Storm coming, stay in your caves people!
Storm due to bring snow and rain
A winter storm is predicted to bring snow and heavy rain
A winter storm is set to bring snow and heavy rain to parts of the UK.
It is due to arrive in southern England and Wales on Monday afternoon, spread to the Midlands and continue overnight into Tuesday, forecasters say.
It could bring up to eight inches of snow (20cm) in some areas, and 30 to 40 millimetres of rain in others.
Motorists are being urged to drive with extra caution in Northern Ireland where the Road Service predicts snowfalls of up to two inches (five cm).
Local Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said more supplies of road salt were being imported from abroad.
BBC weather forecaster Tomasz Schafernaker said between two and six inches of snow would fall on Sunday afternoon in Northern Ireland and south-west Scotland.
That same level of snow is due to fall on Sunday night over northern England, the Midlands and East Anglia.
But it is the storm expected to arrive on Monday afternoon which may cause serious problems, he added.
Parts of Britain, from the south up to the Midlands, will either experience snowfall and high winds or heavy rain.
Where the rain falls it will be on areas that already have snowed, meaning it will add to the potential for flooding.
Gale force winds will cause drifting where snow is falling and exacerbate already freezing temperatures.
In Northern Ireland, heavy snow caused the runway at City of Derry Airport to close on Sunday until the early afternoon, but it has now re-opened.
Some councils in England have already been running out of road salt, with the Highways Agency saying supplies were "very limited".
A container ship is travelling from Spain with 40,000 tonnes of salt, and another ship is also heading to the UK with salt from Germany. Both are expected to dock on Wednesday.
Ms Blears said gritting operations are still managing to keep roads moving, that councils had been helping each other and that more supplies of road salt were being brought in from abroad.
"We are now buying in from abroad. I have just heard that we are getting some salt from Italy, there is a boat from Tunisia on its way.
"These are once in 20-year occurrences, so obviously we are not going to keep these stocks all the time, it would be a waste of taxpayers' money."
But Paul Watters, head of roads policy at the AA, warned that even the 40,000 tonnes of salt from Spain was not enough.
"Just one salt run can be 130 tonnes, and you have to think of all the different authorities that are involved," he said.
Roads in Gloucestershire will be treated with table salt on Sunday night, after low supplies of rock salt forced the local county council to resort to ordering 500 tonnes of normal white salt.
The council's depot in Stroudwater took delivery of 100 tonnes of the salt on Sunday and will receive more in the coming days.
The coarse white salt is a by-product of creating table salt for food, and is now being mixed with two thirds rock salt to be spread on 'A' roads.
A winter storm is predicted to bring snow and heavy rainA winter storm is set to bring snow and heavy rain to parts of the UK.
It is due to arrive in southern England and Wales on Monday afternoon, spread to the Midlands and continue overnight into Tuesday, forecasters say.
It could bring up to eight inches of snow (20cm) in some areas, and 30 to 40 millimetres of rain in others.
Motorists are being urged to drive with extra caution in Northern Ireland where the Road Service predicts snowfalls of up to two inches (five cm).
Local Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said more supplies of road salt were being imported from abroad.
BBC weather forecaster Tomasz Schafernaker said between two and six inches of snow would fall on Sunday afternoon in Northern Ireland and south-west Scotland.
That same level of snow is due to fall on Sunday night over northern England, the Midlands and East Anglia.
But it is the storm expected to arrive on Monday afternoon which may cause serious problems, he added.
Parts of Britain, from the south up to the Midlands, will either experience snowfall and high winds or heavy rain.
Where the rain falls it will be on areas that already have snowed, meaning it will add to the potential for flooding.
Gale force winds will cause drifting where snow is falling and exacerbate already freezing temperatures.
In Northern Ireland, heavy snow caused the runway at City of Derry Airport to close on Sunday until the early afternoon, but it has now re-opened.
Some councils in England have already been running out of road salt, with the Highways Agency saying supplies were "very limited".
A container ship is travelling from Spain with 40,000 tonnes of salt, and another ship is also heading to the UK with salt from Germany. Both are expected to dock on Wednesday.
Ms Blears said gritting operations are still managing to keep roads moving, that councils had been helping each other and that more supplies of road salt were being brought in from abroad.
"We are now buying in from abroad. I have just heard that we are getting some salt from Italy, there is a boat from Tunisia on its way.
"These are once in 20-year occurrences, so obviously we are not going to keep these stocks all the time, it would be a waste of taxpayers' money."
But Paul Watters, head of roads policy at the AA, warned that even the 40,000 tonnes of salt from Spain was not enough.
"Just one salt run can be 130 tonnes, and you have to think of all the different authorities that are involved," he said.
Roads in Gloucestershire will be treated with table salt on Sunday night, after low supplies of rock salt forced the local county council to resort to ordering 500 tonnes of normal white salt.
The council's depot in Stroudwater took delivery of 100 tonnes of the salt on Sunday and will receive more in the coming days.
The coarse white salt is a by-product of creating table salt for food, and is now being mixed with two thirds rock salt to be spread on 'A' roads.
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