HEREFORDSHIRE's gritting crews will be rolling out for the first time this season, as temperatures across the county have dropped.

The county council's fleet of 17 gritters will be in action first thing tomorrow morning (November 19), as road surface temperatures are due to fall.

Crews will tackle "priority routes" around Herefordshire at 4am tomorrow. These include A-roads, with the exception of the A49 which National Highways is responsible for.

The council’s cabinet member for roads Barry Durkin has previously said: “As we know from previous years, challenging conditions can arise very rapidly, so whatever the weather, we encourage people to be aware of the forecasts and please always take care on our roads and pavements.”

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Meanwhile, an amber cold health alert has been issued for the West Midlands, from today (November 18) to November 23.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, this means weather is likely to cause significant impacts across health and social care services, including a rise in deaths, a likely increase in demand for services, staffing issues, temperatures inside places like hospitals, care homes and clinics dropping below the levels recommended for assessing health risks, and challenges keeping indoor temperatures at the recommended 18 degrees leading to more risk to vulnerable people.

Other sectors such as transport and energy are also likely to be affected, said the agency.