Holidaymakers have been hit with travel chaos at the UK's busiest airports ahead of New Year due to a dense fog.
A number of flights were cancelled at Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester on Friday. Almost all scheduled departures were severely delayed due to the troubling weather.
The situation does not appear to have improved today. On Saturday, almost every flight from Manchester airport was delayed throughout the day, with the majority being held back by over two hours.
The Mirror reports that the fog has shrouded much of the country over the past few days. In some areas, thick fog patches could reduce visibility down to just 100 metres overnight and into Saturday, the Met Office said.
Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said: “It’s that time of year when people are travelling around the country a lot and there are a lot of people on the roads. There is a lot of fog covering much of England, mainly the South East and central England, but the rest of the country is seeing quite a bit of thick fog too. It will be pretty murky on Saturday morning and there will still be fog patches that will take a little longer to clear.”
There was some disruption to flights at Gatwick and Manchester, the UK’s second and third busiest airports, because of fog on Friday and this could continue if the misty weather persists as forecast. Flights were delayed by up to three hours from Gatwick on Friday evening due to poor conditions.
A spokesperson for Nats, the UK’s main air traffic control provider, said on Friday: “Due to widespread fog, temporary air traffic restrictions are in place at several airports across the UK today. Restrictions of this sort are only ever applied to maintain safety. We continue to monitor the situation and have a Met Office expert embedded within our operation to ensure we have the latest available information. Our teams are working closely with the airports and airlines to minimise disruption.”
Mr Eslick said the fog levels could sink a little lower on Saturday, so higher hills could be clearer. The Met Office has advised motorists to go steady when they are driving in fog. But lingering low cloud should start to clear on Sunday, Mr Eslick said.
Some stronger winds are forecast on Sunday which “will pick up and turn over these cloudy and murky conditions to help clear the fog”, Mr Eslick added. The murky conditions of late are less likely to return in the last couple of days of the year but people should not hold out hope for much winter sunshine. "It looks like it won’t be as dank and horrible (early next week) but it will still be wet and windy across much of the country,” Mr Eslick said.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
