout conditions. Motorists in the North York Moors abandoned vehicles on snow-clogged lanes, with reports of gridlock stretching for miles. Public transport fared no better; rail services in Derbyshire and Gwynedd were suspended, while flights from regional airports like Newcastle faced delays or cancellations due to de-icing demands. In the Scottish Borders and East Lothian, yellow ice alerts warned of “ice-rink conditions” on untreated surfaces, prompting emergency gritting operations that stretched local resources thin.
Power infrastructure proved particularly vulnerable in west Wales, where the so-called “Pembrokeshire Dangler” – a persistent band of Atlantic showers colliding with Arctic air – dumped up to 28 centimetres of snow in elevated spots like Crymych. National Grid reported hundreds of outages affecting properties from Pontypridd to Pembrokeshire, triggered by downed lines and overloaded transformers buried under the white blanket. Restoration crews worked around the clock, aiming to reconnect most households by late afternoon, but isolated rural communities faced prolonged blackouts, exacerbating risks for those reliant on electric heating. In one stark example, residents in Tenby described the heaviest snowfall in two decades, with drifts blocking access roads and forcing emergency protocols for rough sleepers.
At the heart of the disruption lay an amber warning for snow enveloping the North York Moors and Yorkshire Wolds, active from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. Forecasters predicted accumulations of 15 to 25 centimetres on higher ground, with gusty northerlies fostering “occasional blizzard conditions” that could isolate hamlets and strand vehicles. The Met Office highlighted the North Sea’s role as a catalyst: its relatively warm waters clashing with frigid Arctic inflows generated unstable air masses, fuelling intense showers laced with hail and, in rare instances, thunder. Thundersnow, observed the previous day in Aberdeenshire and off Northumberland’s coast, offered a preview of the spectacle – lightning flashes amplified by snow’s reflective sheen, thunder muffled to a low rumble within just 2 to 3 miles of the strike. Similar events loomed for the Moors and Scottish Highlands, where visibility could drop to near zero.
Complementing the weather alerts, the UK Health Security Agency escalated its response with amber cold-health warnings for Yorkshire and the Humber, North West England, and North East England – extending through Saturday morning. Yellow alerts covered the remainder of England, underscoring elevated threats to the elderly, those with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions, and the homeless. Guidance urged layering clothing, checking on neighbours, and heating key rooms to at least 18°C, while the government’s Cold Weather Payment scheme activated £25 payouts for qualifying low-income households in affected postal codes.
The mercury’s plunge painted a grim portrait of winter’s premature arrival. Wednesday night etched itself as the season’s coldest across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with readings dipping to -6.6°C at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire. Frost blanketed the landscape from Cornwall’s dusting in Bodmin to Shetland’s deeper cover in Lerwick, with widespread rime icing pavements and windscreens. Rural Scotland braced for even harsher lows of -12°C overnight into Friday, where lying snow could amplify the freeze.
This unseasonal ferocity stemmed from a classic meteorological standoff: a high-pressure ridge over Scandinavia funnelling Arctic air southward, clashing with the Atlantic’s lingering warmth. Accumulations varied wildly: 9 cm in Altnaharra, 6 cm in Dyce (Aberdeenshire), 5 cm in Aviemore, 4 cm at Lake Vyrnwy in Wales, 3 cm in Boulmer (Northumberland), and even 2 cm as far south as Bodmin. Social media buzzed with eyewitness accounts – from sledging in Beverley to overturned lorries in Sunderland – underscoring the human toll.
As the day wore on, three fresh yellow warnings materialised, projecting icy perils through Friday morning in northeast Scotland, west Wales, southwest England, and England’s east coast. Rain, sleet, and hail threatened to slick surfaces further, birthing black ice overnight. Councils ramped up salting fleets, but the sheer volume tested even the best-prepared authorities.
Relief glimmers on the horizon, albeit fleeting. Highs of 3–6°C with sunnier spells are forecast for Friday, but the weekend heralds a milder Atlantic shift – wetter and windier, yet without the deep freeze. Still, this early taste of winter serves as a reminder of nature’s unyielding power as the UK braces for what could be a prolonged cold season ahead.
