All the airline's flights from Gatwick were cancelled, with the exception of BA2055 to Sharm el Sheikh.
A spokesman said: "We would strongly urge passengers not to travel to the airport if their flight is cancelled as all roads around Heathrow and Gatwick are extremely congested."
A spokesman said: "We are getting to people but obviously because of the road conditions we are getting there slower.
"The ambulance service is for emergencies and life-threatening conditions. We are asking people to consider whether their condition requires an ambulance."
The NWAS said areas of Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside and west Lancashire had been worst affected.
Hampshire police say the weather has significantly improved this afternoon but warned motorists not to become complacent.
Meanwhile, National Express says it is operating most of its coach network but has warned passengers they could face delays and diversions in the areas worst hit by the snow.
The M20 has been reduced to two lanes due to heavy snow between junctions 1 and 3 coastbound. There are also reports of thick fog between junctions 3 and 4.
On the M25, only one lane could be used by drivers travelling between junctions 6 and 5 Kent-bound due to snowfall.
Drivers have also been advised to avoid Maidstone town centre and surrounding main roads, which are gridlocked by traffic.
Meanwhile, British Airways has cancelled all short-haul flights for the rest of today.
A spokesman said: "Due to airfield closures at Heathrow and customers experiencing difficulties accessing the airport, we have now cancelled all short-haul flights for the rest of the day.
"We are keeping the situation under review and will make a decision regarding long-haul flights as soon as possible."
Where flights were cancelled, passengers were advised they could either rebook or claim a full refund.
A spokesman said: "If your flight is cancelled, airlines and tour operators will give you the option to rebook or to have a refund of your money.
"For those due to fly back to the UK from other countries, the airlines and tour companies will ensure they are looked after in terms of day-to-day expenses and will pay for them to stay in a hotel."
Those hit by delays at British airports would also be given the option of hotel accommodation, he added, but most were more likely to choose to go home.
Hundreds of thousands of Britons were due to fly this weekend, while four million were expected to go abroad during the festive period.
Lindsay Dovey, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said: "There has been a band of snow that is stretching from North Wales right across to the far south east of England, pivoting northwards over London.
"It is going to be around for a while, probably for most of the day, but will hopefully die out tonight when conditions are going to improve."
She said temperatures could plunge to minus 20C in parts of Scotland - and had already dropped as low as minus 15.5C in Aviemore in the Cairngorms.
Meanwhile, Birmingham Airport has suspended all of its flights until at least 1pm while it clears snow from the runway. A spokesman warned that flights expected to leave the airport this afternoon may be cancelled or delayed because of the adverse conditions.
Cardiff's home tie against Burnley and Portsmouth's game at Fratton Park with Scunthorpe have been called off in the Championship.
In Scotland, Premier League games between Rangers and St Mirren, Aberdeen and Motherwell, St Johnstone and Dundee Utd, and Hamilton and Celtic have been cancelled.
Over 20 more lower league matches have been cancelled in England, as well as around eight non-league clashes. About a dozen lower league games in Scotland have also been called off.
Racing meets around the country have been abandoned, as well as many other sporting fixtures.
Corine Wood, waiting at Gatwick Airport, wrote: "Our flight is cancelled and the soonest they could rebook us for is Tuesday. Waaaaaaah."
A passenger at Heathrow going by the name of Fridalust asked: "How come British Airways flights have been cancelled but 'most other flights' are ok!? What's the difference between them?"
The breakdown service said it is receiving up to 1,200 calls every hour - around twice the normal rate. It expects to have attended around 18,000 call-outs by the end of the day - around double the usual number for Saturday.
A spokesman said southern England was the worst affected area, with drivers suffering most problems within the M25 and in the Home Counties. Call-outs were also high in Somerset and Newcastle.
Darron Burness, head of AA special operations, said driving conditions were "extremely difficult" in some regions.
"One of the biggest problems is that large amounts of snow are falling very quickly on to frozen surfaces, making driving hazardous," he said.
"Around the western side of the M25, three to four inches of snow has fallen in two hours.
"Some may have no choice but to travel, although with road conditions unlikely to improve much over the weekend, drivers should exercise a lot of caution and be prepared for some long delays in places."
Forecaster Mark Seltzer said: "A lot of snow has fallen across the north-west of England overnight but it should ease off during the day.
"A lot of snow also fell in the South West overnight and it will progressively move into the South East and parts of the Midlands and East Anglia throughout the day. There could be local accumulations of 20-25cm.
"Temperatures will struggle to get over freezing and although the snow should ease off tonight, it will return to eastern areas on Sunday."
Full details of current Met Office severe weather warnings can be found here.
Southern trains has also ammended its timetable, which can be found here. Trains will only run until 10pm tonight.
Southeastern trains has also issued an emergency timetable.
A spokeswoman for British Airways, which has grounded all its flights out of Heathrow until at least 5pm, said: "The weather at Heathrow now is quite appalling."
She said the decision to cancel the flights was taken to prevent passengers from making unnecessary journeys to the airport.
"We knew that severe weather conditions were expected, so rather than asking passengers to travel down from Scotland, for example, just to have their flight cancelled, we think it's better to tell all our customers that flights are cancelled. We need to give our customers some certainty."
She said the move was not taken lightly as it would cost the airline "a huge amount of money".
"There's a backlog from yesterday and that has an impact on today's customers. The main thing is we don't want customers turning up today to get stranded and not be able to get out by car or by plane."
She said the airline was providing passengers with food and drinks, and putting people up in rooms.
The airport says it has deployed 47 snow ploughs, tractors and other vehicles to clear the snow from the runway.
Heavy snowfall is expected to continue to fall at the airport for at least another hour - with up to 10cm expected today. Regulations require the airport to suspend flights if snow lies thicker than 3cm on the ground.
A number of roads in the county have been closed as Surrey Police received reports of vehicles becoming stuck.
Major problems were reported on the A3 southbound, the A31 and the A287, with surrounding roads also severely affected.
Motorists who become stuck have been told to call their recovery company rather than the police and to be prepared for a long wait.
Superintendent Sharon Bush said: "We have already seen significant snowfall across the county and with more forecast we are urging people to only venture on to the roads if absolutely necessary.
"The conditions across the county are making any travel treacherous and we are advising people to take sensible precautions."
Hundreds of motorists were left stranded in the early hours of this morning on the M6 in Greater Manchester as the North West was hit with up to 25cm of snow.
Commuter Stephen Derbyshire said he was stuck for five hours on the motorway, which has now reopened. He was forced to complete the last two hours of his journey on foot.
"It is absolute mayhem," he told BBC Radio Five Live.
Lancashire Constabulary said the main problems have occurred on the southbound carriageway, near Charnock Richard.
The spokesman said: "We still have problems on the M6 southbound in the Charnock Richard area. People are still stranded with their vehicles there."
"Police officers are providing food and water to those who need it," he added.
There are also problems on the M61, M58 and M57. Drivers are stranded on the M58, at the Orrel Interchange, where the motorway joins the M6 and there are abandoned vehicles on the M61 southbound between Preston and Greater Manchester.
The Highways Agency has reported that the M61 northbound is now closed between junctions J6 and J8, due to a serious incident.
Police said that although there have been a number of collisions, none at this stage are believed to be serious.
•Gatwick's runway is closed until at least 3pm, with no departing or arriving flights;
•Southampton airport is closed until noon;
•Birmingham airport has cancelled flights to Frankfurt and lunchtime flights to Amsterdam;
•Belfast City Airport, which closed last night, is due to resume services from 11am;
•The runway at Exeter International airport has now reopened but delays and cancellations should still be expected;
•Flights to and from Aberdeen and Cardiff airports are also disrupted.
Passengers are advised to checked with their airlines before travelling.
A Gatwick airport spokesman said efforts were under way to clear the snow.
He said: "We've had heavy snowfall solidly now for the past hour and it continues to fall. We're now out there ploughing, sweeping and brushing the snow away and will continue to do that until it's safe to resume operations."
A spokesman for Heathrow said the airport was open but would be "challenged" today.
"Heathrow is fully operational but we are expecting more snow and planning for the worst," he said. "BA passengers must stay at home as all BA flights are cancelled. At this time there are no significant delays at other terminals.
"All passengers must check with airlines before setting off as the situation will worsen."
Travellers across the UK are facing severe delays to their journeys on what is traditionally the busiest weekend before Christmas for the road and rail networks and airports.
Here are the main problems:
•Up to 25cm of snow fell in the north-west overnight, and blizzards also blanketed parts of the south. Up to a foot (30cm) of snow could fall on parts the south-east and the Midlands today.
•British Airways has cancelled all flights out of Heathrow from 10am to 5pm and all short-haul flights from 10am to 4pm at Gatwick;
•Several other airports around the UK are also affected with passengers warned to expect delays and cancellations;
•Drivers are stranded on the M58 and there are abandoned vehicles on the M61 southbound between Preston and Greater Manchester. Hundreds of motorists spent much of last night stuck on the M6 in Greater Manchester;
•Rail operators Southern, Southeastern and South West Trains have cancelled some services.
Keep following for updates throughout the day.
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