Heavy snowfall forces Manchester Airport to close runways

Manchester Airport has temporarily closed both its runways due to heavy snowfall. Temperatures plunged below minus 10C (14F) in parts of the UK overnight amid warnings of

snow, ice and travel disruption. Drumnadrochit near Inverness in the Highlands hit minus 10.4C (13.28F) in the early hours of Thursday, making it the coldest recorded

temperature of the year so far. As Topcliffe in north Yorkshire got down to minus 7.4C (18.68F), the coldest in England, Manchester Airport was forced to close its

runways. A statement on Twitter said: "Following a period of heavy snowfall, we have temporarily closed both runways. "Health and safety will always be our top

priority and operations will resume at the earliest opportunity. "Passengers are advised to contact their airline for the most up-to-date flight information." Susie

Wallace, a 47-year-old IT security manager from Liverpool, has been stuck at Manchester Airport since 5am for her flight to Morocco Ms Wallace , speaking from inside the

plane, said: “Given the forecasts this week and given the weather yesterday I’m finding it hard to comprehend that they weren’t working on this much earlier. "Arriving in

the airport there was absolutely no sign or notice that flights would be impacted. “It feels like they just want people in there spending money, or really a manager just

woke up or turned up for work and that’s when they started dealing with the situation.”Weather warnings A series of yellow weather warnings for snow and ice from the Met

Office came in as a major incident was declared in Somerset due to the risk of flooding.