This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

One man has died and nearly 100 people have had to spend the night in a school after heavy snowfall over the weekend.

A climber fell more than 60 metres to his death in the Lake District on Saturday and the wintry conditions forced the closure of a lengthy stretch of road in south-west England on Sunday, meaning many people had to be taken to a rest centre in a school.

More wintry conditions were expected on Monday morning as Met Office forecasters warned that snow and ice were likely to make untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths dangerous.

A yellow warning – the least severe – covering the whole of England, most of Wales and large parts of Scotland’s most densely populated areas is in place for the morning.

The climber, who has not been named, fell amid ice, snow and freezing conditions in the national park. Mountain rescuers said they were called at about 3.30pm on Saturday after the fall at Brown Cove Crags, one of the most popular climbs on Helvellyn.

Strong winds meant a rescue helicopter could not winch the man and rescue team members warned of the “serious challenge” the 800m-high mountain posed in icy weather.

“Conditions in the valley give no clue to how difficult conditions will be at 800m,” said Keswick and Patterdale mountain rescue. “Snow patches have frozen to bullet-hard ice, making crampons – and an ice axe – to arrest any slip or fall absolutely essential.”

In North Yorkshire, 30 runners were treated for hypothermia in “appalling wintry conditions” during a 55-mile ultramarathon on Saturday.

The Hardmoors 55, in which 300 people ran over the North York Moors and Cleveland Hills, was halted. A third of the competitors had to be rescued by Cleveland mountain rescue in the village of Kildale.

South-west England was among the hardest hit regions and forecasters said Monday would bring more snow, “easing from the north by morning, with a few light snow showers for other southern counties for a time”.



Devon and Cornwall police said a 64-mile stretch of the A30 was hit by “significant snow” overnight, forcing 82 people to stay in a rest centre at Okehampton college on the north side of Dartmoor.

Conditions changed “rapidly from passable to impossible”, police said, and the section of road between the M5 at Exeter and the A38 at Bodmin was shut while officers and Highways England cleared the route.

DevonCornwall Police (@DC_Police) #A30 #DevonandCornwall closed, significant snow that highways are working to clear, if you`re already on it drive with caution as conditions are variable changing rapidly from passable to impossible , if not on it DELAY YOUR JOURNEY until midmorning at the earliest

Richard White, a volunteer rest centre manager, said spirits were high among the residents at Okehampton college – despite their dramatic evening.

“It is people coming together, it’s the community working not for the benefit of each other, but for the whole community.”

Highways England advised motorists wanting to travel on the A30 to instead use the A38 between Exeter and Bodmin.

Meanwhile, Devon county council confirmed the closure of dozens of schools on Monday, while train services were also affected.

Met Office meteorologist John West said: “It’s been a very, very cold night overnight with widespread frost. A lot of the lying snow seen across the country over the weekend has created some icy stretches this morning.



“In the south-west, we’ve seen a constant flow of snow coming in from the English Channel with snow depths going up and up. In Exeter, we have at least 10cm of snow lying at the moment. Many routes towards Dartmoor and Exmoor have the potential to see a lot of disruption because of ice this morning.”

Forecasters painted a better picture for the rest of the day, with drier and brighter weather on the horizon for much of the country, but warned that it would still feel particularly cold due to the wind chill.

West said: “We could see highs of 5C (41F) or 6C but add some wind chill on there and it won’t feel very pleasant at all.

“However, there will be some decent, fine weather, plenty of sunshine around today, particularly in northern parts, and a bit of an improvement from what we’ve seen over the weekend.”

On Sunday, ice led to delays and cancellations at Gatwick airport – with 37 flights grounded.

