The Met Office has warned of disruption due to expected snow on Wednesday 8th January at 9am. Bartholomew Hall reports.
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00:00We're being told to check on older relatives and neighbours this week as snow is expected
00:05to hit the county in just a matter of hours. A yellow weather warning for snows due to
00:09come into force at 9am with the Met Office warning of disruption. It comes after a start
00:14to the year where communities across parts of Kent have been met with flooding. Well
00:18Bartholomew Hall joins me now live from the Medway Tunnel with the latest. Bartholomew,
00:22what is the Met Office telling us about how intense this snow could be? What exactly can
00:26we expect? Well at the moment Abbey, it is all on a knife edge. There's this weather
00:32system that's moving in from the channel and it's unsure as to how far north it could move.
00:38Some computer models suggesting it will stay in the channel, others saying it will progress
00:42further north. And if it does reach us here in Kent and in the far south of England, well
00:47then it could be pretty disruptive. Places like where I am on the Medway Tunnel where
00:50we tend to see a lot of traffic disruption whenever there is some sort of weather issue
00:55could be some of the pinch points to look out for. And that's why we have this yellow
00:59weather warning for snow, which is due to come into force tomorrow at 9am, continuing
01:05on until midnight. Let's hear from Jonathan Valtry, he's one of the Met Office meteorologists
01:10I was speaking to earlier, about what we can expect and some of his advice for people going
01:15into Wednesday. Throughout Wednesday we're going to see an area of low pressure push
01:19its way in across the English Channel, moving from west to east during the day. And as this
01:24is pushing into the cold air ahead of it that has really gripped the UK at the moment,
01:29there is the potential for some snow in areas on the leading edge, mixed in with the sleet
01:34and the rain that will come with that as well. Advice would just be to make sure you're staying
01:37up to date with the forecast because there is that uncertainty in there and we do need
01:41to make sure that people are up to date with the latest information and how much of that
01:45snowfall we might be seeing in places. So do just keep up to date with the Met Office
01:49forecast. It's not the first bit of significant weather news we've had this year so far. We're
01:54only a week in at that. You mentioned some of that flooding that people in Youlding,
01:58Tunbridge and the surrounding villages have woken up to today. That's been subsiding as
02:02we pass through this afternoon. But look, we've also had snow already this year already.
02:06Take a look at these pictures. This is Herne Bay where they've already had a nice light
02:11dusting of the white stuff so far. This was at the weekend. And whilst it does look pretty,
02:15I think the reality is that especially for some older folk, it can be pretty disruptive,
02:20pretty dangerous when we have these really cold snaps. That's why we have this cold health
02:24alert in at the moment, an amber one at that. We've been speaking to some shoppers in Medway
02:29today about their feelings as the potential for snow draws ever closer. I don't like snow
02:35because I'm disabled and it just annoys me because I can't get out. Because especially
02:39where I live, although I live on a ground floor flat, it's up a slope. So if that gets
02:45snowy and icy then I'm sort of housebound basically until the snow clears up. If there's
02:49snow, there's snow. I feel sorry for people who've got to go out today and got to go to
02:52work. And it's nice if you can stay indoors and just look at it. But it just seems to
02:59cause so much disruption. I'm sure that for a lot of other people who drive, it's going
03:04to be quite a disaster. And we saw earlier in your report Bartholomew that map, but how
03:09widespread could these weather issues be? Yeah, we were talking about the roads earlier
03:15weren't we? KCC highways, Medway highways, both saying they will have their gritters
03:19out tonight on all primary routes making sure that those roads are as safe as can be. Look,
03:25I think the advice is wherever you're going tomorrow, just make sure you're being safe
03:29and stay up to date as well with all the traffic alerts by heading to Kentonline or listening
03:33to KMFM throughout the morning. Bartholomew, thank you very much. Especially if schools
03:37are closing as well, all the updates over on KMFM and Kentonline.