Snow is falling thick and fast in Birmingham tonight – with hours more of the white stuff predicted to still come. The city has been waiting all day for the big freeze to arrive after the Met Office issued both a yellow and amber severe weather alert warning for snow and ice in the city and surrounding areas.
The yellow warning started at midday today, running through to midnight tomorrow (Sunday, January 5). The amber warning came into force at 6pm, and is set to last until midday tomorrow.
But although the city had seen some sleet falling earlier, a proper dose of the white stuff didn’t hit in most areas until around 10.30pm. Snow then began to quickly cover the roads and pavements across the city.
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The Met Office forecast for Birmingham and the surrounding areas predicts the snow will have turned to rain by 2am. But Apple weather is forecasting snow through until 4am, with tempatures remaining at 0c until 4am when the mercury is predicted to rise to 1C, lasting all the way until 10am.
The Met Office has advised people to avoid driving in the big freeze. 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’. 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.”