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The Met Office is forecasting a high risk of showers turning to sleet or snow during this evening with accumulations of 2 - 5cm expected.
The council's contractor has been put on standby to deal with a combination of weather conditions including the likelihood of rain, sleet and snow over the next few days.
Priority will be given to keeping the Islands primary roads safe and this will involve the deployment of six gritting vehicles fitted with snow ploughs and a reserve fleet of another six vehicles and ploughs ready to use if snow conditions become severe.
At the moment the predicted levels of snow would not be deep enough for ploughs to have any effect as the plough blades have to run above the road level by 3 or 4cms for safety reasons, but they are ready to use if conditions deteriorate.
The council will also be spreading further applications of salt on primary roads to top up the levels of residual salt following the last operation earlier today. Secondary roads and footways are not routinely treated with salt and so in these conditions they are expected to be very hazardous.
Peter Hayward, the Head of Highways and Transport said, "With road surfaces expected to remain below freezing throughout tonight and tomorrow morning and with rain, sleet and snow expected, we would urge people to go in, stay in and tune in to local media for updates. If snow conditions do persist, please remember to be a good neighbour and check on any elderly or vulnerable residents in your road."
The council has about 630 tonnes of salt at its store in Newport and is monitoring the weather conditions and road surface temperatures around the clock. It has already undertaken 15 salting operations during the winter so far to keep the primary road network safe to use.
Notes for editors
For up to date information about schools, highways and council services affected by the weather please visit www.iwight.com.
