UK travel news - LIVE: Snow and ice cause road closures and flight cancellations across Britain

Southeastern Railway, which runs services in south-east London, Kent and East Sussex, has warned: “We may need to run our Winter Weather Timetable from Thursday as bad weather is forecast. We'll confirm this at least 24 hours in advance.”

The timetable is basically a Saturday service with additional peak services, reports The Independent's travel correspondent Simon Calder. It is deployed on days when ice and light snow freeze around the “third rail”, preventing trains from drawing power or being able to move with any speed.

“And in the worst cases, preventing them from being able to move at all,” says Southeastern.

“When this timetable is in place train times will be different, trains won’t split or attach so you may need to change trains, and peak trains will be busier. Please travel earlier or later to avoid busiest peak trains,” Southeastern urges.

The Met Office has extended weather warnings to cover Thursday and Friday as well.

Snow and ice-related disruption is expected across England and Wales for the rest of the week, on top of the initial yellow warning for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Met Office says between Thursday at 3pm and Friday at 12pm, rain and snow is expected to move in from the southwest, moving across England and Wales.

This is likely to fall as heavy rain at first across the far southwest of England, but as it meets the cold air established over the rest of the country snow becomes more likely.

There is a chance of 2-5cm of snow for some places, but timings are currently uncertain. Up to 10cm is possible in places.

Overnight on Thursday into early Friday morning, ice may also become a hazard on any untreated surfaces as temperatures fall below freezing.

The temperature is also dropping across the Pond. 

Extreme cold, with wind chill of temperatures falling to -65F (-58C), is predicted for northern states of the US.

America's National Weather Service says: “A frigid Arctic air mass is expected to spread across much of the north central and northeastern US this week.”

The lowest temperatures are expected in eastern Minnesota, but even Chicago is expecting cold of -41F/C.

Many train services are running well despite the deteriorating weather, reports The Independent's travel correspondent Simon Calder. 

ScotRail says: “Despite snowfall across Scotland, services are running well right across the country.”

Network Rail Western’s chief operating office, Tim Ball said points heating will help reduce the risk of failure and consequent delays.

BA has cancelled 14 short-haul flights and a round-trip to Chicago due to weather.

Passengers are being rebooked on other flights. Midweek in late January there should not be too much problem finding space on other flights, says Simon Calder – the issue for people from Glasgow and Manchester flying to Heathrow this evening is that they may be connecting to long-haul services to Asia, Africa or South America, so they may be stuck for 24 hours.

The airline has to provide meals and accommodation until they can get where they need to be. No cash compensation is payable. 

As we reported earlier this month, Network Rail has a fleet of special de-icing trains that will be introduced in bad weather.

The winter fleet includes trains with snowploughs able to clear eight inches of snow, hot air blowers to melt ice and anti-freeze.

Find out more here:

Meanwhile across the Atlantic, more than 1,000 flights have been cancelled as severe weather hits the US.

More than 1,000 flights were cancelled on Tuesday, according to Business Insider, from major US hubs including Chicago, Boston and Atlanta.

Atlanta is one of the worst-hit cities. The Georgian state capital is due to host the much-anticipated Superbowl on Sunday afternoon.

If you're travelling to or from the US, check the status of your flight with your airline before travel.

Snow isn't the only severe weather to hit the UK this week.

Strong winds at Manchester Airport on Sunday 27 January led to a handful of aircraft abort their landings at the last minute because of windshear.

Watch the footage here:

A motorist has been caught driving a snow-covered car with just a small square of windscreen cleared.

The driver was stopped by police on the A9 at Thurso, Caithness, in the Highlands in the early hours of Tuesday as snow and sleet fell across parts of the country.

The car's rear and side windows were completely covered with snow while only a small area had been cleared on the front windscreen.

Police issued the driver with a fixed penalty notice and warned other motorists to clear snow and ice from their vehicles before setting off.