Region to be hit by blast of arctic air (From This is The West Country)

Region to be hit by blast of arctic air

6:00am Friday 26th October 2012 in Devon By Daniel Milligan

KEEP those scarves and bobble hats to hand this weekend as Arctic air gives Devon a winter blast.

Temperatures will dip to single figures today (Friday) and bitterly cold winds will sweep the region.

The county council says its fleet of 74 gritters is on standby and hopes communities are well prepared.

Cllr Stuart Hughes (pictured), Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation, said: “We are as prepared as we can be in the event of severe weather, with salt levels fully stocked and our fleet of gritters on standby should they be needed.

“The snow warden scheme has been received extremely positively by communities over the past 12 months and it is enabling us to work more closely with those towns and parishes involved.

“Because our 8,000-mile highway network is bigger than any other local authority in the country, it is impossible to treat all of our roads, but the snow wardens provide an additional level of resilience during severe winter weather.”

The council has about 25,000 tonnes of salt ready to be used on the county’s roads and more than 3,000 grit bins across Devon are being checked and re-filled.

Last year was an average winter, with about 11,000 tonnes of salt used to treat Devon’s roads. That was far less than the previous three harsh winters, the most severe of which in 2010/11 saw nearly 30,000 tonnes of salt used.

Milder weather is expected to return to the region for the middle of next week.