Hampshire prepares for winter weather

With a mix of winter weather forecast over the next few days, the County Council’s highways teams are ready to keep the roads clear and Hampshire moving.

According to the forecasters, the north west of Hampshire may see snow on higher ground tomorrow morning. In addition, most areas of the county will see heavy rain throughout tomorrow which may result in some localised surface water flooding, and also strong winds, particularly along the coast, that may bring down trees. Ice is likely to form in the early hours of Wednesday morning across the county.

Salting vehicles will start at 9pm tonight treating all priority one routes which include A roads, some B roads, major bus routes, roads to major emergency services, large schools and areas of high traffic concentration.

Extra highways crews are on standby, including arboriculture teams who can deal with fallen trees on the roads throughout the day and night. Stocks of filled sandbags are ready to be deployed onto the highway network to keep water off the roads if need be, and vehicles will remain on standby through the night for potential additional salt spreading on priority one routes to tackle icy or snowy conditions.

Hampshire’s highways teams are on full alert from October to the end of April, ready to deal with wintry road conditions monitoring air and road conditions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.