Council issues warning as temperatures set to plummet yet again

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car window frozen, snow, icy, frozen windscreen, stock image

Rochdale is bracing itself for severe weather conditions yet again after a challenging weekend of snow, ice and freezing rain.

On Sunday, Greater Manchester woke up to a blanket of snow outside. Although the weather made for a picturesque view, it led to chaos on the roads and public transport network. 

Rochdale was one of the worst affected boroughs in the city region, seeing dozens of cancellations to trains going through the area and roads becoming impassable due to snow.

Over the course of the weekend snow is reported to have been 40cm thick in the highest parts of the region. Although the highways team managed to prepare well and deal with the tricky conditions well, road closures were still necessary in the last 72 hours.

The A58/Rochdale Road in Littleborough and the A640/Huddersfield Road in Newhey were both impassable due to snow on Monday morning (6 January) and again on Tuesday morning. They have since been cleared.

Now the local council is preparing for yet another onslaught of bad weather with temperatures set to go below freezing in the coming days.

Council bosses are urging residents to stay safe and keep an eye on weather forecasts and updates from their team this week.

Councillor Shah Wazir, Rochdale Borough Council’s cabinet member for highways, said: “Our gritting teams have been out day and night, helping to ensure priority routes have been kept as clear as possible in challenging weather conditions.

"With temperatures set to plummet, our gritting work will continue over the coming days to help keep people safe. 

“I would encourage residents to keep a close eye on weather forecasts and our communication channels for further updates.”

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter