The Harrow community has woken up to a blanket of snow this morning as the Met Office yellow weather warning continues for Monday.
Residents and members of Harrow Online have been sending in images and footage showing snow settled across the borough including Stanmore, Hatch End, Harrow Weald and the town centre.
The snow started to fall at around 8pm yesterday evening and has continued into the early hours of this morning.
The snow is expected to cause travel disruption across London, including Harrow, with more possible throughout the day. The Met Office state the following advice via their website.
What to do if you need to drive somewhere?
Snowy, wintry weather can cause delays and make driving conditions dangerous, follow these few simple steps to prepare before journeys:
• Plan your route
• Check for delays and road closures
• Leave more time to prepare and check your car before setting off
• Check wipers, tyres and screenwash
• Pack essentials in your car
• Take a fully charged mobile phone with an in-car charger or battery pack
Driving safely in snow
It is safer not to drive in heavy snow and icy conditions but if you absolutely must drive, keep yourself and others safe by:
• Using dipped headlights
• Accelerate gently, use low revs and change to higher gears as quickly as possible
• Starting in second gear will help with wheel slip
• Maintain a safe and steady speed. Keep your distance from other vehicles
• Keep a constant speed up hills. Leave plenty of room between cars
• Use a low gear to go down hill and try to avoid breaking unless necessary
• Steer into skids. Do not take your hands of the wheel or slam on the breaks
What to expect
▪ Possible travel delays on roads with some stranded vehicles and passengers, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel
▪ Some rural communities could become temporarily cut off
▪ There is a small chance that power cuts will occur and other services, such as mobile phone coverage, may be affected
▪ A chance of injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces
▪ A chance that untreated pavements and cycle paths become impassable
07:20: Princes Avenue, NW9: The road is closed in both directions at the junction with Park Gardens due to a road traffic collision.
08:14: Bakerloo Line: Severe delays Queen’s Park and Harrow & Wealdstone due to an earlier faulty train at North Wembley. Valid tickets are accepted on London Buses via any reasonable route. Good service on the rest of the line. (13:50: Now operating a normal service)
08:14: British Transport Police Update: “Rail passengers are being advised to check before they travel after heavy snow in London, the South East and East Anglia. Travel disruption is expected today (Monday 12 December) while Network Rail teams do their best to clear the railway from snow and ice so train operators can safely run a service during the very cold weather. Hundreds of staff armed with specialist kit will defrost frozen points and signals, and trains with snow ploughs will be used to clear tracks where needed.
“However with widespread snowfall overnight passengers will see cancelled and delayed services on some routes.
“Passengers are being urged to check www.nationalrail.co.uk to see if their train is running before they set off from the warmth of home.”
08:47: Harrow Council Update: Harrow Council tweeted: “It’s icy out there, please take extra care when out today. There is a yellow weather warning in place for snow and ice. Huge thanks to our gritting teams and street cleansing teams gritting our roads and pavement to keep you safe.”
We will be updating this page throughout today with any road closures and incidents so stay tuned for the latest.
