SNOW ALERT: Council gritters monitor weather as Met Office forecast snow in East Midlands

GRITTING teams from Nottinghamshire County Council will be keeping a close eye on the weather tonight with the Met Office forecasting possible snow across the East Midlands in the early hours of Friday morning.

The warning states that snow could fall over higher ground between midnight and noon tomorrow FRI.

Last year the first severe weather hit Nottinghamshire on January 9 and from then until early April the County Council’s gritting teams were kept busy helping to keep Nottinghamshire on the move during what was a particularly long and cold winter.

By April, gritting teams had completed over 130 salting runs and a stretch in late March of 20 consecutive nights out on the roads – both new records for the County Council – and a 72-hour marathon over one weekend alone.

The number of times Notts roads have been gritted this year is much lower but the gritting teams have not been idle. When not out salting the roads, the teams have taken advantage of the mild weather to concentrate on checking, filling and topping up the 1,200 yellow salt bins situated around the county at crucial spots.

The yellow bins are provided and maintained by the County Council where a nearby road is very exposed and severely affected by winter weather, where there is a hazardous junction or where there are lots of pedestrians, especially older, very young or disabled people.

Throughout the winter the County Council, wherever possible, keeps them filled up with grit which can be used on local roads and footways – but not private driveways.