Originally Posted by AlphaWhiskyRomeo
But the snow that caused the problem fell before 2200 on the Friday night, and I cannot understand why the airport could not have cleared and de-icied the runways/taxiways earlier.
Not quite true. I agree that chaos seems to ensue with every sprinkling of snow here but in Manchester's defence, there was further snowfall on Saturday morning that was the sole reason for the delays/closure. They were also in LVP's.
METARs from Saturday morning:
EGCC 040820Z 00000KT 3300 BR BKN002 BKN009 M03/M03 Q1000 BECMG 5000 SCT004 BKN010
EGCC 040750Z 09002KT 3400 -SN BKN002 M04/M04 Q1000 SNOCLO BECMG NSW BKN003
EGCC 040720Z 00000KT 3000 -SN OVC002 M04/M04 Q1000 SNOCLO TEMPO 2000 BR BKN003
EGCC 040650Z 00000KT 2500 -SN BKN005 M05/M05 Q1000 SNOCLO BEMCG 4000 NSW SCT005
EGCC 040620Z 00000KT 1000 R24R/P1500 R24R/P1500 -SN FEW002 SCT006 M05/M05 Q1000 TEMPO 0800 SN FZFG BKN004
EGCC 040550Z 00000KT 2600 BR SCT062 M06/M06 Q1000 TEMPO -SN
EGCC 040520Z VRB02KT 0400 R24R/0500 R24R/0500 FZFG SKC M07/M07 Q0999 TEMPO 0800