Flurry of snow hits Shropshire

An unexpected overnight snow flurry hit Shropshire over the weekend as people woke to scenes resembling a winter wonderland.

Blizzards and snow had been forecast for parts of northern Scotland on Saturday and Sunday but the arrival of snow hundreds of miles away in Shropshire and Mid Wales caught forecasters well and truly on the hop.

A few centimetres fell overnight in the county to leave roads white over, though it had all but melted away by early afternoon as temperatures reached 5C (41F).

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The Met Office had issued yellow 'be aware' warnings of snow for Orkney and Shetland, the Highlands, Grampian, Strathclyde, Tayside, Fife and central Scotland.

But forecasters had predicted a dry, cold and crisp weekend in Shropshire and Mid Wales – leaving people surprised when they woke to find a couple of centimetres had fallen while they were asleep.

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Snow also fell across the Atlantic as a winter storm dumped several inches of it on a band of southern states, triggering accidents on slippery roads and knocking out power to tens of thousands.

The storm brought snow on Sunday to parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

In northern Tennessee, about 20 vehicles were involved in crashes along a three-mile stretch of Interstate 75.