There is severe disruption at Bristol Airport on Saturday, January 4 as flight operations have been suspended due to poor weather. As it stands at 9pm, 19 flights had already been delayed or diverted to either Birmingham or Cardiff and two were cancelled due to snowfall.
Around 18 flights were impacted before the decision was taken to suspend services. The major airport, used by a number of Welsh travellers, had warned that snowfall in the area may result in some delays to flights, and according to FlightRadar, at least nine flights which were set to arrive at the airport had been diverted.
A Bristol Airport spokesperson said work is being done to clear the snow as soon as possible. A statement to BristolLive read: “The Bristol Airport team are working hard on snow clearing but challenging weather means that flight operations have been suspended until later tonight. This will mainly impact inbound flights but any concerned customers are advised to contact their airline for more information.”
Flights from Grenbole-Isere, Geneva, Lanzarotte, Alicante, Copenhagen, Prague, Innsbruck, Lisbon, Geneva, Belfast International, Chambery-Savole, Geneva, Malaga, Innsbruck, Birmingham, Paris, Geneva, Tenerife, Fuerteventura are all impacted. Some are cancelled and some diverted either to Birmingham or Cardiff.
Easyjet’s Paris flight, due to arrive at 9.15pm, has been cancelled, as has the 21.25 easyJet arrival from Geneva. The Belfast International flight due to arrive at 7.05pm was diverted to Cardiff, as was the Ryanair Copenhagen flight arriving at 6.35pm.
Four planes have been diverted to Birmingham International, the Jet2.com Lanzarote flight was due to arrive at 5.35pm; the Alicante Ryanair service which should have landed at 6.35pm; Ryanair’s service from Prague and the airline’s Alicante service due to arrive at 6.35pm.
In terms of departures, the Easyjet service to Paris at 6.05pm was cancelled. Ryanair’s Copenhagen and Prague flights both scheduled for a 7.20pm departure are delayed. The 7.30pm to Edinburgh has also been cancelled.
Three weather warnings are in place for Wales as of Saturday evening. The most serious is an amber warning for snow and ice. The weather forecast tonight for Wales reads: “Snow across the south will move northwards across the country overnight. Snow turns to rain in the south by dawn but freezing rain will fall widely causing icy surfaces and hazardous traveling conditions. Temperatures widely sub zero. Minimum temperature -2 °C.”
There is up to 30-40cm of snow possible in parts of northern England. The Met Office advice online says: “After another cold night on Friday night, with ice in many places, an area of low pressure will move into the UK from the southwest on Saturday. Initially this will bring rain to south west England before turning increasingly to snow as it bumps into the cold air over the UK through the late afternoon and through the evening into Sunday.” For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.
It adds: “Snow will accumulate through the evening and into Sunday before turning to rain in central and southern areas of England. It will continue to fall as snow in northern England, where some significant accumulations could develop through Sunday. As the snow turns to rain further south, and especially over Wales, there is a risk of freezing rain, a dangerous weather phenomenon which sees rain freezing instantly when it reaches the surface causing dangerous icy conditions.”
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