BLIZZARD CHAOS
BRITS are buckling up as the Met Office issued an urgent danger to life warning as eight inches of the white stuff is set to fall with 80mph winds.
A chaotic combination of strong gales, heavy rain and snow will take hold from Tuesday across the UK as Storm Barra hits and temperatures continue to plummet.
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Almost all of the country is covered by yellow weather warnings for snow, ice, and wind, with a five-day deep freeze on the way.
Forecasters have warned to expect travel disruption, loss of power and danger to life as a toxic mix of floodwater and powerful winds take hold later this week.
The Met said many will be waking up to a cold start on Tuesday morning, as Storm Barra quickly arrives from the west.
The second named storm of the season will bring strong winds that "will spread inland and reach eastern areas through the afternoon and early evening".
Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, Frank Saunders, said a band of rain will turn to snow across northern England and Scotland today.
Yellow snow and ice warnings have been issued from 11am until midnight.
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The ferocious winds sent waves crashing along the coast this morning, while train services in the southwest were cancelled.
Officials have also issued a warning to locals in Devon after a colossal rock fall at beauty spot Budleigh Salterton yesterday.
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East Devon District Council say there is a "significant risk" of further collapses as some very large cracks have appeared.
In Ireland, schools have been told to keep their doors closed as a rare red warning was given for Cork, Kerry and Clare.
Another Met meteorologist added: "It is going to feel cold wherever you are with the wind picking up during the day, especially cold in the north and the east and as a result when the rain arrives in the north we are likely to see a spell of snow.
"That of course accompanied by gale force winds will lead to blizzards and drifting so some really treacherous conditions for northern England, central and southern Scotland during the second half of Tuesday likely to affect the higher roads like the M74 and M8 in places."
Further weather warnings remain in place for rain and wind throughout Wednesday in some areas.
The strongest gusts of wind will hit the South West, Wales and Scotland, with a "small chance" of "injuries and danger to life" occurring from flying debris and large waves.
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Forecaster Marco Petagna said: “It looks a nasty weather system, with low pressure deepening rapidly. It's going to be very windy.”
One couple diced with death on Tuesday morning when a huge eucalyptus tree toppled onto the roof of their home in Rossendale, Lancs, this morning.
The tree was blown over by the 80mph winds onto Louise and Darren Hodgson's home, as Storm Barra makes itself known.
Senior operational meteorologist Becky Mitchell said: "The strong winds will continue across the UK this evening, bringing widely 40-50mph, and up to 65mph at the coast.
"This could give tricky travelling conditions, some power outages and large waves at the coast.
"Rain and snow will clear Scotland after midnight and the winds will gradually ease for most of the country.
"However, it will stay windy in parts of south-west England and Wales, where a yellow wind warning remains in force through Wednesday."
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As gritters got to work in preparation of the snowfall, a teenage cyclist was horrifically trapped and crushed under a truck spreading on icy roads in Yorkshire last night.
Police said the youngster was pinned under the truck and suffered "serious lower-body injuries".
While there are no more weather warnings in place for the rest of the week, temperatures are set to plummet.
Currently, there are 36 flood alerts in place as heavy rain is also expected to hit the country.
The Environmental Agency said: “River, surface water and coastal flooding is possible on Tuesday and Wednesday due to spells of heavy rain and strong winds.
"Properties may flood and there may be travel disruption.”
Southern parts of Ireland such as County Cork have already been submerged in floodwater after rivers burst their banks.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has urged people to stay well back from the water's edge and to dial 999 for the coastguard in any coastal emergency.
However, Met meteorologist Aidan McGivern said Storm Barra's impact "will be a notch down compared to Arwen".
POWER STRUGGLE
Thousands of homes are still without power after several areas of Scotland and northern England were hit by Storm Arwen a few days ago.
Those affected will be reconnected "by today at the latest", the Prime Minister has said.
Boris Johnson said he spoke to the chief executive of Northern Powergrid on Monday, and that he had been told of the new target.
But a deadline set on Wednesday last week had already been missed as MPs heard there was something "seriously wrong" at the supplier.
The PM said Northern Powergrid had blamed high winds and frozen equipment for the delay, but added the reasons proved "no consolation to thousands of people who have been without power".
Fed up locals in Scotland and the north of England are being treated as "second-class citizens" the Labour party said.
Boris today warned the country must be better prepared for extreme storms in the future.
"We need to learn the lessons for the future and make sure that we have better resilience against storms of this kind," he said.
"We haven't seen a storm as violent as Storm Arwen for a long time. It's likely to happen again, we have got to make sure that we protect people against it."
Earlier last week, Downing Street said properties affected by the power cuts caused by Storm Arwen should have supply restored "by the end of the week", but more than 1,000 remained cut off on Monday.
Energy minister, Greg Hands, said it was "completely unacceptable" that around 1,600 households were still without power.
WET, WINDY AND COLD WEEK
More areas are expected to be affected as more bad weather is set to hit from Thursday.
A Met Office forecaster said: “Thursday will be rather cold in the North, and it then becomes wet and windy again, with Friday and Saturday also seeing hill snow likely.”
Meanwhile, forecasters have not ruled out the possibility of a White Christmas as December is set to be very cold with temperatures expected to reach -10C.
Mr Madden said: “December will start to turn very cold early on and these cold conditions will continue throughout the month.
“There are some notable snow events looking possible around just after the second week of the month, and these could be widespread and heavy wintry downpours.
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“Christmas Day is looking largely dry and cold at the moment, but things can change, and we still can’t rule out a White Christmas.
“Throughout the month, widespread frosts and temperatures of -10C or below will be possible as north and north-easterly winds develop.”
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Storm Barra brings snow and severe weather to Cumbria just as many homes get their power back
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