UK weather: London doesn't know how to deal with a light dusting of snow

People elsewhere in the UK have had far worse weather in recent weeks

Tuesday 03 February 2015 09:20 EST

Light snow outside the Houses of Parliament, London, on 3 February (PA)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The excitement over London’s sprinkling of snow has left northerners, Scots and anyone who has been living with up to a foot of snow for weeks deeply unimpressed.

Mild panic about predicted transport chaos in the capital rapidly faded into a vague sense of disappointment as everyone realised they would still be able to get into work.

Thousands of people took to social media to post pictures and videos of the dusting, which was barely enough to cover the grass in most places.

The Shard can be seen behind a snowy Tower of London on Tuesday. Picture: Simon Cardy (Simon Cardy)

As the #Londonsnow hashtag continued to trend on Twitter today, non-Londoners pointed out that they had far more snow for far longer.

“London stop complaining about your bloody snow,” wrote one Scot, tweeting a picture of several inches of snow.

“We've got all this in the past 40 mins and we are still alive!” she added.

An outdoor clothing stockist lamented that Sheffield had snow “before it was mainstream” and a Yorkshire councillor said London’s snowfall was “nothing” compared to what Calderdale gets.

While life in London continued untroubled today, northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland have seen airports closed, roads shut, cars abandoned and children told not to go to school.

For comparison, here are some pictures of the snow in London and the rest of the UK.

Cars in the snow