Shropshire’s first taste of winter as snow covers hills

Friday 16th December 2011, 10:59AM GMT.

Snow covers the hills in south Shropshire today. The region escaped the worst of the bad weather.

Shropshire and Mid Wales escaped the worst of the snow today as the first big freeze of the winter arrived.

Up to 3ins (8cm) was predicted to fall over high ground as heavy rain brought by a low pressure system turned to snow.

But most of the region woke up to no snow, although it did fall on high ground including the Shropshire Hills and areas on the Shropshire/Mid Wales border.

See more pictures of snow in Shropshire in our gallery to your right

Residents in Llanfyllin near Oswestry said surrounding hills had a dusting of snow this morning.

Farmer Peter Lewis, the town’s Powys county councillor, said: “We did have snow in Llanfyllin at about 5am this morning but it didn’t stick. It wasn’t much at all.

“The hills around have a bit of a dusting but not a lot. You need to go to above about 600ft to see any of the snow.

“Everything is running as normal here and it is turning into a beautiful day. The only problem might be black ice because it has been a bit cold.”

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Margaret Hughes, who lives in Llanwddyn, said about half an inch of snow fell this morning.

She said: “I was up at 5am and the snow fell while I was making breakfast. By 7am we had about half an inch.”

Heavy rain hit some parts of the country overnight with the Environment Agency putting 33 flood alerts in place, including the Severn Vyrnwy Confluence.

Shropshire is expected to remain chilly over the next few days with temperatures expected to range between 0C (32F) and 7C (44.6F). Rain showers are predicted over the weekend with the possibility of a light snow shower in parts of the county tomorrow night.

View more: Snow news.