SNOW warnings are dominating the weather reports, with airports being forced to close and schools announcing snow days.
Major incidents have been declared across the UK as the country is hit by snow, “severe” floods and plummeting temperatures.
It’s always important to keep an eye on the health of your car, but it’s absolutely crucial when there is ice and snow on the ground.
Most modern motors now have some version of a “snow mode”, which can make all the difference on snowy roads.
This button is usually accessed by a dashboard button or by turning the selector knob in models with multiple driving modes.
In practice, it modifies several aspect of the drivetrain in order to provide better stability.
First of all, it reduces the amount of power available to the engine and the sensitivity of the accelerator pedal.
This makes it much harder to accidentally lay down too much power, which can send you into a spin.
The button also restricts the engine speed via the transmission and distributes torque more evenly to prevent the wheels from losing grip.
Owners of all-wheel drive models will feel the benefits of this most, but it is also effective for two-wheel drive cars.
Motoring experts from Otogo added: “We’d tell you to turn it on as soon as there’s snow or ice on the road… but not all vehicles were created equal and not all drivers are looking for the same sensations.
“The amount of snow and how slippery the road is can also have an impact.
“It’s a driver assistance system, and like most of them, its action can prove to be more annoying than useful in some cases.”
In terms of other winter driving advice, they added: “Avoid sudden moves when accelerating, braking and turning.
“Also maintain a greater distance with other vehicles and avoid using the cruise control in the snow.
“Finally, if your car has a manual transmission, start in second gear instead of the first to reduce the risk of skidding, and use engine braking to slow down before stepping on the pedal.”
A yellow alert is in place across most of south-west England and Wales, coastal parts of North Wales and Merseyside and parts of north-west England and the West Midlands, until 10am on Tuesday.
The same warning is in place for western and northern parts of Scotland until midday and in Northern Ireland until 11am.
The weather service has now alerted much of Scotland can expect further alerts of snow and ice from midday today until midday on Wednesday.
Last night, temperatures of -13.3°C were recorded in Loch Glascarnoch in the Scottish Highlands.
A critical incident has also been declared by East Midlands Ambulance for the first time ever with flooding partly responsible for the “level of escalation”.
A major incident was declared by authorities in Lincolnshire on Monday night with a warning that more flooding could strike on Tuesday.
Lincolnshire Resilience Forum said 40 flood warnings and 29 flood alerts were in place across the county with reports of 62 properties “internally flooded”.
