Storm Goretti brings thundersnow, school closures travel disruption in Wales

Dozens of schools are closed after Storm Goretti brought thundersnow and travel disruption to Wales.

An amber weather warning for heavy snow was in force for the south Wales valleys, mid Wales and parts of north Wales, until 09:00 GMT on Friday.

A separate yellow warning for ice covers large parts of Wales from midday Friday until midday Saturday as partially thawed snow refreezes, accompanied by wintry showers and freezing fog.

Some 16cm of snow fell at Lake Vyrnwy in Powys overnight, according to the area’s Met Office weather station. Hundreds of homes are still without power.

Police advised motorists to avoid mountain roads in Rhondda Cynon Taf, with a number of vehicles having broken down.

Some rail services have been cancelled through to the end of Friday, with passengers advised to check before travelling.

The storm also led to around 470 homes across Wales being without power at 11:10 GMT, according to the National Grid and many more in north and mid Wales, especially in Powys.

At least 150 schools were closed, with Powys, Blaenau Gwent and Wrexham the worst affected areas.

In Pembrokeshire, the council said on Thursday night that snow ploughs and gritters were facing “extremely challenging conditions”, with ploughing “becoming unsafe at times for our crews leading to accidents, and therefore we may postpone actions to ensure the health and safety of our staff”.

Dyfed-Powys Police warned motorists to “avoid all but extremely essential journeys” across Ceredigion and Powys.

The force said extreme weather conditions across both counties had led to “numerous incidents”.

Aled Jones runs a butcher shop in Llanfyllin, Powys, where he said business has been good.

“People are staying locally to buy things, as they cannot go to the big towns to get food from the supermarkets,” he explained.

“We often see it when the weather gets bad, people don’t fancy travelling,” Jones added.

“I definitely expected to see more snow this morning because everyone were panicking..

“There wasn’t much here.”

Transport for Wales reported services suspended on routes including:

• Llandudno Junction to Llandudno; Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog
• Wrexham to Bidston
• Craven Arms to Swansea service (via Heart of Wales Line)
• West of Carmarthen
• Maesteg to Ebbw
• Hereford to Shrewsbury
• Shrewsbury to Birmingham International and Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth.

Other services were subject to reduced timetables.

Patrick Allinson, TfW’s head of control operations, thanked passengers for their patience, while it checked all routes to reopen them safely.

“South Wales valleys lines and the south Wales mainline to Carmarthen are running to timetable, apart from planned engineering works between Aberdare and Pontypridd, where buses replace trains,” he said.

“We’re working with our partners at Network Rail to inspect the affected areas and anticipate services west of Carmarthen and on the Ebbw Vale and Maesteg lines to resume later this morning.”

Cross Country Trains said services were not running between Cardiff and Birmingham.

Some major roads were also affected overnight and early on, while unstable and fallen trees were causing issues on the A483 Newtown bypass.

Mountain roads in the south Wales valleys were also hit, while snow blocked the A542 Horseshoe Pass in north Wales.

This rare phenomenon, which can only happen in very specific conditions, can bring heavy downpours of snow.

As with usual thunderstorms, thundersnow also comes with lightning, which the Met Office says will look “brighter” as the light reflects off the snowflakes.

However, because the snowflakes dampen the sound, it’s often much quieter than a typical thunderstorm. This rare phenomenon, which can only happen in very specific conditions, can bring heavy downpours of snow.

As with typical thunderstorms, thundersnow also comes with lightning, which the Met Office says will look “brighter” as the light reflects off the snowflakes.

However, because the snowflakes dampen the sound, it’s often much quieter than a usual thunderstorm.