Dozens of people were caught out in the travel disruption that left many homes in Gwent covered in a blanket of snow during the hours of darkness on Saturday, with many waking up to a very white weekend on Sunday morning as some of the snow from overnight had settled.
Local council gritters were out and about first thing across Gwent, attempting to ensure that main travel routes through the area were clear, with Traffic Wales South announcing by around 9am that most travel routes on their network were clear, but advising people to only travel if completely necessary as “hazardous conditions” still remained.
A number of public transport services were also impacted, particularly those in some of the more heavily affected areas, including Monmouth and Chepstow, where Newport Bus were forced to cancel at least two of their services in the morning, having cancelled multiple services from around 7pm the night before.
Other services, including the R1 and 60, were adapted to the poor driving conditions, forcing them to miss some stops and stick to main roads including the A449 as part of their routes.
Stagecoach Wales temporarily suspended many of their services in Cwmbran until around 10am, when the roads were reassessed after some gritting and rainfall had melted much of the settled snow, enabling services to go ahead as planned.
Many people managed to capture images of multiple areas of Gwent covered in a blanket of snow first thing on Sunday morning after Saturday night’s snow, but by noon, many places, including in Newport and Risca, had begun to clear and were covered in slush as the forecasted heavy rainfall moved in.
The Met Office had predicted the second most severe weather warning of amber for snow and ice from 6pm on Saturday evening until noon on Sunday, with Gwent Police even being forced to close a number of roads due to incidents related to the poor driving conditions, including black ice and impassable roads.
The yellow weather warning for rain across South Wales was put in place from 6am on Sunday until 9pm, with the Met Office forecasting “freezing rain” until about lunchtime, which would then turn to heavy rain and thawing snow which resulted in slush in many places and a potential risk of flooding in some areas, as the rain melted much of the snow.
Despite the poor weather conditions, many families have been seen making the most of the snow, with children enjoying sledging and making snowmen in their gardens while some furry friends have been pictured frolicking in the white blankets of snow.
Amid the snowfall and heavy rain, temperatures were still slightly above average for January, at around nine degrees maximum for much of Sunday, with a minimum of around minus two expected overnight.
