Plan your Christmas trips with Twitter #uksnow

Twitter is a very handy tool at times, such as this week, when the Twitter #uksnow map is on hand to alert you to problem blizzards and snow drifts when you are heading to your loved ones for the Christmas holidays.

As we hazily remember the snow fun and games we had earlier this very year, plenty of us are already worrying about getting stuck in the snow as we head home next week for what our American cousins love to refer to as 'the holidays'.

In Britain, holidays are generally associated with sun, sea, sand, sangria, sex with strangers and lots of other fun words beginning with S. Christmas, however, is a time for family commitment, the uncomfortable annual issues that arise with long-term sibling rivalries, expensive presents for people you rarely see (or like) and oceans of booze to relieve the pain of existence.

We do things differently here.

Snow: fun or hazard?

Still, snow is fun. It means the kids might get some extra days off school if the heating packs up again. Or that you might get stuck for eight hours on the M62 somewhere near Carlisle. Again.

Ben Marsh's Twitter tracking map is really what you need to be checking out to make sure you avoid those travel nightmares again this year.

Just tweet your snow updates with hashtag #uksnow and the first half of your postcode and rate the snow out of 10.

BBC Weather has already released a worrying "Severe Weather Warning" for 18 December, so be sure to check the Twitter snow updates before you go anywhere on Friday or Saturday this week!