POLICE are warning members of the public to avoid travelling on the roads tomorrow morning with five to ten centimetres of snow predicted to fall across Hampshire.

The latest advice from the Met Office is that bulk of the snowfall is anticipated between 4am and 1pm, with the potential to seriously disrupt rush hour traffic With as much as 10cms of snow anticipated across the whole county, and four to eight centimetres on the Isle of Wight, there is potential for drifting to occur because of forecast strong winds.

Chief Inspector Gary Cooper, from Hampshire Constabulary’s Critical Incident Cadre, said: “Our advice at this stage is if you can avoid travelling on the roads tomorrow morning, please do.

“Keep journeys to only those that are absolutely necessary - at all costs we want to avoid a repeat of traffic chaos we have had during snow in previous years.

“Those that have the flexibility in their job to work from home - tomorrow would be a very good day to do so.

“Together with our partner agencies we are setting up an Adverse Weather Office based at our support headquarters at Netley, to live-time monitor the situation as it develops and manage any issues that arise caused by the snow. Our unified aim is to keep everybody safe and moving.”

Hampshire County Council gritting lorries have already started salting the roads across the county. This will continue throughout the night and crews are on standby throughout the day tomorrow.

Priority routes are main routes and A-roads, plus community access routes such as roads that lead to schools, doctors surgeries and health centres.