Lots of Snow

I know other countries such as the Scandinavian region is used to getting lots of snow every year, but here in the UK we haven't had heavy snow fall south of Scotland for over 10 years.

But suddenly this winter it has all changed. We had some the week before Christmas. Maybe 3 inches in the south.

However this evening that all changed. We have so far had a few inches since 5pm and all of the roads in the south of England have been grid locked or impassable since about 6pm.

This must seem laughable to those used to snow, but we are not geared up to cope with it. We don't have snow tyres. We don't have road surfaces designed for better grip in the snow, and ourt gritting lorries are not like the snow ploughs seen in other countries.

I was really worried I wouldn't be able to get home. Some people have been calling into the local radio whilst I was at work this evening saying they had left Southampton travelling home at 5:30pm and had only just past Portsmouth at 10pm!!! This is about 20 miles! That's an average speed of 4.5 MPH.

Luckily the roads I was using when I left work were not the major routes and were quite clear, so I slowly made my way home. Maybe now I'm home it will snow lots more tonight, then I will be stuck and won't be able to go to work tomorrow! ;)

How is the snow where you are in the UK? Or if you are elsewhere, how much snow have you had, and how does your country cope with it?

Obviously we might get Submeg saying he is in the middle of the summer heatwave down under.. compared to -6 degrees here! :lol:

As you say, here we've had plenty of snow as we normally do. No surprise there. It's been really damn cold the past two weeks though, averaging -15 to -20C in my area and will be for some time still. It's not uncommon for temperatures to drop that low in winter here, but it normally isn't that cold for long periods. Only tends to drop there for a few days while averaging -5 to -10 overall. I get up really early for work as you know, and one morning I saw it at -28! I could just barely get my car started!

As for the snow, you'd think that in a country such as ours we'd be used to handling snowfalls. And we are to some extent. But the truth of the matter is that the main roads are as chaotic and gridlocked as what you describe here during snowfalls. This really is due to the poor standard our roads are in. You see, we don't have many proper motorways here, with two lanes in each direction and such luxury. They do exist around the capital and a few major cities, but mostly our main routes are twisting single lane roads with comparatively low speed limits. Of course, traffic congestion on these roads is very high as you can imagine, and among those thousands of cars it takes just one idiot to block the whole thing up.

Traffic actually normally flows fine, but during snowfalls chaos ensues every single time. And the reason is there will always be some idiot who for one reason or another hasn't changed to snow tyres or just never learned how to handle a car in those conditions in the first place(because even with snow tyres you really need to drive differently). And 9 out of 10 times this idiot is a foreigner in a semi who never even realised he needed to take precautions before coming here. You read about these all the time. They tend to be from eastern europe, and due to the standards they come from their semis are in terrible condition, with worn tyres that wouldn't be legal here in even in the summer and absolutely no equipment like snow chains to deal with conditions here. And yet you read about these morons attempting such lunacy as our mountain crossings mid-winter! These people just aren't thinking!

Sad part is that there are a lot of these on norwegian roads at any time, and when conditions are such as they are now, you have them blocking the roads all over. Not to say that it never happens that a norwegian makes an ass of himself and does the same thing, there are idiots among the norwegian population as well. But if those were the only ones we had to deal with, it wouldn't have been that much of a problem.

Ok, rant over. To answer your question, yes we've had plenty of snow and it's much the same as it is every year here, nothing new. ;)

You get the idiot drivers everywhere it seems. Coming home tonight in heavy snow fall, with limited viability and slippery roads I was doing about 30 MPH on the motorway, and some cars were speeding past. It would only take a patch of ice and someone braking for them to cause a big crash. Just mad!

And 4x4 owners think their are immune.

I remember we had this discussion years ago too, and my opinion hasn't changed. I can't fathom why you people are out driving *at all* in the snow and ice when your cars aren't properly prepared for it. There is so little margin for error! Even if you are confident in your own ability to drive there's still a significant risk that some other idiot will take you with him when he screws up.

I'm not questioning your driving abilities, mind. In the right conditions it just doesn't matter. I've misjudged conditions and slid some times myself, I mean who hasn't? I really think you people are underestimating the risks you are taking by driving like this, and kinda wish you wouldn't.

For the first time ever, I was supposed to be doing a few days of paid work over christmas :o (with Marks and Spencers).

There wasn't much snow around but even so, despite setting off quite early, several buses failed to turn up, meaning I missed a train. Not to worry I thought as I can get the next train. Only when I did manage to get to the railway station, it said it was cancelled. I eventually ended up going to a telephone box to call my Grandad to ask for a lift. He had difficulty getting the car up the drive and when we got to Doncaster we got stuck in traffic. I ended up being half an hour late.

On day three on my way home at 8pm, I managed to get from Doncaster to Rotherham on the bus OK, but the next bus I intended to catch to go home was cancelled, so I resorted to a different one (more or less same journey time under normal circumstances), and the bus slid down one of the steep roads.

On Christmas Eve I decided to go on my bike since it is normally more reliable, the roads were mostly clear by now and it would mean I can get home in the evening (buses finished early at Christmas). I got about 20 yards and found my tire was punctured and had no way of fixing it. So that was the end to my temporary work with M&S, only working 3 out of 6 days.

We got loads of snow here on the 5th, must be a good 3 inches at least. I know just about every school in the area is closed, but I don't know what the roads are like as I didn't go out anywhere, nor did I have the radio on. I will probably have to wait till Friday for the newspaper. I did hope to go out and treat myself to some coffee and cake (it was my birthday), do some shopping, get a puncture repair kit and go into college to get my £805 back (I finally got the grants sorted), but I didn't feel like walking anywhere, and didn't want to risk using public transport, especially not if I had shopping. So, that may take place today instead.

I've took a few pictures of the snow but they are on my 35mm camera so I'll post them as soon as I have developed them.

I must say though, I do like hearing about and laughing at everyone's incompetence when it comes to snow.

Snow? I only saw it 3 times in my life...

Here in Lisbon, today, is about 15 degrees celcius.
We usually only have snow in one montain in Portugal that has 2000m high.
sometimes when temperature goes bellow 5 degrees in the north it snows a little, but nothing compared to the rest of europe.
Different weather, here in Lisbon, last year we had some days 0 degrees, witch is a lot for us, and didnt snow...

You definitely wouldn't like it here in the UK at the moment then where it has been below freezing for a few weeks now. -6 deg celcius for the past week where I live.

We have a Chinese student staying with us and this is also the first time she has ever seen snow. In fact it is the first time she has been outside of the southern region of China she is from, where it is always hot. She hasn't taken her coat off yet, not even in her room. I expect she is even sleeping in it! :lol:

But at least she is getting on with it. We had an Italian student before her who only stayed for a few weeks before moving house to live with a friend. When she arrived it was still about 15 Deg outside and we had the house was at 20 degrees without needing the heating, which we like. She was constantly moaning how cold it was and if we could put the heating on. So I bet she is moaning now! :lol:

It snowed a bit, and settled. Not too deep. The big problem now is the ice forming as it is so cold. I got into work late, and left early. Today was a good day.

My wife didn't even get to work (she drives, and her employer said flat out don't bother trying), so it was an even better day for her :cool:

I was in Finland for christmas, and there was a lot of snow, and -20. Coming home again, it was around 0, but since 3 days we have -8 here, and no snow (yet). They say in the forecast that the snow coming all the was from the UK will strike us on the weekend.

But I have to mention that -20 in Finland feels a lot less cold than -2 in Luxembourg. It's not windy, and there's no humidity at all. After sauna, I went without t-shirt into the snow, first time in my life I did this, and it was really great, felt so refreshing, never would have thought that :)