More snow, sleet on the way

Thursday, January 07, 2010

After three weeks of icy conditions in County Longford, the cold snap is set to continue until next week. On Monday morning last hundreds of Longfordians who were returning to work after the Christmas holidays awoke to temperatures as low as -8C, snowfall and treacherous driving conditions.
There have been nine road traffic accidents reported to the Longford Gardai since Christmas Day. No-one was seriously injured in the incidents but the Gardai are warning motorists to be careful on the county's roads as the majority of the accidents occurred as a result of inclement weather.

With the roads covered in a thick blanket of frost and snow, a number of motorists contacted the Leader to say that they were worried that Longford County Council were not gritting enough areas throughout the county. When the Leader contacted the Roads Dept of the Co Council yesterday, Tuesday, a spokesperson said that "all national roads in Longford will be salted and all regional roads will be gritted today."

However the Co Council did issue a statement earlier this week warning that supplies of gritting salt were running low.

According to Met Eireann the cold weather is set to continue for a number of days, with more sleet and snow on the way for Longford.
"The cold, but mainly dry weather, will continue through the rest of the week and over next weekend. There will be further severe frosts at night and ice on untreated surfaces, with some fog patches possible at times too. Daytime temperatures will be in low single figures at best, despite some winter sunshine, with frost and ice slow to clear.

"Tonight (Wednesday night) will see temperatures plummet. Lowest temperatures will range from minus 3 to minus 9 or 10 degrees, with just light northerly breezes. Many areas dry, though there may be some wintry showers. Driving conditions will be treacherous, as a severe frost soon sets in. Some icy patches too, along with freezing fog."

As well as battling with a diminishing supply of gritting salt, the Co Council has been dealing with a series of water shortages due to frozen pipes throughout the county

 

Courtesy www.longfordleader.ie