OldLandRover

We had a very hard frost last night, one of the hardest of winter I think. Looked out of window when I woke up and thought it had snowed as the frost was so deep on the extension roof and lawn. Lovely bright sunshine and clear blue sky now, looks like it'll be a nice warm day. ?

Morning all. Wonderful pictures! Still only 0.5c here with alot of ice about. Snow seems to be evaporating rather than melting because there doesn't seem to be any melt water running off anywhere.

Yeah, cash alternatives used to be more common back in the 90's and early 2000's. I managed to get a leased 4x4 double cab pickup on my cash alternative, the company car option was a BMW Mini - no brainer really. I still run a jap pickup as the main family car because it is really practical for a large family. My new Navara is averaging 36mpg too so not that bad economy for a two ton 4x4. It hits 50mpg on the motorway. Back to the weather: Really odd, wind picked up again, temp suddenly dropped to zero and it started snowing. The radar doesn't show anything over us at all. I wasn't expecting any more.

With regards company car, van and truck drivers - I had same with my employers refusing to pay for winter tyres so I took cash alternative and ran my own vehicle. However if winters were mandatory (in wintry conditions) it would prevent these employers from putting lives at risk to save money. I accept that UK is a moderate climate and not too many snowy winters but we do have cold wet roads and ice alot more frequently than snow and winter tyres are safer in those conditions too. My wife wants the warm weather ASAP because she has loads of seedlings to get outside and a veg garden to attend to. She is far less of a cold fan than me and the kids :-)

@jules79, seriously I'd look at getting some winter tyres (I'd recommend Bridgestone Blizzaks). Honestly the difference in traction roadholding and braking on ice, snow, slush or even cold wet roads is astonishing even on a 2WD car. We fit winter tyres to all our vehicles, usually in September and leave them on until March/April depending on weather. As long as you have somewhere to store them just buy a cheap second set of steel wheels and have the winter tyres fitted to them so you can swap them on yourselves. My wife and I can drive our powerful rear drive cars on sheet ice and even 3" snow with no wheelspin (on winter tyres) where even 4x4's on summer/all season tyres struggle for grip. Over the long term they don't cost any more money because while the winters are fitted you are not wearing out your summers and vice versa so a set of summers and a set of winters typically last us 6 years of driving (15K miles a year). Our Land Rover is actually a daily driver, not just for winter but due to only doing 6K miles a year of local driving that stays on winter/snow tyres year round and the tyres still last 40K+ miles. :-)

Hi, my comment re white Easter was based on what a few of the models are suggesting for Easter along with met office long range wording change to partly support that view. The weather will do what the weather will do. My kids and I love cold snowy days as much as we enjoy hot summer days so we make the most of what mother nature provides. Most RTA's in snow are down to numpties who are driving too fast and/or haven't bothered to buy appropriate vehicles or tyres for the conditions. I've managed to drive up and down 1 in 8 hills this morning without incident, driven for miles through 3-4" of snow and over ice and driven through 3 feet deep drifts. All possible because I have a lifted Land Rover on huge snow tyres and 40 years off road driving experience. I would not attempt to do the same journeys in a standard road car. If I didn't want to waste money on winter tyres or a 4x4 for the few days they are really needed each year then I'd make sure I had a stock of food and fuel in so I didn't need to go anywhere. If I was reliant on driving somewhere for my job then at the very least I'd invest in winter tyres. Sadly too many people prefer to spend money on other things and then risk their own lives and others by driving in conditions they are not prepared for. Just my opinion and I'm sure many will disagree with me.

What a great weekend of weather. Kids have been sledging two days in a row. I've also had a chance to drive the Land Rover on some very deep snowy lanes and play in 3 feet high drifts. Snow melting quite quickly now as the sun has come out but Beast2 delivered far better for us than Beast1. now looking forward to a white Easter

now have 4-6" widely across garden (DN20), drifts upto 18" against house and fences, still strong winds and still snowing albeit lightly now. Only -0.3c according to our weather station but just been out to top up the birds fat balls etc and it feels alot colder than that.

We've got 2-3" of snow across whole garden and much deeper drifts around the house, even got snow stuck around the door and window frames. Blizzard here right now too and -1.8c. Best snow since 2010. Considering this was meant to be a mini beast it has delivered far better in just one day than the beast did two weeks ago. Kids have already been out sledging earlier this evening and we'll be out again tomorrow Morning.

Amber warning was definitely merited here. The roads were treacherous earlier. The sun was melting the snow between showers, then it refroze before the next shower of ice marbles/graupel covered it up. Even the Land Rover on winter tyres was not as surefooted as it would normally be in normal snow (albeit in 2WD), our jap pickup on all season tyres was a mare in rear wheel drive, had to engage 4WD to get up our road. Visibility was also down to 50 feet at times in those blizzards. Now have a good inch of snow over whole garden and temp has dropped to -2c

Currently in another heavy snow shower/blizzard here north of Brigg. This time it is proper snow flakes rather than graupel. It is settling nicely now too. Min 10mm across garden and drifting to a few inches deep against house. Temp has been -0.7c to -1.2c for couple of hours so no melting of snow from last heavy shower. Best snow day of the winter by far, awesome blizzards in the strong wing. Looking good for tonight if these showers continue to hit at the rate they have been all day.

Thank you for the welcomes :-) I popped out for some shopping just as the latest heavy shower started. It has lasted 25 minutes so far and is very heavy. Blizzard conditions on the rural lanes, poor visibility and surprisingly slippy, quite deceptive considering it was bright sunshine half hour ago. Now -1.2c here and already a 5-10mm layer of graupel over garden and road.

Hello all, just joined but been a lurker for a year or so. I'm in the sticks a couple miles north of Brigg in North Lincs. We seemed to have missed most of the snow this winter, got nothing in December and only a light covering from Beast1, very poor compared to 2010 where we had 18" of snow on lawn for a month with overnight temps as low as minus 20. Oddly we've seen more snow today than we have all winter, a steady stream of snow/graupel showers roughly 20 mins apart since 7am this morning. Sadly melting almost as soon as the sun re-appears but have been impressive to watch due to the very strong wind forming mini blizzards in the garden. Hoping we get some laying snow overnight so the kids have a chance of sledging. We are in the amber warning area so fingers crossed for something tonight.