8:40am Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Mike Laycock
COUNCIL chiefs were hoping for another salt delivery to York today after weathermen predicted the cold weather will continue into next month.
City of York Council had about 300 tonnes of salt left yesterday – enough for about another ten gritting runs – with no more deliveries imminent after today’s expected delivery of 100 tonnes.
But a spokeswoman said gritters were on standby to carry out a run last night, if conditions warranted it.
Weathermen said forecasters could see little sign of an end to the current cold weather over the next four weeks.
The latest monthly forecast by BBC Weather said over the next few days, eastern areas such as North and East Yorkshire would have showers of rain, sleet and snow.
Most of the snow showers would be light, but there could be some heavier bursts and the North York Moors could see five to ten centimetres of snow.
Over the following three weeks, an anticyclone to the north was expected to continue feeding in north-easterly or northerly winds, keeping temperatures well below the seasonal norm, with overnight frosts.
York council’s gritters used more than 4,000 tonnes of salt during the bitterly cold weather over Christmas and in early January.
Council leader Andrew Waller has warned if York gets a sustained period of snow in coming days and weeks, it would have to be “extremely economical” in applying salt. But a spokeswoman said it was too soon to start talking about what restrictions might need to be introduced.
Last month, North Yorkshire County Council made changes to its gritting routes, following Government restrictions on the use of rock salt.
Some roads which were previously treated by the county council because they were graded as priority two routes were not gritted while the restrictions applied. In York, salt was mixed with sand to make it go further.
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