Lincolnshire snow described as freak event by council

The Met Office warning for snow and ice was in place until Monday

Council roads bosses said they were caught off-guard by the "freak" weekend snow as it came from a different direction than usual.

Snow caused problems as it blocked some roads in Lincoln and towards the coast.

Lincolnshire County Council's Darrell Redford said: "This was a freak event. We don't normally get a lot of snow from the west."

"Normally, it hits the Pennines and it dissipates it for us quite nicely," he added.

Mr Redford, the authority's network resilience manager, said the level of snow as well as direction proved to be a surprise.

"It's usually the Beast from the East scenario where it comes and comes straight over the North Sea.

"For this to come from the west was quite a rare occurrence."

The Wolds, Lincoln and Grantham were among the worst-affected areas.

Mr Redford said: "It was a surprise. We were expecting a little bit of snow but not the ferocity and amount that we got.

Many of the roads in Lincoln were affected by snow and ice

"I think it even surprised the Met Office as well, they issued a yellow snow warning to us just as the snow hit."

Gritters and snow ploughs covered 43 routes - a third of the authority's road network - spanning 1,500 miles (2,414km) across Lincolnshire on Saturday night in preparation for snow and ice, the council said.

Weather warnings for parts of the county had been in place from Wednesday, according to reports.

Mr Redford said: "Clearly we were prepared because we had been out laying some salt down but obviously not prepared for the ferocity and the amount that we got all over the county.

"We were expecting a little over the Wolds and possibly in the Grantham area but it struck everywhere virtually."