Katesbridge freezes at -11

Sandy Ferguson, who takes manual readings at the Katesbridge CDL (climate data logger) office which is attached to the Met Office headquarters in Exeter, said last week’s recording of -11.7 at Katesbridge was the lowest recorded in the province.

However, extremely cold as this was, he said that in the same month nine years ago, a temperature of -16 was recorded at the Katesbridge station.

“The difference though,” he said, “is the prolonged period of this current icy spell. Certainly, I do not recall such cold weather and icy conditions which have lasted so long.”

However, despite the bleak conditions, locals remained determined that the weather would not disrupt their lives, but the weather was still the main talking point according to shop assistant at Len McCoy’s agricultural store, John McRoberts.

“The farmers are all talking about having to defrost their dairy parlours in the mornings and the roads are very slippy,” he said. “Frozen pipes is the other thing concerning everyone, but apart from that, life goes on as normal. Country people always manage to get on with whatever work which needs to be done.”

Last week, South Down Ulster Unionist MLA and farmer, John McCallister, said he was having problems with the water supply to the livestock.

“The problem is how long this bitterly cold spell has lasted; we are now into the third week of it,” he said. “Roads are treacherous, even when they are gritted. It is not the same surface you could expect on a June day, so people need to take care when driving.”

DUP councillor, David Herron, who lives in the area,

A DRD Roads Service spokeswoman said, “It is simply not possible to grit all secondary roads and it is important that resources are targeted on busier routes.

“While we can understand the concerns of those who use the more lightly trafficked roads that are not included in the salted network, it is simply not practical to salt all roads.

“Efforts are also made to ensure that small settlements of more than 100 dwellings have a treated link to the salted network and grit piles or salt bins are placed at hills, bends or junctions on roads that are not salted.”