Britain Saw Snow in Scotland, with More to Come
Monday, October 17th, 2011Parts of Britain already saw snow this week, with two inches falling in the Cairngorms in Scotland.
The rest of Britain is being warned to brace itself for wintry conditions and falling snow from the beginning of November.
James Madden, long-range forecaster for Exacta Weather, said: ‘I expect the most frequent and heavy snowfalls to occur across many parts of the UK during November, December and January at present.
‘Any earlier snowfall is likely to be more confined to northern and western parts of the UK where the will deal with it by using their bulldog snow shovel, although large scale low pressure systems also offer the potential for significant snowfalls to many parts of the UK.’I also expect November, December, January and February to feature largely below-average temperatures across many parts of the UK, it is likely that temperature and snowfall records will be broken within this defined time frame.’
Some shops are already planning ahead for the bad weather. Halfords has ordered in 10,000 plastic sledges in anticipation of the big freeze.Research by the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 350 councils in England and Wales, shows on average local authorities aim to have 1,500 tonnes more salt at the ready to treat roads and pavements than they did at the start of October 2010.
‘Treating the roads means children can still get to school safely, their parents can get to work, care workers can reach those in need, ambulances and police can tend to emergencies, and the wheels of business don’t grind to a halt.’Local authorities have been hard at work making preparations for this winter ever since the end of the last one and keeping the roads open will be our number one priority.
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This year councils have more salt and better plans in place to make it go further while even more volunteers and community groups have been lined up to help with the great gritting effort.’The Met Office is forecasting cloudy and cool weather today with some rain.