Yellow weather warnings are currently in place across northern England today as Greater Manchester wakes up under a blanket of snow.
After forecasts have been suggesting for the past couple of days that the UK would be faced with a cold snap this week, and weather experts have been predicting that a covering of the white stuff would fall on much of Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England, and the North West in particular today, Greater Manchester has, in fact, woken up to a blanket of snow across the region this morning.
And snow is still falling in many places too, at the time of writing.
As the predictions have turned out to be true, the Met Office has issued several weather warnings for the day – including a yellow weather warning for snow and ice throughout Greater Manchester.
🌨️ Outbreaks of sleet and snow becoming more persistent this morning in parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England
Brighter spells in Wales and southern and central England with crisp winter sunshine
According to the Met Office, the North West’s yellow weather warning will be in place until Thursday evening, and it means further that snow showers, which may “merge into a longer spell of snow”, are likely to “cause disruption” for most of the day today (16 January).
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But what exactly should we expect from the day then? And what does this yellow weather warning actually mean?
Here’s what the Met Office has said could happen:
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Possible travel delays on roads, stranding some vehicles and passengers
Power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services – such as mobile phone coverage
Possible delays or cancellations to rail and air travel
A chance of injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces
Some rural communities could become cut off
Yellow weather warning issued as Greater Manchester wakes up under blanket of snow / Credit: Geograph | Pexels
Giving further insight into what’s coming up today and throughout this week, a Met Office spokesperson has commented: “Snow showers will continue to feed inland early on Tuesday morning across northern and western Scotland, parts of Wales, and North West England, where 2-5 cm of snow is possible over a few hours in some places.
“During the day, an area of more organised rain, sleet and snow is likely to move east with further showers following.
The UK is now in the grip of a cold plunge of Arctic air which has moved in from the north across the whole for the country❄️
“There is still some uncertainty in the track of more prolonged snow, and it is possible that at lower elevations across Wales and northern England, this could turn to rain for a time. However, there is a chance some places could see 5-10 cm perhaps 20 cm of snow, particularly across the northern half of Scotland and over higher ground elsewhere.”
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Greater Manchester residents are being advised to take extra care, plan and allow more time for any journeys needing to be made, and keep an eye on the Met Office website for weather updates.
Manchester Airport issues update for anyone flying today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Airport has issued an update for anyone catching a flight today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday.
In case you hadn’t heard, hundreds of flights at several major UK airports – including Manchester Airport – were disrupted by a technical fault at air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (NATS) yesterday (8 September 2026), with the incident grounding planes and resulting in numerous cancellations.
According to Flightradar24, more than 1,000 flights were cancelled nationwide, and many passengers were told to expect disruption for the rest of the day.
One of the worst-affected airlines was said to be Ryanair, with around 65,000 passengers affected by the cancellations and delays.
Manchester Airport issued its first statement addressing the matter at 3:15pm yesterday, stating: “We are aware of an issue affecting NATS’ air traffic control service at UK airports, which may result in delays to some departing flights from Manchester Airport today.
“Passengers due to travel are advised to check the latest status of their flight with their airline. We will continue to monitor the situation and share further updates as more information becomes available.”
Now, although the issue has been resolved, Manchester Airport has issued further statements informing anyone travelling today what they can expect.
The airport started off by saying that it is ‘operating as normal’ today, but that passengers are advised to ‘check with their airline for the latest information’.
“A full flight schedule is expected to operate [today] but the airport may be busier due to rescheduled flights,” it added.
Passengers were then thanked for their ‘patience and understanding’ over the past 24 hours.
Featured Image – Ivan Shimko (via Unsplash)
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Hundreds of staff at four Greater Manchester hospitals to strike AGAIN next week
Emily Sergeant
Another round of strikes has been called at a handful of major Greater Manchester hospitals.
Amid ongoing disputes following the first set of strikes at the end of last month, it has now been announced that more than 350 Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust (NCA) employees – including nurses, clinical support workers and housekeepers – who are members of the union UNISON will once again walk out for three days next week.
According to the union, the dispute centres on the NCA’s use of an outside agency called NHS Professionals (NHSP) to manage overtime.
When covering staff shortages, workers are entitled to time-and-a-half pay – however in some cases, staff earn less than they would on a normal shift, and some have even been missing out on more than £80 per shift, the union added.
Operating theatre staff were previously on picket lines in June, and although an option to resolve the row was initially tabled by NCA bosses, this has now fallen through.
Hundreds of staff at four of Greater Manchester’s hospitals are set to strike next week / Credit: Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
This means that staff at Salford Royal Hospital, Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, and Fairfield Hospital in Bury are walking out next week on Monday 14, Tuesday 15, and Thursday 17 September.
The union’s North West regional organiser, Kevin Dolan, said the trust had given ‘no indication’ that it’s willing to re-enter negotiations, adding that operating theatre services were ‘chronically under-staffed’ and staff were choosing to work extra shifts to cover shortages.
Ahead of the August strikes, the trust declared a critical incident to help it secure extra support and keep urgent surgery running, while also announcing that some procedures would have to be postponed.
Understandably, some disruption is expected at each of the hospitals on strike days.
But Gertie Nic Philib, who is the chief people and strategy officer at the Northern Care Alliance, said that the trust will do ‘everything we can to minimise the impact on patients’ and ‘maintain high standards of care and quality at all times.’
“We also have contingency plans in place for emergency situations,” they concluded.
Emily Sergeant -
16th January 2024 
