Crashes and power cuts in freezing rain
THERE were power cuts and car crashes as Storm Deirdre battered Huddersfield with freezing rain and strong winds on Saturday.
Heavy rain started to fall in subzero temperatures shortly before 2pm, after the Met Office had issued an amber weather warning for ice.
In a rarely seen phenomenon, the droplets froze the moment they made contact with the ground, causing black ice to form quickly on roads and pavements.
Kirklees Winter team set out to grit key routes at 1.30pm and continually tended to Huddersfield’s roads throughout the evening and much of the night.
But conditions on some roads quickly deteriorated.
The Woodhead Pass route over the Pennines was closed in both directions after an accident near the junction with Woodhead Road (A6024) for Holme Moss.
Similarly, the A66 over the Pennines was closed after an accident in worsening conditions.
Highways England urged motorists to take the M62 instead, which was already congested following an earlier accident.
Later in the evening, on the A640 near Buckstones, traffic officer Dave Cant rescued a Golcar family whose car had skidded off the road into a ditch.
Pc Cant said: “It was a lady from Huddersfield coming back from Manchester. She had three kids with her.
“The car left the road on the bend and went into the ditch. The road was covered in ice, very strong winds and freezing rain.”
The driver and her three children escaped with no injuries and Pc Cant escorted them back to their home in Golcar.
In Halifax, Milk Churn Lane was blocked when a white van lost control in treacherous conditions and crashed into a stone wall.
Residents in various locations across Huddersfield and West Yorkshire reported power cuts on Saturday as well.
Northern Powergrid said around 20,000 customers across their network lost power due to freezing rain and winds of up to 63mph damaging overhead lines.
In Holmfirth, strong winds brought down a tree on Cartworth Road which landed on an overhead power line and in Salendine Nook ice clung to wires, causing lights to flicker on and off.
Examiner weatherman Paul Stevens laid out the science behind the freezing rain phenomenon and explained why it hit Huddersfield on Saturday.
He said: “A warm wedge of air had blown in from the Atlantic. As snow falls from sub-zero clouds high above us it turns into rain when it moves through this warm wedge.
“The water inside the rain droplets remains super cold though.
“The temperature on the ground is at -1.3°C degrees so when the rain makes contact with the surface it freezes instantly – and I mean instantly.”
Freezing rain is extremely rare. Paul said the last time Huddersfield saw it was in 2013 and the last time it was widespread was around half a century ago.
In 2013, cars were turned into toboggans in Huddersfield as icy conditions caused more than 50 accidents in a chaotic two-hour period.