Warning as Leeds braces for freezing polar vortex and Arctic weather

Highways bosses are bracing themselves for a polar vortex and possible Arctic style conditions in the new year in Leeds.
The Beast from the East caused chaos in Leeds in 2018. This was Farsley High Street.The Beast from the East caused chaos in Leeds in 2018. This was Farsley High Street.
The Beast from the East caused chaos in Leeds in 2018. This was Farsley High Street.

Leeds City Council’s gritting teams will be keeping a 24 hour eye on the long range forecast which is expected to change from relatively mild for the time of year to frost, fog and chances of snow on higher ground throughout January.

The authority is responsible for salting around 1864 miles of roads and footpaths and making sure they are safe and passable, and that means the council’s three depots from which gritting services are managed - Seacroft, Pottery Services and Henshaw - will have to be well stocked up.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Buying and maintaining the stock is the responsibility of Highway Maintenance and then deciding how to use it follows a series of technical weather consultations.

A council gritter being re-stocked.A council gritter being re-stocked.
A council gritter being re-stocked.

Measures to make sure the public can get to work on a morning, do the school run and pop to the shops include a contract with MeteoGroup for a 24 hour a day forecast plus consultancy service; a daily hazard forecast summary by 1pm with updates as and when during adverse weather; frost charts; the thermal mapping of 1300km of the Leeds Highway Network and ice prediction systems on the A64 York Road at Whinmoor and the A658 at Yeadon where the findings are interrogated by the central computer bureau offices of Vaisala in Birmingham.

Of the winter plan for gritting a council spokesperson said: “This plan covers the normal winter service provided by Leeds City Council. However, as has been the case in recent winters there may be a need to modify the plan in response to national salt stock shortages.

“At this time it may become necessary to conserve the use of salt and Leeds City Council will implement nationally agreed salt conservation measures. In addition we will liaise with neighbouring local authorities regarding mutual aid.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Depending on the severity of weather conditions, long term weather outlook and availability of salt the council may invoke an emergency level or critical level of operation. This may involve restricting the amount of gritting carried out or reduce the number of roads gritted. The decision to move to this higher level of operation will be made in conjunction with the

Council’s Resilience Team.”

Due to council boundaries there are parts of Leeds that are gritted by North Yorkshire County Council and vice versa.

For example, NYCC will treat from Harewood Bridge to Otley Road, York Road at the A1 and parts of Sicklinghall while Leeds will treat Aberford and the A64 York Road stretches up to Bramham cross-roads.

Richard Marr, is a highways manager with NYCC. He said: “The run up to Christmas has not been that bad. We got a few cold nights but it tends to be January and February that are the worst ones.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We have seen the headlines about it being the worst winter ever but forecasts are telling us it will be average. But, they are talking about a polar vortex. If we get showers and by January/February there is a good chance of bitterly cold winds, if that happens at the same time, we are in for some snow.”