Heavy snow falls across Britain left two people dead Saturday, also wreaking havoc with trains and road traffic, while high winds left 1,600 homes without electricity in Northern Ireland, police said.

Low 'Zarah' situated above central Norway scooped large portions of cold wet maritime air of arctic origin across the North Sea. Sweeping across the relatively mild sea waters the arctic air was heated and destabilized at its lower levels, eventually causing the squally rain and snow showers. Gale force winds were blowing over a a long time and distance across the sea surface. The resulting extraordinary fetch caused waves of 11m (35ft) and higher around Norwegian Sea and East Atlantic areas.

On Saturday, a motorist was killed and his passenger injured when their car slid off a main road in Durham in northern England and hit an electricity pole. On Friday in Scotland, the body of a 75-year-old man was retrieved by his son after his car was swept away by rising flood waters.

Snow drifts up to six metres (20 foot) deep have blocked numerous roads in the Scottish Highlands where police rescued 16 people, including a child, who were trapped in their cars after snow plough crews were unable to reach them. Heavy snow also blocked many roads in England including the main A1 road in North Yorkshire, where two RAF Sea King helicopters had to airlift 10 people to hospital after a road accident.

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