Braintree district: No snow for October (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)

Braintree district: No snow for October

3:00pm Sunday 7th October 2012 in Local News

The first snow is expected to fall in some parts of Britain this month but Essex is likely to escape any winter flurries.

Expert Tom Defty, of the Essex Weather Centre, believes we will see a return to normal seasonal weather rather than the more extreme snow falls two years ago.

Early predictions also suggest it is highly unlikely we are in for a white Christmas- however the winter forecast is not expected until early November.

Mr Defty said: “The earliest it has ever snowed in Essex is October 30, a couple of years ago, we have never had anything in the first few weeks.

“The temperature is likely to be close to average, probably a little bit below.

“It seems to be different than the last couple of years because the weather has been so bad.”

Essex County Council is yet to install any new grit bins after putting it on hold last winter until it had completed a review.

A spokesman said: “The salt bin audit has been completed and we hope to publish a map showing the locations of all salt bins across the county in due course.

“No new bins have been installed on the highway by Essex County Council at this time.

“A small number have been removed due to damage and will be replaced in line with the new policy once it has been approved.”

She was unable to say how many had been removed from the Braintree district since last winter.