The local authorities across the UK said they have stockpiled more road salt than was used throughout last winter.

Accord to a BBC report, the Local Government Association (LGA) said town halls in England and Wales had about 1.4m tonnes on hand and are "well prepared to keep traffic moving" in the event of heavy snow. Even the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) has said with more on order, it plans to utilise 90 percent of its last year resources. The local authorities in Northern Ireland have "increased stocks significantly".

After the recent "Big Chills" severe winters faced by the country especially in the last two years, the preparations come in advance to avoid widespread chaos after many parts of the county were hit by significant snowfall last year before the end of November.

"The councils have got more salt this year along with better plans to use it and new technology to make it go further," said Councillor Peter Box, chairman of the LGA's economy and transport board. "We're well prepared to keep roads safe and traffic moving, whatever the weather throws at us," he added.

In order to avoid traffic chaos, the LGA said 51 percent of councils in England and Wales have collected more salt for this winter than they had for the last year's winter. On average, each council has 4,900 tonnes of salt in stock - about 1,500 tonnes more than this time last year, reported the BBC.

The Cosla said in Scotland its members were aiming to have six-and-a-half week worth of salt stockpiled with them. Already having 12,000 tonnes on the road, the Cosla said there are 490,000 tonnes in depots with another 65,000 tonnes still on order.

However, Councillor Pat Watters, Cosla president, warned and also urged the public to gear up for the upcoming winter after facing severe winters previously. The DRD Road Services in Northern Ireland has said it began planning for the upcoming winters in April itself.

Meanwhile, England recorded its first snow fall after having a warm November, said the Met Office. It said the snow fell across the South Tyne Valley in Cumbria on Saturday morning as temperatures in the region dipped below freezing, reported the Daily Mail. Though forecasters had warned about the drop in temperatures towards freezing, the Met Office expects the temperatures to slip back to normal for this time of year.

"Winter has finally arrived. It's going to be quite changeable throughout the coming month, with bursts of cold and mild weather. Temperatures across the UK are largely going to be below the average in the coming days. We've got some colder weather coming, particularly for the back end of the weekend," said Dan Williams, forecaster.

The Met Office forecast that by Sunday the temperatures in the East could be as low as 0ºC, with London having a temperature of 2ºC with a maximum of 6ºC.

London England