Forecasters blamed for roads not being gritted

It’s been a slippery start to the day for motorists this morning after Powys said forecasters were to blame for the roads not being gritted last night.

Several minor prangs, including one by the Raven, were reported on social media as slippery road conditions caused by black ice wreaked havoc in the Welshpool and North Powys area.

Even Dyfed-Powys Police sent out a warning that "road conditions are extremely poor resulting in treachorous driving conditions due to black ice" for our area.

Powys County Council are usually spot on with their gritting teams predicting when they will be needed, but this morning they say that the forecasters were caught out by temperatures dropping lower than planned.

A spokesperson told us: “The decision to treat roads during the winter is made on forecasts provided by Metdesk.

“Our duty officers review the forecasts received throughout the day and will allocate treatment actions where necessary – for gritting, this is when the road surface temperatures are forecast to fall below 1 degree Celsius.

“All forecasts received for north of the county yesterday and overnight predicted that the temperature would not fall below this threshold.”

Following the icy start to today, the sun is shining and is expected to throughout the day before temperatures ease later on, but not to the levels felt overnight.