England vs Ireland: SNOW threatens Six Nations clash as fans hit trouble
FANS travelling to England vs Ireland at Twickenham this afternoon can expect travel problems thanks to another band of snow in London.
Temperatures on Friday had hit 10 degrees Celsius but dropped severely overnight and Londoners awoke to a blanket of snow on Saturday morning.
And with further snow forecast throughout the day, the Met Office have issued an amber “be aware” weather warning for much of the south-east of England.
Snowfall is expected to be as heavy as four inches throughout the day and more than 100 flights into Heathrow, the nearest airport to Twickenham, have already been cancelled.
However, flights from Dublin to the airport are understood to be running on time and Ireland fans travelling to the game on the day should be able to make it in time for a 2.45pm kick-off - although changeable overhead conditions could cause problems for those cutting it fine to make it to Twickenham.
Some bus services in London have been disrupted after local roads were blocked with overnight snow while trains are also experiencing delays.
However, the game itself is expected to go ahead as planned with no delay to kick-off.
Ground staff at Twickenham have taken the precaution of painting the lines on the pitch blue in case of snow during the game obscuring the usually-white markings.
But the under-soil heating at stadium should ensure that there are no problems with a frozen pitch despite the sub-zero temperatures.
Twickenham weather forecast
An amber warning is in place for much of the UK.
There is an 80 per cent chance that snow will fall around the west London area in the afternoon.
With wind chill, temperatures at the match will feel close to minus seven degrees Celsius.