New weather station at Hole of Horcum on the North York Moors to help winter motorists

Road users on the North Yorkshire Moors will be able to benefit from additional travel information from a new weather station at the Hole of Horcum, midway between Whitby and Pickering.
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It is one of 10 weather stations being put up by North Yorkshire Highways in advance of this coming winter.

They will help decision makers have better and more detailed knowledge of the prevailing weather conditions over some of the highest and most exposed roads in the county.

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These new sites will be equipped with solar powered cameras that will shortly have their images displayed on North Yorkshire County Council’s website.

Cllr Don Mackenzie in front of the weather station at Greenhow.Cllr Don Mackenzie in front of the weather station at Greenhow.
Cllr Don Mackenzie in front of the weather station at Greenhow.

They say this will also enable members of the public to see the road conditions before starting their journeys.

Until now, highways officers have not been able to run cameras from solar powered sites, but camera and battery technologies have improved over the past few years to allow them to do this.

There is also a station on the C20 at Blakey Ridge which runs up towards Teesside across the windswept heath of the North York Moors and is regularly snowed over in winter with the council’s farmer contractors having to dig motorists out of sudden snowdrifts.

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The weather stations form yet another tool in the county council’s armoury to battle against the harsh wintry conditions that affect the county’s vast uplands.

North Yorkshire spends between £6m and £10m each year on winter gritting, depending on the severity of the weather with a fleet of 80 gritters to serve its 5,800 miles of road, along with over 100 farmer contractors.

County Cllr Don Mackenzie, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Highways hailed the new weather stations as a great step forward.

"This state-of-the-art equipment allows us to have invaluable, up-to-the-minute information about the state of our roads across some of our highest roads," he said.

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“With the data and images provided by these weather stations we hope the public will be able to make more informed, safer, journey choices during the winter period.”

Erik Sucksdorff, Sales Director, UK & Ireland and West Europe Ground Transportation at Vaisala, said the collaboration with the county council included thermal mapping, weather station supply, data management and maintenance services.

“The RWS200 network provides the best weather data in one integrated system, utilising trusted and future-proof technologies," he added.

Where the 10 stations are

B1257 Clay Bank

B6267 Low Burton

C20 Blakey Ridge

A169 Hole of Horcum

B1248 Wharram Le Street

B6255 Ribblehead

A6068 Cowling Moss

B6265 Greenhow

A63 Selby Bypass

A167 Carlingholme Hill