"Arctic blast set to hit Coventry and Warwickshire"

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AN ARCTIC blast is set to hit Coventry and Warwickshire over the next week.

Temperatures will start to plummet from today, with the chance of light snow flurries on Saturday morning and afternoon.

The nights will get gradually colder throughout next week, culminating in lows of minus 6C in the early hours of Friday.

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Snow blowing equipment in place



SEVERE snowfall should not cause complete chaos on the streets thanks to new equipment.

A fleet of four snow blowers have been purchased and positioned around Warwickshire to ensure that the county’s residents, including in Nuneaton, Bedworth and North Warwickshire can carry on with their daily lives in the event of snow fall.

The machines will be used by highway teams to tackle extreme conditions in order to keep footways moving and the blowers are capable of carving 24-inch wide paths and cutting through mounds of snow up to 20-inches deep.

They are also capable of processing up to 50 tonnes of snow per hour and have been prepared by Warwickshire County Council.

Councillor Peter Butlin, the council’s cabinet member for Highways and Transport, said: “In the event of severe weather, our highways teams will continue to work extremely hard to keep the county’s roads clear.

“We have bought in some snow blowers as an additional tool to clear large quantities of snow from footways.

“We also have a fleet of gritters covering the county’s roads and snow wardens helping clear ice and snow in their communities.”

Residents can keep up to date on the latest gritting activity in the local area through a new ‘Gritter Twitter’ site which can be found at twitter.com/warksgritting

People can also go to http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/gritting for further details on gritting routes.

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Heavy snow expected Monday in Coventry

SNOW is on its way to Coventry with flurries expected throughout next week.

While earlier forecasts of snow as soon as Saturday are proving unlikely, there is a good chance of the white stuff from Monday.

Bablake Weather Station is reporting: “Although we are likely to miss out on the snow in our region over the weekend, forecast models at least seem to be coming to an agreement at last that it will become very cold next week, with some snow likely for us on Monday, and again midweek; if this morning’s forecast for Wednesday comes off, we could be buried by snow by Thursday.

“It may be that this cold spell persists right through the second half of January, with an unusually prolonged spell of wintry weather a distinct possibility.”

The Met office is predicting heavy snow from 3pm on Monday.

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Snow to turn to rain by afternoon

Coventry and Warwickshire woke up to a blanket of snow this morning but, according the Met Office, the morning flurries will turn wetter in the afternoon.

Temperatures will stay just above freezing on Monday, although it will feel colder, and there is a chance of wintry showers later in the day.

The cold snap is here to stay though as temperatures for the rest of the week will struggle to get over zero and could fall to -3 during the nights.

No major traffic problems were reported on Monday morning as the region coped well with the conditions.

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Temperatures to stay low


Hill St. yesterday

THE icy weather is set to continue in Coventry and Warwickshire this week with daytime temperatures reaching a high of 1degC on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the Met Office, Wednesday and Thursday are likely to be the coldest days of the week with a high of -1degC. In the early hours of Thursday morning it could fall to -4degsC.

Snow is expected to hit the region again on Friday and Saturday.

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Temperatures to fall to -7degsC in Coventry

After a freeze as low as -5degsC in the Coventry and Warwickshire overnight, temperatures aren't expected to go above -2degsC on Wednesday.

Snow is not expected to hit the region again until Thursday evening at the earliest but will continue on Friday and then come back on Sunday and Monday.

Temperatures in Coventry could reach as low as -7degsC tonight, according to The Weather Channel.

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Coventry and Warwickshire braced for heavy snow

COVENTRY and Warwickshire is set for a white weekend.

Warnings for severe weather – and even blizzards – have been issued in the region for Friday and into the weekend.

Forecaters say snow is likely to return tonight with heavy downpours expected all day on Friday with lighter flurries continuing throughout the weekend.

Temperatures are not expected to rise much above one degree with predicted lows of a very chilly -4degsC, although it will feel colder. Midday Friday in Coventry will feel like -9degsC, according to the Met Office.

Bablake Weather Station reported: “With temperatures likely to remain below freezing as we head into the weekend, a wall of Polar air will meet the rain that will edge towards our region tomorrow, turning readily to snow, driven by a strong south-easterly wind into blizzards over the hills of Warwickshire.

"This snow may well persist throughout the day and overnight into Saturday, with further snowfalls likely over the weekend.”

The last very heavy snowfall in the city was back in 1990, when 15cm fell.

Motorists are being warned to take extra care in the difficult conditions while rescue services are reporting increased calls.

Darron Burness, AA’s head of special operations, said: “Widespread freezing conditions and the prospect of more snow means an increase in demand for AA services.

"The severe weather conditions means it may take longer to get our people to the public who need us. It’s vital that people are adequately prepared as even local journeys can be disrupted.”

People are also being urged not to take unnecessary risks, especially on frozen canals, ponds and water-filled quarries.

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Schools close in Coventry and Warwickshire as snow arrives



At least 166 schools are fully or partially closed in Coventry and Warwickshire as snow covers the region.

The area can expect to get as much as 15cm (6in) of snow on Friday, the Met Office has said.

Warwickshire Police said it had taken 19 reports of road traffic accidents within two hours and urged people to drive carefully if essential.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it had plans for dealing with the predicted hazardous conditions.

Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council have the latest lists of closed schools on their websites, but due to heavy demand, they may be slower than usual to load.

Speaking about the closures, Andy Summers from the NUT in Warwickshire said deciding whether to close a school was always a difficult decision.

He said: "There's been so many official warnings from the Met Office etc about the build up to this snowfall.

It does behold head teachers to make a judgement not just on what's happening right now but to predict what it may be like at about two o'clock when they are expecting buses, mini buses, taxis to get to many different places."

Some bus services in Warwickshire have been affected and Warwickshire County Council is tweeting updates to revised timetables and cancellations.

Other services in Warwickshire, including meals on wheels, are partially affected.

Hayley Deacon, meal service manager at County Enterprise Foods in Warwick said that "90% of the deliveries are going on as normal", but will take longer.

She said that they have already supplied people with a meal in rural areas that have a problem.

However, all refuse collections that were due to take place in Nuneaton and Bedworth have been suspended.

Coventry Rugby Club have confirmed that their home match against Rosslyn Park in National League 1 has been postponed.

Steve Parry, a spokesman for the ambulance service, said: "Some time ago we invested a great deal of money in 4x4 capability for this particular eventuality.

"We had a couple of incidents a couple of years ago when it was almost gridlock across the region and since then we've really upped our game in terms of adverse weather planning and putting the right vehicles in the right place.

"Hopefully a lot of this snow will be got rid of during the night with gritters and all the other agencies at work."

Coventry-based Severn Trent has put on extra staff in their call centres and advised customers to insulate exposed pipes to stop them freezing.

Stratford Business Forum said its monthly breakfast meeting at the Shakespeare Hotel has been postponed until 25 January.

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Thousands caught up in Coventry gridlock as snow causes traffic chaos



SNOW brought Coventry and Warwickshire to a standstill as thousands got caught up in the rush to get home.

With the majority of schools forced to close because of the bad weather, mums and dads had to leave work early to collect their children.

Many other workplaces shut early to send staff home as the snow grew heavier throughout the day.

By lunchtime, the A45 was jammed with traffic while in Coventry city centre cars edged slowly and cautiously along on the ring road.

One commuter who was coming to work in the city centre said: “It was gridlock. People were trying to get on and off the road and were nose to tail.

“I was stuck for 45 minutes just between the Radford Road junction and Foleshill Road on the ring road.”

Foleshill Road, one of the main routes into the city, was already busy with motorists by the mid morning.

The M42 in Warwickshire was very slow because of the dangerous conditions, with one lane blocked, while on the M40 there was an accident between junction 15, the A46, and junction 16, Henley in Arden. Police in Warwickshire reported more than 44 accidents by mid-afternoon yesterday.

Buses in Nuneaton were cancelled by mid afternoon because of the weather and National Express cancelled buses in Coventry which were not on main city centre routes. A number of trains from Coventry and Warwickshire stations were cancelled or delayed.

A spokesman for Coventry City Council said gritters had been sent out throughout the day in an attempt to keep the main roads as clear as possible.

Bin collections were carried out until mid morning. The tip, in London Road, Whitley, was closed from 1pm. Libraries in the city also shut from 4.30pm. Coventry Market also closed early, at 2.30pm.

Bin collections ran in Coventry until mid-morning but the council made the decision to stop rounds because of the poor condition of side roads and the continuing rainfall.

Councillor Lindsley Harvard, cabinet member for city services, said: “Our crews have done a fine job in the conditions and we estimate that they have completed over half the rounds.

"Unfortunately, we have called them back in because of the worsening weather and the ongoing snowfall which means things can only get worse.

“I would like to apologise to anyone who we have not made it to today. Where we have failed to complete any rounds and weather permitting we will be back to collect on Tuesday alongside Tuesday’s usual rounds.”

In Rugby, about 80 per cent of bins were collected with missed bins due to be collected on Monday or Tuesday.