Search: Blizzards spread south
Arctic temperatures have paralysed swathes of Britain once again as snowfall levels in some parts of the country peaked at 1.5ft (47cm).
Commuters on road and rail routes suffered one of the worst days of disruption this winter as crucial transport networks went into meltdown during heavy snow flurries across parts of the south.
The runway at one of the biggest airports - Gatwick in West Sussex - has been closed, with more than 80 flights cancelled. At Stansted, in Essex, hundreds were stranded after the runway was shut, with passengers queuing for information at the Ryanair desk told to expect a two to three-hour wait.
Bristol International Airport later reopened, although the UK's busiest airport - Heathrow in west London - had been open all day, although there were delays and cancellations. Budget airline easyJet axed more than 70 flights and British Airways warned of flight disruption.
While tens of thousands of children enjoyed the extension to their Christmas holidays as schools closed, safety fears were growing over dwindling grit supplies.
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The casualty toll was expected to rise again as a six-year-old boy remained in a critical condition in hospital after plunging through ice into a pond near Thatcham, Berkshire, while an elderly man died after his car went out of control on an icy road in Titchfield, Hampshire.
Sections of a number of major roads are closed, including the A628 in Derbyshire, the A616 in South Yorkshire, the M1 in South Yorkshire, the A66 in Cumbria, the A27 in Hampshire, the A3 in Surrey and the M40 in Oxfordshire.
Grit stocks in England were generally holding up to demand, according to the Highways Agency - but several areas warned of shortages.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England, estimated that council gritters had treated the equivalent of more than 1.7 million miles of road in the past three weeks.
It reckoned that a total of 200,000 tonnes of salt had been spread on the roads and that 4,000 council staff have been involved in gritting operations around the clock.
