This live blog has now finished, but you can read all of the updates on snow in the region for Monday 20 December below. Start at the bottom of the page for the earliest updates.

1701: And that is, I’m afraid, all we’ve got time for. Thanks for reading and taking part in the live blog today – we couldn’t have done it without your tweets and pictures.

And if you have any more pictures that you want to send us for the newspaper and website, please do so here.

Good luck to those of you still making your way home. Let us know how you got on in the comments below.

1656: You can find all the arrivals and departures from Birmingham Airport on our website. The BHX site has been a little shakey this afternoon so you may need to refresh the page if they don’t appear first time.

You can also check the state of the roads on our Traffic Information page with live updates from the Highways Agency.

1654: Dingledan on Twitter says:

So far an hour from Walsall to West Brom on the 404 bus.

1643: Here’s the service update for National Express buses in the West Midlands – many are either diverted or stopping short of a full service.

1639: If you’re planning your journey home, you may want to take a look at our live traffic information from the Highways Agency in case there are problems along your route.

1622: Birmingham City Council have issued a statement about the adverse weather. Cllr Paul Tilsley says:

“All A (radial) roads, B roads and all major bus routes have been gritted at least five times since Friday night. We have an agreed hierarchy of gritting for a number of years and this has stood us well in the past and in the current period of bad weather.

While traffic disruption was severe and widespread our recovery on Saturday and Sunday was perceived by many to have been a success.”

Read the full statement.

1612: Looks as though I may have spoken too soon – the snow is well and truly back in Wednesfield.

1600: After all that excitement, it’s stopped snowing. At least it has where I am. Is it still snowing for you?

1557: A couple more pictures that we’ve been sent on Twitter.

• This from Miss Loon Chang of snow in Wolverhampton.
• And this from Scott and Sara of snow in WV3.

1553: Having struggled home through the arctic conditions (well, a light snowfall at least) I’ll now be updating the live blog from here.

The roads didn’t look in a great condition and a few people seem to have the same idea, but the traffic didn’t seem to be in too bad shape.

1518: And as soon as I saw the snow in Wolverhampton, I made the brave journey outside only for a photo that does it no justice whatsoever:

Snow in Wolverhampton City Centre

1517: Confirmation of the snow in South Staffs, sent in by Jessica Felton-Page on Twitter:

Snow at Muddy Footprints Farm Shop, Codsall Wood, South Staffs

1511: It’s snowing quite hard in Wolverhampton now too. I’d give it a solid seven out of ten.

1449: It’s snowing again in Sandwell. Express & Star reporter Lisa Wright has just called in to say that it has started. She’d score it a seven out of ten. Is it snowing where you are?

1446: If you check the #uksnow map, where Twitter users record snow as it falls, it seems to creeping up further and further. Stourbridge and Birmingham now have a faint dusting.

1440: Hearing murmurs on Twitter that it has started to snow again in Birmingham and Stourbridge. I thought we were supposed to be safe until 4pm!

Just checked with our Sandwell office – they haven’t seen anything yet.

1439: The Black Country Living Museum has had to cancel its traditional Christmas evening tonight.

1427: Another picture from our Big Freeze picture gallery:

Queen Square, Wolverhampton.

1414: And if any of you are on the way to Heathrow, beware:

UPDATE: Terminal 1 & 3 are currently extremely congested – we are asking passengers not to travel to these terminals until further notice.

1411: Oh dear. The Met Office for the West Midlands has just tweeted:

FLASH Warning of Heavy Snow for West Midlands valid from 1600 Mon 20 Dec to 2100 Mon 20 Dec

Full info on this page

1400: The bad weather didn’t hit the shops too badly over the weekend:

“Retailers reported the “best day of trading in years” as shoppers braved the wintry weather to reach the high street

1352: The trusty iPhone weather report is saying -5c now for Wolverhampton. Which means that if John Woodward was right earlier (0931) then the grit should be able to work.

1330: On Twitter, Leigh Mencarini warns:

Fellow human beings. Please do not attempt the M6 north if you can help it. Not even for IKEA. You have been warned.

1319: Have just found this blog which takes a daily weather observation in Hammerwich, Staffordshire.

Today it was -9.4c when Kevin recorded it at 0628 and he warns of a new hazard potentially facing motorists today – mist and fog.

1308: Bryan Mecrow posts this picture on Twitter saying: “doesn’t the snow make everything more romantic? The land fill even looks like Mount Everest.”

1258: We’ve just added a report from video journalist Nicky Butler to the top of this page. She talks you through the worst winter to hit Britain for nearly a century.

1255: Down in the comments section, David asks:

What is classed as a necessary journey? Getting to work? It’s necessary I get paid but what if I can’t physically get there? Can my employer dock my wages?

What are your thoughts on this? Leave them in the comments section below.

1249: So you think this is cold, do you? On our sister title, shropshirestar.com, Toby Neal has blogged about how, compared to other winters, this one really isn’t so bad at all.

1237: And Wolverhampton Homes have been feeling the pressure too. They tweeted:

We have received 1900 calls today so far – normally we get 1000 in the whole of Monday. Please bear with us and TY for your patience.

1234: Dan Slee posts on Twitter:

There’s 17k people ringing up the RAC all at the same time. More than 100 jobs in the Halesowen area alone.

1228: Temperatures are expected to remain as low as -7C (19F) for most of today, with forecasters warning a high of -5C (23F) for much of the region.

1216: Matt has just sent us this great picture of the view from The Clive in Pattingham.

1206: Watch our video as the West Midlands grinds to a halt. Also from the report on the page:

Wolverhampton, was today advising passengers not to travel unless it was absolutely necessary, and said the severe weather means all its services are subject to delay and cancellations.

1159: Check out this super-cool snowman from the gallery of reader photos:

A snowman hoping to get on X Factor

1151: London Midland have just tweeted to say that due to disruption on Euston line, @virgintrains and @londonmidland tickets will be available on either operator’s trains today.

1149: The Black Country derby had to be postponed yesterday because of the conditions and it looks set to be rearranged in the New Year.

Read the full story here.

1140: Cannock has hosted its first ever Santa dash to raise money for disabled children. People from across the region braved the conditions and completed the 1.5 mile run in their Santa outfits.

Watch the video here.

1135: From the latest piece to go on the website – West Midlands in grip of an Arctic blast:

Roads, rail services and flights were plunged into chaos for the third day in a row amid warnings of more snow on the way. Temperatures plunged to -13C (8F) in parts of the region last night, leading to treacherous conditions for drivers today.

Trains in Birmingham were also cancelled today due to fuel freezing, and there were delays and cancellations on the London Midland services due to point failures.

Flights from Birmingham Airport were delayed or cancelled this morning and hundreds of people remained camped out at Gatwick and Heathrow.

1125: If you’re planning on driving in these conditions, motoring editor Peter Carroll’s guide to staying safe when driving in snow is a must read.

1116: Bin collections have also been suspended in Sandwell. The Council say:

“Sandwell residents are advised to leave their refuse and recycling out as normal so that the teams can collect it as soon as the services resume.”

1110: Coming in from the @m5updates Twitter feed:

SEVERE M6 West Midlands – Queueing traffic southbound, accident, now on the hard shoulder at J8 M5, congestion to J10, Wolverhampton.

1102: The snow has affected even us and there will only be one edition of the newspaper today. It’s heading into the shops now.

1058: We’ve added even more pictures to our bumper big freeze gallery including this one of traffic in Wolverhampton:

Traffic on St Patricks Ring Road.

1046: Labour Councillor Bob Piper in Sandwell tweets:

Unbelievable – but true. West Midlands police issue ticket to driver… with snow on the roof of his car!!!

I’ve heard about this happening before – I suppose it could all come off at once and hit the car behind?

1043: News from Wolverhampton:

“Wolverhampton City Council’s gritting crews went out eight times from Friday night through to Sunday night and spread a total of 450 tonnes of rock salt on the city’s main roads.

Gritters fitted with snow ploughs were employed in the worst affected areas while the teams worked closely with Urban Traffic Control to target traffic hotspots and prevent gridlock.

Wolverhampton’s roads remained passable throughout, despite eight centimetres of snow falling in a short period of time on Saturday, with no road closures.”

More to follow.

1036: It sounds as though Dan in Wolverhampton is having a tough time. He tweets:

No water upstairs since Saturday. Frozen pipes. Just got cold in kitchen. Loo filled with a bucket! Car stuck too.

1034: More than 80 cars have been stolen from outside properties in the Midlands in one month as owners left them running to warm up, police officials said today.

More to follow.

1030: Our weather forecast for the week suggests that it will snow again tomorrow morning and then hold off again until Boxing Day.

Christmas Eve looks like it may enjoy the best weather of the week, with our forecasting suggesting it will be ‘fair’ all day and we’re looking at a cloudy Christmas day.

1025: It’s not all fun though – the big freeze has also hit FTSE’s retail firms and British Airways.

British Airways shares fell 2% or 5.6p to 264.6p but the wider FTSE 100 Index held firm, up 6.3 points at 5878 despite the blow to confidence caused by more tensions on the Korean peninsula and further losses for banking stocks.

Among the retailers, Next fell 24p to 1961p, B&Q owner Kingfisher dropped 0.6p to 254.8p and Marks & Spencer slipped 1.9p to 373.5p. Small-cap stock HMV, which owns book shop chain Waterstone’s, fell 2.5p to 29p.

Read more about how the conditions are affecting business here.

1022: We’re on the Internet so we must be overdue a cat picture. Luckily, Steven de Escofet has just uploaded this cute picture of a kitty in the snow.

1020: Twitter seems split on whether or not we should be dreaming of a white Christmas. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below:

1016: A Birmingham traffic update – Callum Denning says:

Ungritted roads in Weoley Castle, Brum. Only one bus service running (448).

1009: There is more snow possible on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – with no thaw before Christmas. Are you hoping to travel this week? Let us know in the comments section below.

1005: We’ve added some more photos to our snow photo gallery, including this one of a young family enjoying the snow:

Wolverhampton city centre in the snow.

1002: But remember that however hard you’re finding it, at least you haven’t got a house move to contend with today as KimberleyMDisco does. Good luck!

0958: Over in Dudley, the poor conditions mean that bin and recycling collections will be suspended today, say Dudley Council.

0956: Sandwell Council say on Twitter that their gritters have been out since 4am. How have you found the roads in the area?

0952: The train networks have been hit badly as well. Shaun Baxter tweets:

Severe delays on S’bridge Line due to frozen diesel on @londonmidland trains. Advice not to travel. Use @nxbus 9 from S’bridge (B’ham St)

0950: Walsall Council say:

We are out replenishing grit bins today – remember this is for roads, not drives. It’s going to be particularly bad at around 4pm.

0948: And if you’ve got a great picture of the weather that you’d like to see on our website, you can send it to us here .

0943: You’ve been sending us your pictures of snow across the region, including these cold ponies.

Horses at Saltwells Nature Reserve

0937: And if you don’t trust my iPhone (and why would you?) then check our weather page, which has all the latest forecasts for the week ahead. A must to check if, like me, you’re planning a long Christmas trip this week.

0931: Wolverhampton’s own Apprentice runner-up Ruth Badger has just asked on Twitter:

Why after 48 hours and no more snow are the roads as bad as they were on Friday night! I would kick the backside of the Transport Minister!

John Woodward responds:

It is because the road salt does not work when temperatures are this low. We need it to be above -6 degrees.

For the record, my trusty weather app claims that it’s -10 in Wolverhampton. Brr!

0928: Racing news: Sky Sports have just tweeted:

This afternoon’s all-weather meeting at Wolverhampton has been abandoned…

0923: News of the arctic conditions across frozen Britain:

Temperatures plunged overnight, with a record low for Northern Ireland seen in Castlederg, County Tyrone, where the mercury plunged to minus 18C. The lowest UK temperature overnight was thought to be minus 19.6C, recorded in Chesham, Buckinghamshire.

Forecasters have said the UK is experiencing some of the most severe winter weather in a century, with continued sub-zero temperatures and snowfalls of up to 20cm expected on Monday.

Read the full piece here.

0920: Airports warn of chaos as wintry weather continues – watch the video here.

0916: We’ve got a picture gallery of snow in the West Midlands including this brave pair:

Neil Taylor, landlord at The Fox at Shipley and Pete Taylor enjoying a cold pint.

0912: Find all of the latest flight information from Birmingham Airport here:

• Arrivals
• Departures

0908: Keep up-to-date with the latest travel news with our live traffic information from the Highways Agency.