Adverse weather updates

Information about Bridgend County Borough Council services will be posted here in the event of snow, flooding or adverse weather conditions.

Useful Links

A directory of useful resources to help you prepare for and cope with different forms of adverse weather: 

Met Office

Website: metoffice.gov.uk
X: @metoffice

Natural Resources Wales

Website: naturalresources.wales
X: @NatResWales

Traffic Wales

Website: traffic.wales
X: @TrafficWalesS

Homecare workers assist elderly and vulnerable people with a range of personal care tasks like:

  • getting up
  • washing and dressing
  • eating and drinking
  • preparing for bed at night
  • shopping
  • other domestic tasks

Essential frontline services like home care remain a priority in severe weather, and we provide it all year round.

In recent years’ heavy snowfall, our staff have made every effort to visit users, which includes using four-wheel drive vehicles.

We prioritise our most vulnerable customers and people with specific medical needs.

You can help your community by keeping an eye on vulnerable neighbours, friends and relatives during severe weather.

Severe weather can affect local schools in many different ways.

It can force a school to close because:

  • heavy snowfall may prevent teachers and staff from travelling to work, which is especially likely if they don’t live near the school
  • heating systems can fail
  • burst water pipes can flood classrooms

To help keep parents, guardians and pupils informed about any school closures, we have set up a school closures webpage.

Headteachers can update this directly and from remote locations.

School closures

It’s important to look out for each other during severe weather, and especially vulnerable people like elderly or disabled neighbours.

You can do this by considering who around you may be at risk and making arrangements with them to help out with grocery shopping or other important tasks.

Communities can prepare for severe weather by deciding if tasks can be done together rather than individually. This may minimise the effects of severe weather at home and at work by clearing snow from entrances or parking spaces, for example.

  • Stay safe around strangers - Only accept help from people you know or who are genuine members of a known voluntary organisation. If you don't know someone, ask them for identification and check it before letting them in. Genuine callers won’t mind waiting while you do this.

  • Support your community - There may also be opportunities to engage in local volunteering schemes during severe weather. 
Age Cymru - Information and advice
Volunteering Wales

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to the most commonly asked questions about winter weather. 

Visit our school closures page to see if a school is open. The page is directly and remotely updated to be up-to-the-minute.

Also listen out for announcements on BridgeFM at 106.3 FM as well as other local radio stations. You can check BBC Wales’s school closure information too.

School closures

Severe weather can affect local schools in different ways. As well as forcing school closures, heavy snowfall may stop staff from travelling to work which is especially so if they live far away.

Other common associated problems can force schools to close their doors too. These include failed heating systems, or burst water pipes which may have flooded classrooms.

As long as it is safe for workers and residents, we will do our best to collect refuse and recycling.

However, with 65,000 households across Bridgend county borough, some delays are inevitable in harsh weather conditions.

During these times, we will inform residents about any temporary changes to collections via our website and on social media channels. 

Ice and snow can make any journey hazardous, which is particularly so on some of our narrower, steeper roads.

It is especially dangerous when vehicle is a heavy, fully loaded recycling lorry.

Even when our vehicles can use roads with some care, pavements and footways can stay affected by widespread ice.

This makes them risky for refuse and recycling collectors.

During cold weather, we receive three specific, daily weather forecasts from MeteoGroup UK. Our county borough has a varied geographical mix of valleys and coastline, so the forecasts cover high or low inland ground, and coastal areas.

In addition, we maintain five remote weather stations. These use equipment like ice sensors to give details such as atmospheric conditions, and local road surface temperatures.

We use all of this information to predict the weather. If icy conditions are expected, we pre-treat the most used parts of the road network with granulated rock salt to prevent frost and ice.

We pre-treat the most used parts of the road network with granulated rock salt to prevent frost and ice.

For pedestrian areas, council workers use specialist equipment to spray brine, a saline solution which helps to melt ice. We also clear snow by hand, as well as with snow blowers.

It isn’t effective to put salt on top of fresh snow. Consequently, you won’t see a gritter doing so when snow is falling, as the roads would have to be cleared with ploughs before treatment.

In fact, road salting depends on several factors like dampness and humidity. For instance, salt is far less effective below -10 degrees Celsius.

Together with local community councils, we provide about 400 grit bins at carefully chosen sites throughout Bridgend county borough.

These are usually alongside residential roads and other minor routes. They are often at junctions or steep hills, and being bright yellow, they are easy to spot.

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