Wales snow: Problems ease after six days of disruption
Snowfall problems in Wales are easing after six days of weather disruption.
One mountain road in Rhondda Cynon Taf remains closed but conditions improved in west Wales after earlier warnings of hazardous driving conditions. A yellow "be aware" warning for ice relating to south and mid Wales has also been lifted. Thousands of pupils returned to classes after 500 schools shut over the last two days, although 55 remain closed, with Carmarthenshire worst affected. Early morning problems, including on the A40 at Whitland, Carmarthenshire and the A484 at Cardigan in Ceredigion, have been cleared according to Traffic Wales. The A4061 Bwlch mountain road remains shut due to snow between Treorchy and Nant-y-Moel. Fifty-five schools have closed on Thursday, in Blaenau Gwent, Cardiff, Caerphilly, Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea and Torfaen. Thousands of pupils returned to classes after 500 schools closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. First Cymru Buses say some services in Swansea are disrupted while buses in the Llanelli and Ammanford area have been running on main roads only. Some Stagecoach bus services in the Blackwood, Caerphilly, Cwmbran and Porth areas were affected but most were running normally. The Met Office say some bright or sunny spells are expected across Wales although it will still remain cold. But forecasters say it will soon turning bitterly cold on Thursday night with widespread ice and frost, locally severe under clear skies with some freezing fog and temperatures dropping as low as -6 Deg C (21 Deg F) in Powys. Wales has faced major disruption since snow first fell last Friday and left homes without power, and disruption to trains and buses. On Wednesday, large amounts of snow fell in south and west Wales again causing chaos on the roads. In Pembrokeshire, a school bus taking 40 pupils home slid off the road but nobody was hurt. The head teacher described the conditions as "probably the worst" he had seen in 25 years. Some drivers were also forced to abandon their cars, and bus services were also hit in places such as Swansea. However, the weather did not stop Swansea City's Capital One Cup semi-final second leg from going ahead against Chelsea. The pitch has undersoil heating but fans were asked to be cautious when travelling and entering the stadium. A number of road crashes took place in Carmarthenshire. Three people were taken to hospital after a minibus crash at Drefach and a motorist was treated at the scene after a collision with a bus in Trimsaran. There were also road accidents as the snow caused problems in Llanelli. There is also a warning of more snow on Friday in north east Wales which again could lead to travel disruption, but the weather appears better on Saturday.