justinflavin

my local tesco was completely out of milk mid-afternoon when i ventured down there. definitely think panic buying is starting to happen alright. but there is a logical reason for "panic buying" - pretty much everyone knows that our food distribution system operates according to the "just in time" model. throw in the sheer dominance of the big supermarkets and the utter lack of local grocery stores, then it only takes a severe cold spell to entire disrupt the food supply precisely because of that "just in time" model. i dont think that lady with 30 loaves is being irrational. its perfectly rational considering the distribution system with regards to food that we find ourselves in. compare for example, any english town or village with their equivalents in france , where the french have supported a vast range of local shops in even the tiniest villages, sourcing their food locally. if you want a cold spell robust food distribution model and no "panic buying" , go look at france.

not exactly sure where to post this. feel free to repost this on the other forums.. sat image of the uk taken today.. incredible! via: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/8447023.stm

some more confirmation of that freakish -17 recorded in Benson , South Oxfordshire last night http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/6947178/Snow-to-stay-as-temperatures-plunge-to-coldest-this-winter.html "Lows of minus 17.7C (0.14F) in Benson, Oxfordshire, and Woodford, Greater Manchester, eclipsed minimum temperatures at many of Europe's famous ski resorts. " thats one incredible "frost hollow" , as some of the other posters mentioned about that place.

that arctic band of clouds heading south looks nasty. i could be wrong , but i think i see rotation developing there as well.

yeah - the itouch. which is basically an iphone without the phone bit. just has wifi. and you can run all the iphone apps on it.

South Oxfordshire. there's an RAF base there. http://www.raf.mod.uk/RAFbenson/

was just confirmed on bbc news 24. crazy alright.. wouldnt be surprised if we hear of somewhere getting -20 during the night.

its -15 in benson oxfordshire. -10 at manchester airport.

unbelievable. i see that as well. i wonder if any records will be set in England tonight?

somehow the -51 in parts of china recently is convieniently overlooked.

thats incredible. confirmed via xcweather : http://www.xcweather.co.uk/ - but might that be a glitch in the weather station reporting that , as the surrounding stations are reporting more in the -5 to -7 kind of range?

the met office are blaming our cold spell on ... wait for it... drum roll.. GLOBAL WARMING http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2010/pr20100106b.html they really can't help themselves can they?

GENIUS!! fantastic post!

Heard reports of thundersnow in Dublin via Today FM. anyone in Dublin care to confirm? over here in Basingstoke its been 24 hours non-stop snow and there's more coming. if you're flying to a UK airport please do check before you travel. you might end up being stuck at the airport on the UK side (assuming your plane actually gets here..)

well, its gone 12 noon here in basingstoke and it still hasnt stopped snowing. has gotten slightly more intense in the past 20 minutes. snowflakes are the small dandruff type , but there is plenty more in the sky - clouds are a complete whiteout.

Basingstoke this morning..

unbelievable.. woke up this morning here in Basingstoke and its STILL snowing. bbc news is reporting that the military were called out to help stranded motorists on the A3 in Berkshire. apparently there are still folks stranded on that route.

big flakes here in basingstoke.. non stop all night. this is just insane. normally we get a snow flurry for about an hour or so - its been going on for about 6 or 7 hours now.

heavy snow here in basingstoke. and has been for the past 5 hours or so.

i dont know if this adds to much, but when i arrived in Basingstoke this evening (from work in London) , the car park was utterly freezing - even though i was wrapped up well. car outside temp gauge registered -4c , but the car was in a sheltered area. and there was no wind chill. let me put it this way - walking about 500 yards from the station to my car was like walking through Siberia. metaphorically of course. but we can certainly feel the severe cold this evening here in Hampshire. definitely a different sort of cold to the pre-xmas snowfall - more "biting", more eating into your fingers ? does that make any sense? EDIT : another observation , talking the tube to Waterloo station this evening from Holborn. Me wearing: thick arctic bomber jacket, thick fleece, shirt (for the office), heavy t-shirt plus heavy jeans , thick socks and heavy boots. Not a bead of sweat in the tube despite it being packed. (go try that normally!)

wooah - just saw a MASSIVE flash and then a big thunder bang.. thundersnow on the way?!!!!? update: bit of a damp squib.. just the one flash, a bit of rain and that was it.

where are you seeing this snow west of basingstoke? radar?

freezing fog here in basingstoke. any slush from yesterday is now rock hard ice.

itv weather are now reporting that it will freezing fog over southern england tonight. that's bound to freeze the slush on the roads. ice rink travel chaos tommorow morning?

no sign of a thaw here in basingstoke. gritters were only out on the main roads apparently, so that means most estates are still treacherous. if the slush freezes overnight its going to be a nightmare during rush hour tommorow.