The Met Office has warned people in the UK ‘not to drive’ amid ‘hazardous’ weather this weekend. Heavy snow and rare freezing rain have been predicted for parts of Britain.
Two amber weather alerts have been issued, covering both Saturday, January 4, and Sunday, January 5. With both of these warnings, the Met Office has said it is ‘safer not to drive’.
The wintry conditions are expected to cause travel disruption and will likely force some vehicles to become stranded. Road closures are anticipated, while ‘untreated pavements and cycle paths are likely to be impassable’.
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The Met Office said: “It is safer not to drive in these conditions, but if you need to make an essential journey, consider alternative forms of transport, to keep you and others safe. If you must drive, do this more safely by: using dipped headlights; accelerating gently, using low revs and changing to higher gears as quickly as possible; starting in second gear to help with wheel slip; maintaining a safe and steady speed, keeping distance from other vehicles; using a low gear to go downhill, avoiding braking unless necessary; steering into skids, not taking your hands of the wheel, and avoiding slamming on brakes.”
An amber weather warning for just snow will be in force between 9am on Saturday, January 4, until 11.59pm on Sunday, January 5. It will affect the West Midlands, East Midlands, north east England, north west England, and Yorkshire and Humber.
An amber weather warning for snow and ice will also be in force, between 6pm on on Saturday, January 4, until noon on Sunday, January 5. Areas impacted include West Midlands, East Midlands, London and south east England, north west England, south west England, Wales, and Yorkshire and Humber.
The Met Office added: “Snow will become persistent and locally heavy as it pushes south to north across the warning area. As well as snow, a period of freezing rain is also likely bringing some hazardous travel conditions, before milder air follows across all areas by Sunday morning.
“Whilst there is some uncertainty in details, 3-7 cm of snow is likely for much of the warning area, with locally 15-30 cm for the higher ground of Wales and the southern Pennines. Freezing rain could lead to ice accretion in places, especially parts of Wales, before the milder air leads to a rapid thaw of snow and ice in the south of the warning area through Sunday.”