Freezing temperatures expose Britain's weakness to cold weather
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Continued freezing temperatures on Tuesday prolonged the transport chaos that has gripped Britain for four days, and weather forecasters predicted that ice and snow would remain on the ground until at least Dec. 26.
The weather is far colder than the usual December temperatures, with London seeing day temperatures struggle to rise above freezing, when the average weather should be 8 degrees centigrade. Night temperatures have plunged to -6 degrees centigrade. On Monday evening the coldest place was in central England, at -18.6 degrees centigrade.
Other parts of the country, notably Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern England have been colder still, and weather forecasters say the whole country can expect more snow before or on Dec. 25, the Christmas Day.
Heavy snowfalls from Wednesday last week onwards hit many northern and central parts of the British isles, and reached London on Saturday. The depth of the snow, in parts of the country up to 15 centimeters, and freezing temperatures have made many roads slow and dangerous to use, and caused unprecedented chaos at the capital city's two main airports and its rail terminals.
With Christmas only a few days away, many flights and trains were fully booked and the closure of airports and delays on the railways have caused severe inconvenience to many.
Britain's airports are privately owned, but the scale of the disruption and its coverage in the media have led to Prime Minister David Cameron intervening.
Cameron told a news conference on Tuesday that he was " frustrated, on behalf of all those affected, that it has taken so long for the situation to improve."
He said helping stranded passengers should be a priority. "The people stuck there are having an incredibly difficult time, especially just a few days from Christmas. Everything must be done to either get them on holiday or get them home safely."
One of the disappointed travelers, set for a long-haul flight to China, told Xinhua that scenes inside the terminals at Heathrow were "unpleasant and chaotic," with hundreds of disappointed passengers turning up and queuing to book their seats at check-in, only to be told flights were canceled.
"Many girls were crying, with their mascara running down their faces," said the traveler, who must now wait until at least Dec. 27 for a flight.
With only one of its two runways working on Tuesday until 5 p.m. when the second runway was finally cleared of snow, and only one third of the normal-day flights taking off, many of the airport's daily average 180,000 passengers were disappointed.
London's second airport, Gatwick, reopened on Tuesday after snow closed it on Monday. A spokesman for the airport said 722 flights were scheduled to take off, handling about 80,000 passengers.
Rail lines to northern England and eastern Scotland were severed on Tuesday afternoon when snow collapsed overhead powerlines for electric trains.
Bad weather in continental Europe has meant that flights to many destinations there have been unable to take off, leading passengers to attempt to travel by the Eurostar highspeed trains, which travel through the Channel Tunnel from London's St Pancras Station to destinations in Belgium and France where further connections can be made.
However, the bad weather had caused cancellations and many delays to Eurostar trains. In unprecedented scenes, thousands of passengers queued in freezing temperatures around St Pancras Station and along roads in the surrounding area in the hope of catching a train.
Eurostar operators said that only those in the queue would get a train, and urged any would-be travelers not already queuing, even those with tickets, to cancel their Christmas travel plans.
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