South West England Cold Spell Discussion

[SteveB]

More Rain & sleet than snow

[Dartmoor_Matt]

Clear blue skies...

Infact its been a lovely winters day here, snow still on the ground and in some of the trees that have been in the shade, cold and crisp. Nice.

Fingers crossed for a bit more tomorrow. It will have been a good spell then, despite early snow (or lack thereof) issues.

[SteveB]

A wintry mix best describes the precip at the moment,

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What's the latest on the potential snow on the night 23rd/24th? Looks like it will be rain to me. Anyone else have any ideas?

[textmum]

Nice clear blue sky here, not sure of temp but very chilly!!

[theprophecyman]

What's the latest on the potential snow on the night 23rd/24th? Looks like it will be rain to me. Anyone else have any ideas?

I personally think rain as well, but just had a gander at Metcheck and they have the following for BA11 (my local postcode for Frome - Somerset/Wiltshire borders) - basically snow showers, then sleet before turning back to snow.

http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/7days.asp?zipcode=ba11

[SteveB]

It's going to be another boarderline situation for us in the westcountry 23/24

But when isn't it boarderline

[Rich_Clements]

just had a shower of rain :lol:

[SteveB]

Mostly of rain in Nailsea. The snow is still on the ground though, so hopefully the temp will drop as it get dark & we keep it for another day.

[MP-R]

Heavy sleet shower at the moment with a temp of 1.5C

[Dartmoor_Matt]

Any thaw today is going to make the untreated roads interesting again tomorrow morning. Its hardly thawed at all here which is nice, but looking over the valley you'd think there had been no snow, all green. Its amazing the difference between north and south facing here.

Anyway, the sun has gone for the day here and the temp is dropping away, got up to 2c which is the warmest since last wednesday, also means my mean temp was below freezing again. 5 days, not bad.

[SteveB]

Heavy sleet shower at the moment with a temp of 1.5C

Surprised these showers have lasted this long, it would be nice for them to continue into the night & give another covering

Edited December 22, 2009 by SteveB

[MP-R]

Surprised these showers have lasted this long, it would be nice for them to continue into the night & give another covering

Well it begs the question, if these showers were happening in say 3-4 hours time, would they be of snow?? It's most certainly light rain now that it is lighter.

[SteveB]

Well it begs the question, if these showers were happening in say 3-4 hours time, would they be of snow?? It's most certainly light rain now that it is lighter.

I would have thought that would be the case.

[Nights King]

Shame those showers couldnt of hit abit further south.

current temperature -0.7c

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Hopefully the clouds will clear and allow temps to drop away fast!

[Dartmoor_Matt]

Temperatures here have fallen away by 1.5C in the last 30mins! Thats an epic drop, now just above freezing again.

It's going to be hell first thing tomorrow, I just know it. They never grit out of the village at least driving on snow is relatively straight forward, compacted snow/ice is a nightmare!

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-13.1C in Tulloch Bridge at 2PM!

Edit now -14.6C at 3PM! Holy s***!

[Nights King]

I wouldnt want to get peoples hopes up here but the rain coming in tomoro evening is forecast to turn back to snow in the early hours of the morning!! (local bbc graphics)

Just seen a couple of snowflakes out of those decayed showers from the channel.

Edited December 22, 2009 by mullender83

[Dartmoor_Matt]

I wouldnt want to get peoples hopes up here but the rain coming in tomoro evening is forecast to turn back to snow in the early hours of the morning!! (local bbc graphics)

Just seen a couple of snowflakes out of those decayed showers from the channel.

Yeah, the local BBC forecast down here went for snow over Dartmoor this evening and tomorrow morning, but the national forecast doesn't show ANY ppn until 12pm tomorrow. It would be nice if they could at least be consistent, which ever way it is.

I do have to say though, I'm sure many countries are watching this and laughing, I mean the travel chaos is ridiculous, twice in one year now. Why can't they just chemically treat the roads and runways?

Like so: The proper way...

Edited December 22, 2009 by Dartmoor_Matt

[Nights King]

Yeah, the local BBC forecast down here went for snow over Dartmoor this evening and tomorrow morning, but the national forecast doesn't show ANY ppn until 12pm tomorrow. It would be nice if they could at least be consistent, which ever way it is.

I do have to say though, I'm sure many countries are watching this and laughing, I mean the travel chaos is ridiculous, twice in one year now. Why can't they just chemically treat the roads and runways?

I find it bizzare. When i go to austria they don't all have chains but they still drive on the ice/snow because instead of putting salt down which gets diluted and freezes they use proper grit which gives the ice and snow grip.

Went into wells today and although they have very little snow left the pavements are thick ice in places and nothing is down on it.

Edited December 22, 2009 by mullender83

[Bristawl Si]

Just saw the BBC news24 forecast and they seem pretty confident now that the v.cold weather is on its way out for the south over next couple of days.

Reckon we'll have to wait for the new year now for chance of more snow.

[Dartmoor_Matt]

I find it bizzare. When i go to austria they don't all have chains but they still drive on the ice/snow because instead of putting salt down they use proper grit which gives the ice and snow grip.

Went into wells today and although they have very little snow left the pavements are thick ice in places and nothing is down on it.

Yeah, in Finland and Norway (where it snows alot) they don't seem to grit, just plough and blow the snow. Got a taxi in Finland (up above the artic circle, near Ruka) and he drove at 60mph on a snow laden road with no skidding etc. He did have snow tyres on though, which worked wonders!

In Norway they plough the roads and blow the pavements constantly and when I was there last year they still couldn't keep up, but our coach to the airport left on time, as did the flight.

Clearly there are ways and means, and if we are going to keep getting these events (they do seem to be occuring more often now) perhaps people need to look at things differently.

[Nights King]

Yeah, in Finland and Norway (where it snows alot) they don't seem to grit, just plough and blow the snow. Got a taxi in Finland (up above the artic circle, near Ruka) and he drove at 60mph on a snow laden road with no skidding etc. He did have snow tyres on though, which worked wonders!

In Norway they plough the roads and blow the pavements constantly and when I was there last year they still couldn't keep up, but our coach to the airport left on time, as did the flight.

Clearly there are ways and means, and if we are going to keep getting these events (they do seem to be occuring more often now) perhaps people need to look at things differently.

Sand is a similar solution to grit, it creates traction to iced roads. Also pavements are alot better with compacted snow and grit than slippery slush from salt which wrecks your clothes. lol I know it is rare in this country but major services i think should be equiped.

What would happen to this country if we got 3 months of this in one year....

Edited December 22, 2009 by mullender83

[Dartmoor_Matt]

Sand is a similar solution to grit, it creates traction to iced roads. Also pavements are alot better with compacted snow and grit than slippery slush from salt which wrecks your clothes. lol I know it is rare in this country but major services i think should be equiped.

What would happen to this country if we got 3 months of this in one year....

The army would have to step in to provide the emergency services I think, they showed a police landrover getting stuck last night, in Basingstoke. It's a joke, it really is.

Perhaps they just need to teach people how to drive in the snow?