South Central England Cold Spell Discussion

[Moisty]

Pretty heavy and building up everywhere here between Winchester and Basingstoke, some mighty large flakes.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Yup yup. Got 2cm;s getting on for an inch soon.

[steve1971]

turnd to rain here in last 5mins now mod rain and temp rising now so exspct more rain here.was nice while it lasted ...

[Altostratus]

Alto I've just driven down the road from Bramley to Sherborne St John and back to collect my son. All the roads round here, including these secondary routes are now covered in a good 1- 2 inches of snow.

Many cars slipping and sliding all over the place. I've got winter tyres on mine (skiing trip in Jan) which makes a huge difference ; bound to be a nightmare for people getting home from work.......and its still snowing heavily.

I went for a walk about an hour ago and took some photos. The main roads already had a good covering and looked very treacherous indeed. Thankfully I’m at home today so don't have to risk the roads. Heavy snow still falling here - flakes not as big now though.

[ademlc69]

turnd to rain here in last 5mins now mod rain and temp rising now so exspct more rain here.was nice while it lasted ...

Dont know what part of Southampton your in mate but Im in Shirley and its still snowing not as heavy but def snow.

[jaynemc]

quick update, sitting here near reigate, and we have in the last hr had some pretty heavy snow, in total had over an inch,topping up the still laying 3inches.... roads are a nightmare and being perched on a top on a hill, I'm not looking forward to driving down the hill to get home !!

Popped out 20mins ago and slid everywhere and even got totally stuck at one point, but now safely back at work, and I cant wait to go home !

Drive safely for all those about to venture out in this..

[Kiwi]

Still snowing....lots

Roads a bit dicey!

Looks like Christmas time here!

[Moisty]

After a lull its coming down pretty heavy again, getting on for 2" now and roads treacherous.

[katemart]

Huh! Big fat flakes had turned to snizzle by the time I got my hat and coat on and then I walked round the park in the rain. Rodas very slushy, which will be a nightmare if the temp drops soon.

[steve1971]

still heavy rain here dont exspect any change here as temps have gon up to about 10

[katemart]

A31 at Ropley likely to be closed, plus other warnings in North Hants:

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4814967.Commuters_warned_as_ice_threatens_to_shut_major_route/

[Joneseye]

I am surprised it is so quiet on this thread..

Still snowing here in Newbs and accumulating quite nicely.

Why have their been no gritters out?

Why are people so bad at driving in snow? It helps to pull away in 2nd gear and be very light on the throttle, is that too difficult a concept to grasp?

I have just looked at the updated forecast from GFS. The 7 day forecast for my location is showing rain up until midnight with snow after midnight.. If the GFS is so poor at this range i.e. nowcasting then I hold out very little hope for the rest of the week...

A31 at Ropley likely to be closed, plus other warnings in North Hants:

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4814967.Commuters_warned_as_ice_threatens_to_shut_major_route/

interesting link!

I used to work for the AA in the Ops Centre and can imagine what sort of chaos is unfolding with the return to work mixed with cold overnight temps and falling snow. The whole of Newbury is in gridlock with bus services suspended etc. We have had about 3cms of snow so far.. quite sad to see the infrastructure fail so easily with a relatively small amount of snow

[katemart]

BBC News 24 at Reading now, reporting the M4 at a standstill.

Have to disagree with your last point, really, Joneseye - the infrastructure in the South-East is on a knife-edge every workday morning and evening and it only takes one shunt or temporary traffic light in the Southampton area to cause gridlock. I'm sick to death of it but I don't think the weather is mainly to blame.

(love your pic, btw!)

[ademlc69]

I was just going to post that the snow had turned to rain but having just looked out...its snowing again,very strange it keeps on changing cant say I can remember it chopping and changing like this,then again ive just spoken to someone who lives about 3 miles up the road and its been snowing all afternoon.

[WhiteFox]

BBC News 24 at Reading now, reporting the M4 at a standstill.

Have to disagree with your last point, really, Joneseye - the infrastructure in the South-East is on a knife-edge every workday morning and evening and it only takes one shunt or temporary traffic light in the Southampton area to cause gridlock. I'm sick to death of it but I don't think the weather is mainly to blame.

(love your pic, btw!)

Yep. I totally agree with your point about the infrastructure; the M4 queues from the M25 to Reading during normal rush hour on occasions; not surprising that heavy snow brings it to a halt!

[Matt Taylor]

Just to give an idea, this was the A329 through Reading town centre at 4.45 this afternoon:

My link

The snow started at around 12.30, by 14.30 all buses in Reading had been suspended and the taxis were suspended shortly afterwards. Thousands of Christmas shoppers are now stranded in the town centre and traffic is gridlocked throughout the town centre.

My wife and I are in the Travelodge and got our rooms for about 40GBP the other day, we were in the lobby a few minutes ago and it was mayhem-the last few rooms went for 120! All the other hotels are full apparently.

[Moisty]

I'm surprised there's not more people on this thread, we've had snow for about 4 hours now, its very wet but over 2 inches now, if it freezes later tonight it will be horrendous tomorrow morning - very festive though

[stewfox]

BBC News 24 at Reading now, reporting the M4 at a standstill.

I work in Reading and some are saying the worse pre xmas snow in living memory

I have never seen anything like it pre xmas (perhaps 81 )

Its was however I believe fairly local but all buses stopped etc

30 miles up the road where I live hardly any snow at all

A marginal event glad BBC News picked it up , going to be on tele (reading that is)

Edited December 21, 2009 by stewfox

[coxxy22]

cant beleive how close it is lol yet so far

[stewfox]

Just to give an idea, this was the A329 through Reading town centre at 4.45 this afternoon:

My link

The snow started at around 12.30, by 14.30 all buses in Reading had been suspended and the taxis were suspended shortly afterwards. Thousands of Christmas shoppers are now stranded in the town centre and traffic is gridlocked throughout the town centre.

My wife and I are in the Travelodge and got our rooms for about 40GBP the other day, we were in the lobby a few minutes ago and it was mayhem-the last few rooms went for 120! All the other hotels are full apparently.

Just came home from reading via train to didcot parkway then car. Trains still ok ish

Yes it was terrible, cars going no where

ps it started at 11ish

Most staff let home early

[gottolovethisweather]

Hello all.

Snowy Cheers from Newbury, time for the measurements as of 6pm on this 21st. The shortest day providing the longest of journeys, horrendous for many I should think.

Ok, some figures.

Air Temp 0.2c, steady around this figure for a few hours now.

DP Temp -0.2c, reached 0.0c briefly hence sleet

Barometer 985.6mb still falling slowly.

Level snow depth 50mm maybe 55mm and still the snow falls.

NW Radar suggests more precipitation for several hours in my location yet!

Have Fun and Take Care

STORMBOY.

Less of that cheek Lookup.

[coxxy22]

im hanging out for that to shift slightly east a bit more

fingers crossed lol

it dont look like its gonna though lol

Edited December 21, 2009 by coxxy22

[*Stormforce~beka*]

I'm surprised there's not more people on this thread, we've had snow for about 4 hours now, its very wet but over 2 inches now, if it freezes later tonight it will be horrendous tomorrow morning - very festive though

Yup same here! i'm orf out with me ruler soon to measure! Not had more than 2 inches in Winchester for years! Only clocked up 1 in February.

[katemart]

im hanging out for that to shift slightly east a bit more

fingers crossed lol

it dont look like its gonna though lol

BBC News just showed the snow band pivoting through the night, with the southern end passing over Soton and Pompey, so there's still a chance!

[coxxy22]

oooo that sounds good maybe i wont flush my head down the toilet just yet lol lol

20 min flurry would make me a happy chappy lol