Love it or hate it: Snow has arrived in Hitchin at the start of this week

Hitchin and surrounding areas has seen a bitterly cold start to the week - with snow falling in our town overnight.

The freezing cold weather will continue through the week while Hitchin residents can expect icy stretches, snow showers, freezing fog and hard frosts.

The cold weather has come from the arctic and will continue until the latter part of the weekend. Snow started falling in Hitchin around 10pm on Sunday evening through until the early hours.

Caution is being advised at open spots such as Windmill Hill, Bancroft and Oughtonhead, that, while looking picture postcode lovely, could be dangerous after the snow arrived.

The Met Office has estimated falls of between 2cm to 10cms overnight, leaving many of us to wake up on Monday morning with blanket snow covering cars, roads, parks and gardens.

The snow has caused disruption to nearby Luton Airport, with a number of flight cancellations, although the airport nine miles from Hitchin remains open.

EasyJet which operate out of Luton said in a statement: "Airlines operating to and from the UK today are experiencing some disruption to their flying programmes due to adverse weather, with a number of cancellations at Luton and Gatwick airports which are both affected by snow."

However, the snow has ensured delays on local bus services in and around Hitchin, with provider Arriva citing delays and cancellations.

The number of breakdown callouts is around 25% higher than normal, the AA have said, with parts of the M25 in Hertfordshire closed due to the snow.

Drivers on the M25 were stranded for several hours due to the UK's busiest motorway being closed in both directions between Junction 23 for South Mimms and Junction 25 for Waltham Cross, both in Hertfordshire.

National Highways said the carriageway will be "cleared and treated as soon as possible" with delays of up to 90 minutes on neighbouring stretches of the motorway.

Hitchin's Priory School remains open, with parents receiving an email confirming the secondary school on Bedford Road will be "open as normal today," with the Priory also families to "please ensure that students remember to wear suitably warm clothing - coats, gloves."

The school has postponed its pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, which has now been moved to early in the new year.

The week ahead

This week is remaining cool and, love it or hate it, there is a chance of snow... 

There are plenty of great events listed on our What's On page to keep you warm - and don't forget, you can share your own news, views and events here by clicking the 'Nub It' button.

Monday (December 12)

Light cloud and a chance of light snow

Highs of 1 degrees, lows of -4

Light winds

Tuesday (December 13)

Sunny intervals

Highs of 1 degrees, lows of -3

Light winds

Wednesday (December 14)

Sunny

Highs of 2 degrees, lows of -3

Gentle breeze

Thursday (December 15)

Sunny intervals

Highs of 3 degrees, lows of -4

Gentle breeze

Friday (December 16)

Sunny intervals 

Highs of 3 degrees, lows of -2

Gentle breeze

Saturday (December 16)

Light cloud

Highs of 3 degrees, lows of 0

Gentle breeze

Sunday (December 17)

Sleet

Highs of 7 degrees, lows of 4

Light winds

PS: Send us your favourite pics of the snow and we'll run a gallery of the best images of Hitchin