MORE than 300 schools in Coventry and Warwickshire are closed today due to the ‘Beast from the East’.
They include around 100 Coventry and an estimated 240 more throughout Warwickshire.
They are the first mass school closures this week as the cold spell until yesterday had only brought thin layers of snow.
Coventry City Council tweeted: “Our bin crews are out as normal today.”
The main roads are largely clear after all-day snow yesterday in many parts, and snow drifts in the blizzards last night that made driving across the region extremely difficult.
The week has seen the coldest day in the Coventry area since 1991, according the Bablake weather station, as Wednesday never got warmer than -2 degrees C.
The mercury was also reading -2 degrees C this morning, with cold winds continuing to make it feel much colder. More snow showers are possible.
Steve Jackson of the Bablake Weather Station tweeted: “Less cold on Saturday with lighter winds, so feeling much less unpleasant; still a risk of some snow however, though mainly dry. Make the most of the snow before it goes if yo enjoy sledging!”
He added: “Milder by Sunday with rain showers rather than snow but mainly dry; advection fog may make it damp & gloomy as a thaw gets underway with temperatures around 5C.”
He added it had “snowed all day on Thursday, only dying away in the run up to midnight; ankle deep drifts suggests that accumulations were modest however.”
