Rural villages could be 'cut off' as Shropshire braced for deluge of heavy snow

The weather warning, which covers a large part of Shropshire as well as almost all of north Wales, says there could be power cuts and rural villages could become stranded.

The warning stretches as far east as Shrewsbury and almost as far south as Ludlow, and is currently in place from 6am on Thursday until 6am on Friday.

A statement on the Met Office website says: "A period of snowfall could bring some disruption on Thursday and into Friday morning.

"There is a small chance that power cuts will occur and other services, such as mobile phone coverage, may be affected.

"There is a slight chance that some rural communities could become cut off. There is a small chance of travel delays on roads with some stranded vehicles and passengers, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel."

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Chris Almond said: “There’s an increased signal for wintry hazards as we move through the week as cold air from the north moves over the UK.

“It’s from Thursday that the snow risk becomes potentially impactful, as mild air attempts to move back in from the south, bumping into the cold air and increasing the chance of snow where the two systems meet. While there are still lots of details to work out, the initial snow risk looks highest in northern England and Wales from Thursday. 1-2cm is possible to low levels, with 10-20cm possible over the highest ground within the warning area. This snow is likely gradually change to sleet and rain later on from the south.”

There are currently no flood warnings in place for the county, but there are three less serious flood alerts - for the Severn Vyrnwy confluence, the Tern and Perry catchments and the Upper Teme.

Live flood alert widget updates every 10 minutes:

A statement about the Severn Vyrnwy alert on the Environment Agency's flood checker page said roads and farmland were expected to start flooding. It said: "River levels are rising at the Llanymynech river gauge as a result of heavy rainfall.

"We expect flooding to affect low lying land and roads adjacent to the river from the Welsh border at Llawnt to Shrawardine near Shrewsbury. Other locations that may be affected include Llanymynech, Maesbrook and Melverley. Minor roads between Maesbrook, Melverley and Pentre start to flood.

"We expect river levels to remain high until Thursday. Further rainfall is forecast for the end of the week and river levels may rise again as a result.

"We are closely monitoring the situation. Our incident response staff are clearing weed screens.

"Please avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses and plan driving routes to avoid low lying roads near rivers, which may be flooded."