Unfortunately the use of language has been abused. Many things are over hyped. Both extremes, mild hassle becomes a nightmare : something which has been done well becomes brilliant.

A red top newspaper headline this morning talks of "Traffic and rail disruption continues with rapid thaw etc etc " .

Surely the word to use now is inconvenience?

Apparently many news outlets (including my town's local rag) think that thawing snow will cause icy roads. That might be the case if the temperature drops over night to below freezing, but obviously not if (as it is currently in my neck of the woods, admitedly not up North where its been worst hit) it doesn't.

Poor journalism, plus also poor planning by local councils, who knew this 'big freeze' (snow) was coming but didn't bother to clear road drains and gullys beforehand in areas prone to flooding. My own council, if I recall, nowadays only clears road drains if it floods and causes mayhem on the roads and floods nearby properties (especially if the local papers run the story). It likely costs them more money to compensate people flooded out (if the blocked drain/gully was reported) than if they'd fixed the problem beforehand, just like with potholes.