Ice warning is back as temperatures drop below freezing (From Bournemouth Echo)

Ice warning is back as temperatures drop below freezing

3:29pm Thursday 10th January 2013 in News

GRITTERS will be back on Dorset's streets tomorrow as a band of cold weather sweeps in.

After weeks of mild temperatures, the Met Office has issued a yellow alert of ice for Dorset for Saturday night, with snow also expected in the Midlands over the weekend.

Rain is expected to fall across the south west on Saturday, leaving roads wet as temperatures rapidly drop below freezing.

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Drivers are being warned to be prepared for icy roads. Dorset County Council is sending its gritters out from 5am tomorrow, but as ever the advice is not to assume that roads are safe. 

Eastern parts of Wales and the southwest Midlands are facing the possibility of two to five centimetres of snow at lower levels, but Dorset is not expected to see anything more substantial than sleet.

Temperatures could drop to minus two on Sunday and Monday night. 

Weather forecaster Cliff Thomas, who runs Wareham Weather, said: “North Dorset could see some wintery weather but it really is an outside chance that there will be snow. It's very unlikely.”

Mr Thomas said predicting the weather recently has been difficult for forecasters.

“It has been an absolute nightmare, even for professional forecasters,” he said.

“They are having all sorts of troubles. About seven or eight days ago, it was starting to look very cold. At one point it was looking brutal, but at the moment, the weather is looking a bit more normal for this time of year, as it has been very mild.”