Midnight Sun

I didn't see Watchdog, but in the last couple of days I've seen the Gary Lineker advert for the 'predict the rain' competition a few times. Surprised that Walkers are still running that if there are problems. I reckon Walkers are taking the 'all publicity is good publicity' stance. Being blamed for running a really popular competition will probably sell more, not less, crisps.

I couldn't log on at 8am and am now at work, the Walkers site is blocked from here. Still hoping to play for Tue 15th though. Don't all the unused predictor plays go forward to one big final competition on 2nd April? How are the squares allocated for that? I carefully calculated how many plays I could use, bought the crisps, banked the codes and now have 5 unused plays, thanks to all the problems. But if each of those plays is valid for 2nd April I will be a bit happier with the whole fiasco.

I also tried and failed to log my entry for today just after midnight, I managed to bag a square at 8am but for Sat 13th! Impossible to predict so far in advance, but at least it's November, so an educated guess is worthwhile making. I was wondering whether Walkers have lost money on this - I doubt it, surely they would have done the maths and worked out how much they were likely to be paying out (and how much they could potentially be paying out if every square won for every timeslot on every day). I reckon the other companies involved in the discount points promotion would have footed the bill for some of the winnings at least. It's not like other promotions that have backfired - e.g. the Hoover flights one - because the maximum payout amount was known in advance. Great odds though, £10 winnings from a 20p stake (1 code from a single 40p pack of double-coded Smoky Bacon).

I tried to record an entry for Fri 5th this morning but the whole map was already full. Even tried the 'Lucky Drip' option but that said no squares were available. I picked a square for Sat 6th instead. But my 2 squares for today have both won! Total winnings now £40. Money for nothing, considering I'd have bought the crisps anyway.

What were the books - Chalet School?

Here in S Birmingham there are loads of tiny snowflakes blowing along in the wind, coming from an almost completely blue sky - they must have come a long way!

Thick snow here (SW B'ham). Car and drive already covered and it's only been snowing for 20 mins! Glad I followed the advice of netweather and was first in the supermarket this morning.

The contrast between September and July/August is astonishing. September = washing hanging on the line, plenty of outdoor activities, plants/garden needing regular watering. July/August = none of those things. Wouldn't be surprised if various regional news headlines on Oct 1st contained plenty of "driest September on record for a long time"

Thanks everyone for your replies. There is an awful lot to consider! It would be interesting to see the different theories of the various feedbacks/effects discussed in the Arctic Ice thread, which for a novice like me just seems to consist of "bad news, it's melting faster" comments. To which my reply is "but why does that matter?" - and now I know! Thanks again.

I’ve been following the Arctic Ice thread with interest, seeing the progress over time of the winter freeze and summer melt. My question is, what would be the effects if the Arctic ice-cap were to completely melt one summer? Would there be any increase in global sea-level? I guess not, because the melted ice just replaces the volume it’s currently displacing in the sea? Would there be any change to water or air currents? Again I wouldn't have thought much, because the current ice-cap isn't a landmass, it doesn't affect deep water currents. What other effects would there be?

Quite big flakes falling and settling from a fairly dark sky, no wind.

I really hope the rain does turn into snow... my netweather forecast for my birmingham postcode is only giving a 7% chance of overnight snow though.

Light rain here in S B'ham for the past hour, which is having an adverse effect on the remainder of the lying snow (i.e. melting it).

It's getting thicker already... And darker...

Here in South B'ham (Northfield) it's just started snowing very lightly, and it's coming from the NW - i.e. very promising!