Drive carefully: fresh weather warning issued for Dorset

12:00pm Friday 3rd December 2010 in News Photograph of the Author By Sam Shepherd, Digital Projects Coordinator

Drive carefully: weather warning still in place for Dorset Drive carefully: weather warning still in place for Dorset

DRIVERS are being urged to take extreme care on untreated roads today, after temperatures dropped as low as minus 10 in parts of Dorset last night. More sleet is forecast for this afternoon and evening.

A new Met Office weather warning has been issued. It says: "Outbreaks of rain, sleet and hill snow are expected to spread from the west during Friday evening and overnight falling onto sub zero surfaces.

"This will lead to widespread icy stretches forming on untreated surfaces."

Road surface temperatures are below freezing and police in Hampshire are warning drivers not to go out unless necessary.

Bournemouth and Southampton airports have reopened but there is still disruption to flights. South West trains is running a revised service. Dozens of schools are closed.

Yellow Buses are running a restricted service, as are Wilts and Dorset. For Wilts and Dorset updates visit their Facebook page and for Yellow Buses go to their daily updates page.

Poole adult learning is closed again today and refuse collections are suspended across Dorset.

Despite the heaviest snowfall for 17 years there were no major problems on main commuter routes yesterday, thanks to an army of gritters aided by binmen drafted in to help.

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Gritters have been out salting the network all night - but forecasters at the Met office say compacted snow and slush is likely to have formed dangerous stretches of ice on untreated roads and pavements.

Bournemouth Uni's campuses are both closed.

Let us know how it is where you are in the comments.

Comments(29)

dorsetlady says...
7:06am Fri 3 Dec 10

What annoys me is that when you drive in this weather you still get the morons tailgating! It terrifying!

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ben111 says...
8:20am Fri 3 Dec 10

dorsetlady wrote:
What annoys me is that when you drive in this weather you still get the morons tailgating! It terrifying!
I agree and when peoples lights at the back of their cars dont work propperly

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karateman1964 says...
8:50am Fri 3 Dec 10

I had one this morning I wasnt going to go any faster for them..so they undertook me and bombed off down the road even though it was -5 and there was a chance the Major roads had ice on them..complete idiot!

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LadyAbbie says...
9:03am Fri 3 Dec 10

I slipped up 4 times this morning before even getting to the end of my road. Twisted my wrist and cut my ankle. have had to resign myself to staying at home instead. It's just not worth the risk of a broken bone.

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fedupwithjobsworths says...
9:13am Fri 3 Dec 10

ben111 wrote:
dorsetlady wrote: What annoys me is that when you drive in this weather you still get the morons tailgating! It terrifying!
I agree and when peoples lights at the back of their cars dont work propperly
However bad the weather there are always a few nutters who drive like maniacs - I suspect they are contenders for the 2010 Darwin Awards

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In Absentia says...
9:49am Fri 3 Dec 10

The drive to Poole this morning is OK once you get on the main roads. As others have said, there were still idiots tailgating along the Dorset Way.

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Professor Zaroff says...
10:09am Fri 3 Dec 10

karateman1964 wrote:
I had one this morning I wasnt going to go any faster for them..so they undertook me and bombed off down the road even though it was -5 and there was a chance the Major roads had ice on them..complete idiot!
Just a bit confused with this one. How was he/she able to undertake you? The brules of he road should not make this possible, so long as you were not driving outside the left lane without turning right or overtaking another vehicle?

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TinyLegacy says...
11:10am Fri 3 Dec 10

It's snow people, get over it. If someone's tailgating you and you're worried, pull over and let the idiot pass.
.
Can we have some proper stories now please, getting bored of people whinging about a couple of CM's of the white stuff.

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exnorthener says...
11:30am Fri 3 Dec 10

dorsetlady wrote:
What annoys me is that when you drive in this weather you still get the morons tailgating! It terrifying!
Yep
It's usually this people who cause accidents but do not get hurt themselves and leave other family's suffering the consequences of the event.

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karateman1964 says...
12:03pm Fri 3 Dec 10

Professor Zaroff wrote:
karateman1964 wrote: I had one this morning I wasnt going to go any faster for them..so they undertook me and bombed off down the road even though it was -5 and there was a chance the Major roads had ice on them..complete idiot!
Just a bit confused with this one. How was he/she able to undertake you? The brules of he road should not make this possible, so long as you were not driving outside the left lane without turning right or overtaking another vehicle?
It is simple,there are 2 lanes 1 going ahead and 1 to turn left..as I was going ahead I stayed in the righthand lane.

The driver undertook me at high speed in the lefthand..thus he was undertaking.

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Professor Zaroff says...
12:14pm Fri 3 Dec 10

karateman1964 wrote:
Professor Zaroff wrote:
karateman1964 wrote: I had one this morning I wasnt going to go any faster for them..so they undertook me and bombed off down the road even though it was -5 and there was a chance the Major roads had ice on them..complete idiot!
Just a bit confused with this one. How was he/she able to undertake you? The brules of he road should not make this possible, so long as you were not driving outside the left lane without turning right or overtaking another vehicle?
It is simple,there are 2 lanes 1 going ahead and 1 to turn left..as I was going ahead I stayed in the righthand lane. The driver undertook me at high speed in the lefthand..thus he was undertaking.
Thanks - then you are totally in the right as far as the roads go. Forgive me - but usually when someone complains about being overtaken on the inside, it is a reflection on their own poor driving. Your clarification means that this was not the case here.

And I agree the other driver was a buffoon. Tailgating in general is a huge problem. Anyway - got to get back to sorting out the logistics of picking up the new car tomorrow. Our old one was written off last week by someone driving into the back of it.

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oneshortleg says...
12:28pm Fri 3 Dec 10

This morning a articulated lorry trying to deliver to a building site slid down Moore Avenue mounted the pavement and then jacknifed on a bend! It was a mircle no one was killed or injured. Four police cars and two council workers finally got things going with suprisingly GRIT. The council workers told me they were sure Moore Avenue was on the grit list because of its may bus routes at least one of which is subsidised by the council!!!!

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News reader says...
1:07pm Fri 3 Dec 10

I live about 4 miles outside Shaftesbury. Because we are in a small village nothing has been gritted and the police have closed some of the roads as they are very steep and icy. How anyone in a 1.1 Ka or Fiesta expects to get up one of the steepest hills in Dorset when it is completely iced over is beyond me. They got completely stuck and there is no way up or down.

But

It's winter let's just get on with it!

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TFan says...
1:34pm Fri 3 Dec 10

I've got to drive back to Bournemouth tonight. Not looking forward to it. But I do have my emergency kit in the back of the car, so if I do get stuck, I'll at least be warm and be able to make myself a hot meal.

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hammer says...
3:43pm Fri 3 Dec 10

I was walking to work this morning (as my road was like an ice rink) when a woman past me driving a car - she then proceeded in taking both hands off the wheel to light a cigarette! What a muppet!

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soapboxdave says...
4:55pm Fri 3 Dec 10

Went to Tesco this morning and believe it or not the drivers of the cars in front and behind me were both on their mobile phones, was'nt worried about the one in front of me but the one behind makes the cheeks of your a*** twitch a bit.

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angrymob1 says...
5:11pm Fri 3 Dec 10

We have been told that we are no longer on the gritting network - we live 6 hilly miles from the main roads. This means that even a particularly hard damp frost will make it very difficult for us to leave the village even on foot. I totally understand that there needs to be cutbacks but last year we had twice daily gritter visits so surely they could manage a couple of times a week?
It doesn't bear thinking about what would happen in our thatched village if there is a fire this winter.....

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Tezza1965 says...
6:14pm Fri 3 Dec 10

Well my boss decided that I had to spend all day drivng around untreated roads delivering items that were not essential. This put mine, my colleagues and other people at risk through possible accident or injury, but it's ok because my boss was sat on his a*** in a nice warm office all day drinking coffee, totally oblivious to anything other than his own bonus payment for achieving targets.
It would have been more sensible to cut the company's losses on these items today and kept the staff safe, but I work for a large company who don't give a stuff about their staff.
Same again tomorrow and with the added risk of rain on ice. If I have an accident and get injured I'm going to sue the company for everything I can get.

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oneshortleg says...
6:20pm Fri 3 Dec 10

angrymob1 wrote:
We have been told that we are no longer on the gritting network - we live 6 hilly miles from the main roads. This means that even a particularly hard damp frost will make it very difficult for us to leave the village even on foot. I totally understand that there needs to be cutbacks but last year we had twice daily gritter visits so surely they could manage a couple of times a week? It doesn't bear thinking about what would happen in our thatched village if there is a fire this winter.....
Unfortunately it may take the loss of a life for the authorities to realise by spending money on gritting it saves lifes and makes life in the snow a bit easier. Some one could easily have been killed by what happened in my post today.

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oneshortleg says...
6:29pm Fri 3 Dec 10

A few months ago someone in an office at Bournemouth Town Hall sat and pondered "Palm trees and an Ivy hedge or a another new gritter"!
Hmmmm "Never snows here and the tress will look nice"!

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bmb says...
7:20pm Fri 3 Dec 10

Shame too many idiots are speeding down Sylvan Road towards Uppleby Road. Neither have been gritted and at least 4 people have overshot the junction today and hit the houses opposites front walls. Total idiots - if you have to drive then have some sense. In the space of about 15 mins I saw the walls hit twice, the road sign demolished and about 20 other cars spin and lose control there. Sheer stupidity! Tezza time for a new boss I think!! My boss was on the phone very early yesterday (6am) to say not to dare risk going in to work, work at home if I had any work I could do there and we'd worry about catching up once the roads are safe. I'm lucky though and have an ace boss.

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dribble says...
8:30pm Fri 3 Dec 10

A thaw is setting in at the top of Boscombe (or should that be the bottom of Queens Park?).
.
Outside temperature has risen five degrees in the last three hours.
.
The snow is beginning to melt.

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Jim_Springbourne says...
8:44pm Fri 3 Dec 10

Indeed, dribble.... from -2.5c at 6pm to 4c at 8pm as the southerly kicked in. Will be raining shortly too, could make life interesting for a while as many surfaces will still be below freezing for a time.

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Jim_Springbourne says...
8:49pm Fri 3 Dec 10

PS the rise at Bournemouth Airport was even more dramatic. At 1950 it was reporting -4c, and at 2020 +5c. Took a while for the milder air to work inland, a phenomenon I have seen in the past.

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dribble says...
9:00pm Fri 3 Dec 10

So Jim, tapping into your data and experience, is the thaw set to continue or are we to have more "severe" weather in the next week?
.
I want to know because I have plans that may need to be rearranged...

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fartington says...
9:19pm Fri 3 Dec 10

Why is it that everyone thinks a person going slower than they are is an 'idiot' and someone going faster is a 'moron' ?

There are different levels of professionalism in driving, just an in any job.

Only tonight, I had to follow someone around the airport in Parley Lane at 15mph because they were over-reacting to the weather conditions. No overtaking opportunities....so did I get up their chuff pipe ? Too **** right !!!!

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Shotgun Symphony says...
9:53pm Fri 3 Dec 10

I'm in the BH2 post code. I drive a Land Rover, didn't have any issues at all. Even saved some poor girl who was trapped at the top of an icy hill! :P

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Hardy Lass says...
11:21pm Fri 3 Dec 10

From thick snow to pouring rain in a matter of hours- rain is lashing down against the windows!

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Jim_Springbourne says...
10:52am Sat 4 Dec 10

dribble wrote:
So Jim, tapping into your data and experience, is the thaw set to continue or are we to have more "severe" weather in the next week?
.
I want to know because I have plans that may need to be rearranged...
Indications at present are that the next few days will be mostly rather cold, and unsettled at times.

As we go into the second half of next week, the models are currently showing a plunge of Arctic air from the north which, if it happened, would put us back in the deep freeze again, for a couple of days at least It's a fair way off though!

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