Winter weather advice

Find helpful advice on different services that might be affected by cold weather and snow, as well as hints and tips on staying warm and safe. Stay up to date with the weather forecast for Southampton and follow us on X (formerly Twitter) and on Facebook.

Schools

In the event of severe weather, keep updated on all school closures.

Travel advice

Roads

Please plan any journeys carefully during winter weather. We grit priority one routes and monitor weather forecasts and conditions to determine if further gritting is needed.

Though we cannot grit all roads, we have established priority routes to treat if required. This includes the main access routes for the city and access for Southampton General Hospital. Our focus will be on keeping these roads passable. To learn more about routes and local road maintenance in the winter, see gritting and snow clearance.

Footways

We prioritise the gritting and clearance of main access footway routes and those with heavy pedestrian movement in times of prolonged severe weather. However, there is no guarantee that these routes will be kept clear of slippery conditions.

Grit bins

Over 300 grit bins are strategically located throughout the city solely for use on public roads and footways and should not be removed for private use. You can find out where your nearest gritting bin is, when gritting bins are filled, and how to report a gritting bin request at gritting and snow clearance.

You can see real-time views of traffic cameras via ROMANSE. Householders can find information about vehicles and snow safety from the Met Office. For real-time information on road conditions, please follow @scchighways on X (formerly Twitter).

Waste and recycling

If snow settles we may have to temporarily cease our collections of waste and recycling and other services until conditions allow us to safely use collection vehicles once more. Collections include commercial waste, clinical waste, and garden waste collections. Should this happen, please bear with us. We will resume our normal collections and collect all missed bins promptly.

For further information on services that might be affected by snow and cold weather and for some handy hints and tips on staying well and warm, please check out our latest Winter Weather e-alert. If you would like to receive this e-alert straight to your email inbox, or to get the latest updates on a variety of topics, sign up to our Stay Connected e-alerts.

Rough sleepers

When the weather is set to get colder, members of the public who would like to help rough sleepers can follow the advice at support for rough sleepers.