‘Beast from the East’ to unleash dangerous snow and cold on UK this week.
Brits cleared supermarket shelves across the UK as a freezing Siberian blast blanketed the country with snow.
People rushed to stock up on supplies as the cold snap – dubbed the Beast from the East – saw temperatures plummet below zero.
Temperatures in London hit minus 5C overnight and plunged as low at minus 8.4C in parts of Scotland, The Met Office said.
Many schools across the country were shut today, including more than 200 in Wales, 131 in Kent and 62 in East Sussex. The lowest overnight temperature of -8.9C (16F) was recorded in Farnborough, Hampshire.
Highways England warned motorists of treacherous driving conditions as trains and flights up and down the country were cancelled and delayed.
Shoppers shared images of barren shelves on social media.
Many were left baffled by the rush claiming “not one flake of snow” had fallen in parts of the country.
Mark Dowling, from Ipswich, wrote: “#BeastFromTheEast #StormEmma This is ridiculous. Empty shelves in the supermarket. Doomsday approaches 🙈 it will be cold and it might snow for the day … the end”.
In Dublin, Eamonn Nolan said: “People of Dublin 16 losing it with a bit of snow coming… completely empty bread shelves in local supermarket.”
In a Waitrose branch in Guernsey one man was told that “panic buying” had caused stock to fly off the shelves.
Richard Harding wrote: “Large numbers of empty shelves @waitrose Admiral Park. I was told panic buying has begun even though not a flake of snow has fallen on @Guernsey ! #BeastFromTheEast @islandfm.”
Large numbers of empty shelves @waitrose Admiral Park. I was told panic buying has begun even though not a flake of snow has fallen on @Guernsey ! #BeastFromTheEast @islandfm pic.twitter.com/DBhDHj6566
— Richard Harding (Richard West) (@laughingradiodj) February 26, 2018
Waitrose has since told the Standard that the stock shortage was due to the ferry which ships stock to the store being held up due to the poor weather, they said that the problem has since been resolved.
Weather warnings were in place across the UK and Ireland on Tuesday morning with the Met office predicting frequent snow showers.
London and the South East remained under an amber weather warning with winter flurries expected throughout the day.
Elsewhere in the country temperatures were expected to remain freezing as the nation faces its coldest weather since 1991.
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