Eastbourne may have escaped the worst of the snow, but watch out tonight!
Beachy Head lighthouse snow dusting. January 14th 2013 E03048P
EASTBOURNE managed to escape the swathe of snow which was predicted to sweep the region overnight, with only a light dusting this morning and then a brief mid-morning flurry.
The only casualty from the cold nap was the closure today of Heron Park Academy because there was no heating in the school. Engineers were working on the heating system throughout the day.
However, while other parts of Sussex and the region experienced snow showers this morning which caused traffic disruption, weather forecasters have warned that it’s going to get colder for the rest of the week with the likelihood of snowfall in East Sussex tonight.
East Sussex County Council has said its gritters will be going out tonight from around 7pm to treat primary routes and then again at 10pm with road temperatures due to fall to -3c overnight, with snow of up to five-and-a-half centimetres in depth falling from midnight to 6am.
The Met Office has issued amber warnings for people to “be prepared” over the next few days with temperated expected to drop possibly as low as minus 5c across parts of eastern and northern England, and -10c over parts of rural Scotland which has already seen heavy snowfall. Forecasters are predicting a bitterly cold week for the whole of the country.
Major UK airports - including Heathrow and Gatwick - said they were operating as usual but advised passengers to check before they travel
There was some overnight snowfall around Sussex today. In Hastings, snow had fallen in Northiam and Bodiam, and also in parts of West and North Sussex.
In West Sussex, snow caused traffic chasos, with accidents causing delays around Midhurst. There was a five-car accident in Cocking, and the A272 between Petersfield and Midhurst was described as hazardous due to the snow.
In Midhurst, the A286 Bourne Way was closed because of an accident. There was queueing traffic in both directions between the Chichester Road junction in Midhurst and the Town Lane junction in Singleton.
Elsewhere in Sussex, driving conditions on the A27 Arundel Road in Fontwell were described as hazardous, particularly around the Fontwell Park racecourse, along with the A29 Fontwell Avenue in Fontwell, and the A259 Worthing Road in Littlehampton, where traffic was stationary because of the snow.
However rail services to London on Southern were running smoothly this morning.
The Met Office has issued an amber snow warning for the south-east for today and tomorrow, warning that a band of sleet and snow was expected to move eastwards across the region later today.
The BBC’s duty weather manager, Holly Green, said the location of the amber warnings has been shifting southwards out of the far north-east and into East Anglia.
“Snow is currently falling in north-east England, the Midlands and parts of southern England, and moving south-eastwards, but the risk of heavier snow and the largest total through today and tonight are going to be for Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and East Anglia, where we could see five to 10cm building up,” she said.
A number of supermarkets were stocking snow shovels over the weekend in preparation for the snowy onslaught.
Nationally, the Highways Agency has over 500 vehicle including gritters on standby. They said in a statement: “We have reviewed salt stock levels and taken action where needed to enhance our resilience and we have again established a reserve salt stock to help ensure that there is enough salt to deal with severe winter.
“Our roads will be treated whenever there is a risk of ice or snow. However, even when roads have been treated, drivers should still take care, especially on stretches where the local road layout or landscape means there could be a greater risk of ice forming.”
While the AA and RAC were urging drivers to keep an eye on the weather and traffic reports and be prepared before driving.
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Weather for Eastbourne
Saturday 25 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 6 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: West
