Delegated Services Risk Warning: Weather; Snow and Ice

Hello all,

On the basis of the current forecast projection, coming to a conclusion on business as usual on Friday is very difficult to call. You'll see from the risk matrix below and description that things are moving in the higher impact direction for snow on the way home and overnight on Thursday, with things easing in the early hours and into the morning. However, there's still the caveat that a lot of it could be rain! If snow, the description may mean that it will be possible to have motorways and the majority of principal gritted routes open and, therefore, public transport running for the journey to work.

My call at the moment is that it looks like an early curtain open and radio on for Friday morning to see what we face. It could vary markedly across the staff team's travel to work area. Make sure your communication cascade to all method is ready, up to date and has capacity if many have to use it. It may be a 'we are open' on a rolling basis will be possible, as delayed travel times will impact. 

Snow & ice

Between 13:00 Thu 31st and 21:00 Fri 1st

Snow and ice may bring disruption to parts of England and Wales from Thursday afternoon through to late Friday

What to expect

Possible travel delays on roads stranding some vehicles and passengers.

Possible delays or cancellations to rail and air travel

Some rural communities could become cut off

Power cuts may occur and other services, such as mobile phone coverage, may be affected

A chance of injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces

Untreated pavements and cycle paths might be impassable because of black ice.

Further details

Areas of rain and snow are expected to move into the UK from the southwest from Thursday and through Friday. Any single period of rain and snow is not expected to last more than 6 to 9 hours but some snow accumulations are likely with 1-3 cm likely in places within the warning area and the potential for 5-10 cm, perhaps particularly over Wales and southwest England. Snow amounts will vary markedly across England and Wales with many places seeing very little accumulating snow. With cold air in place along with areas of rain and snow icy stretches are likely to form.

Warning impact matrix

Very likely	**
Unlikely
Very low impact High impact

We'll continue to monitor and will update you when something useful emerges. We are also trying to judge the potential of an impact on our training provision on Friday and will be in touch on that separately.

Bill