Big freeze set to grip Coventry and Warwickshire over Xmas

[dutchman]

After the worst floods for 15 years comes the big freeze dubbed the Beast from the East as the weather takes another extreme turn.


Barkers Butts Lane in 2010

Forecasters say bitter Siberian gales will grip Britain for a month from Tuesday.

In Coventry and Warwickshire the temperatures will plummet to at least minus four, with snow due to fall on Friday and Saturday.

One forecaster even said a white Christmas was “a dead cert”.

The warnings have sparked fears of a repeat of the big freeze of 2010/11 which crippled roads and closed airports.

But the Local Government Association (LGA) said councils were prepared, with enough salt to last two weeks. Brian Gaze, of The Weather Outlook, said: “Forecast models show a ‘beast from the East’ weather system next week, pushing easterly winds across the UK.

“There’s a good chance of much of the country seeing lying snow, with growing signs of the weather turning very cold.”

And Jonathan Powell, of Vantage Weather Services, said: “Next week will be the coldest week of the winter so far.

“We are in for a freezing blast of air with snow spreading down the country even as far as London with a white Christmas now looking a dead cert.

“There is a good chance of the record for cold being broken and certainly the whole country should prepare for harsh frosts and treacherous driving conditions.”

Bookies William Hill have cut odds on Britain’s lowest-ever temperature record being broken from 14/1 to 8/1.

It stands at -27C and was equalled in recent years on December 30, 1995 in Altnaharra, northern Scotland.

Peter Box, chairman of the LGA’s economy and transport board, said: “Councils are as well prepared as they’ve ever been to keep roads safe and traffic moving as winter closes in.

“There’s about 1.3 million tons of salt in council depots, they’ve got new GPS-tracked gritters which use salt more effectively, the latest technology in snow ploughs and special quad-bikes and 4x4s to grit narrow or hilly roads.

"They will be receiving up-to-the minute reports from weather experts and their gritting teams are on standby around-the-clock.”