Sheffield gritters set to hit the streets as temperatures plunge across the city amid ‘polar vortex’ warning
Temperatures due to hit freezing in parts of the city
Sheffield’s gritters are taking to the road for the first time this year as temperatures in the city plunge.
The fleet of vehicles - bearing names including Jessica Ennis-Chill and Sleet McKee - will be spreading grit across Sheffield on Thursday (November 12) night, as the Met Office warns that parts of the city will see temperatures fall to 0C early on Friday morning.
Sheffield Council said: “Temperatures are continuing to get colder, hitting below zero tonight.
“At 9:30pm our teams will begin gritting Sheffield’s priority routes. Take care if you're travelling this evening.”
Forecasters at the Met Office are warning temperatures will fall to freezing in areas on high ground at around 6am, remained in at that level into rush hour.
The Met Office wrote the outlook would be “generally dry with sunny periods” as well as a “cold wind on Friday night” with more “overnight frost” to be expected.
So as the heatwaves of the summer are now long gone, warnings of a “polar vortex” have been issued, bringing colder weather to the UK over the winter.
The Met Office explained how a polar vortex is high winds up in the atmosphere that essentially traps cold air above the North Pole - when that barrier weakens, the cold air can escape and move south, possibly bringing snowfall to the UK, although it is not certain.
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