Midlands Cold Spell Discussion

[derby4life]

I agree - they shouldnt have shut the schools last week and definitely not today....................

The roads have never been 'that bad' - I got stuck 3 times last week on hills but I still got to my locations everytime.

If all these teachers didnt get paid for not turning up then im sure you'd find a different story. If you have to walk to work or school then so be it......its all part of the fun. 90% of kids dont need to use transport - its just their parents choose to drive them - only in remote rural areas that may be difficult.

This country has gone soft..............

agreed ...when I dropped the kids of this morning I've struggled to park because nearly everyone 'in' town decided to drive to school ..bearing in mind Ellesmere is a small rural town....ridicules really is

i'm only at home because I've been snowed of work by the way

[drgl]

Has the pool(lake?!) been frozen over good & proper there? The Severn was nearly frozen over near Greyfriars bridge on Saturday.

[Nick L]

This isn't 1963, we don't all live within a stones throw of our work places and schools and thus road conditions play a big part in our day to day lives.

That hits the nail on the head. I get sick of the mentality of "well back in the 60s we only had the day off school if we had 14 feet of snow and lost a leg to frostbite" etc. It is 2010, we are in a health and safety culture whether we like it or not, we shouldn't look to 50 years ago to see how we should cope - things have changed massively since then.

Most roads were completely gridlocked this morning, that wouldn't have happened in the 60s - why? We have more cars now! All the teachers make an effort to get in, unfortunately due to the road coniditions they (and us) cannot get in on occasion.

[kar999]

Aren't most of the school closures more to do with teachers, many of whom live miles away not getting in. This then gives H&S and government policy on class size issues. Many (probably a majority of puplils) except in rural areas are capable of walking to school as they are usually in a localised catchment area.

I remember walking a mile through deep snow everyday in 1963 for weeks on end. The classses were doubled up or more if a teacher wasnt there. The only health and safety issue was the damn headmaster salting the 50 foot long slides we had all made on the tarmac playground. spoilsport!

The only reason many schools reopened today was all the fuss and disjointed thinking about how to get around todays exam issues.

Edited January 11, 2010 by kar999

[Nick L]

Aren't most of the school closeure more to do with teachers, many of whom live miles away not getting in. This then gives H&S and government policy on class size issues. Many (probably a majority of puplils) except in rural areas are capable of walking to school as they are usually in a localised catchment area.

I remember walking a mile through deep snow everyday in 1963 for weeks on end. The classses were doubled up or more if a teacher wasnt there. The only health and safety issue was the damn headmaster salting the 50 foot long slides we had all made on the tarmac playground. spoilsport!

The only reason many schools reopened today was all the fuss and disjointed thinking about how to get around todays exam issues.

Many schools have opened only to exam students. As all they have to is come in, sit an exam and go home again. Very little chance of an accident.

[derby4life]

Has the pool(lake?!) been frozen over good & proper there? The Severn was nearly frozen over near Greyfriars bridge on Saturday.

Ellesmere lake is proper frozen over covered in snow....like it was last year

gutted the severn wasn't properly forozen over there....I went to school in coleham there and that was the last time it was frozen over 79 I think ...the river is 18 feet deep there and very slow flowing hence why it freezes

[Cornflake Girl]

Waiting 90 minutes for a bus only to realise 3 of them are stuck a mile down in the road is annoying and it makes me cold. Another snow day.

Does it look like tomorrow will be one too?

[A.J]

A rather monotonous morning here, dribs & drabs of snizzle and slizzle, and quite a marked thaw, although the local roads are dreadful!.......Just waiting for the 06z NAE to complete its cycle, must say that with the 06z GFS out, it looks very touch and go for me, Nick, Mark and a few others, we're right on the edge of what could be heavy snow late tuesday/wednesday....I'll be watching model updates with interest over the next 24-36 hours

[camperstron]

Every time our schools have closed we have received notification by 6AM - i.e before we have even thought about if/how/when we are going to travel. It's not just teachers - in birmingham (with regard to secondary schools) most kids are reliant on the bus network/school buses. I have 2 secondary school aged daughters who get buses to schools and last week it was the bus company who 'forced' the closure of their schools. By the way - if they had to walk to their schools (which are over a mile away) they'd have to travel through some less than salubrious areas and I'm simply not prepared to allow them to do that.

We only had 1 snow day last week, and I think closing schools last wednesday was the right call. It takes a lot of traffic off the roads.

This mornings rush hour in birmingham was horrible. And I just hope that my kids make it back ok this afternoon.

You also need to consider that most parents work now, and have to drive their kids to school so that they can then drive on to work. Times have changed.

[stipey1]

I stayed in Leicester overnight where there was little snow but as I travelled up to Coalville for work the transformation was amazing. A good few cm's overnight and been snowing lightly here all morning. Coalville must have really got caught under some stuff last night. hasn't stopped snowing all morning. A brilliant bonus.

[Nick L]

A rather monotonous morning here, dribs & drabs of snizzle and slizzle, and quite a marked thaw, although the local roads are dreadful!.......Just waiting for the 06z NAE to complete its cycle, must say that with the 06z GFS out, it looks very touch and go for me, Nick, Mark and a few others, we're right on the edge of what could be heavy snow late tuesday/wednesday....I'll be watching model updates with interest over the next 24-36 hours

It is an extremely fine line between getting naff all and a right dumping. We could get a lot of snow, but I haven't been impressed by the GFS PPN predictions lately I have to say. Will keep an eye on the NMM.

[mildmuck]

Interested to know what will happen on Tuesday - BBC show it stalling just east of Wales, yet the GFS shows it pptn crossing the country?

Yes looking very interesting the 06z.... I await the 12z. :unsure:

[Nabraxas]

Still snowing here in Ashby de la Zouch and has been all morning; snow here is a lot worse than at Hinckley.

[mozza81]

I really hope we get a massive dumping..........

Then it'll be ok for the schools to close

Although it looks like we could miss out - if it does work out for us - its got potential to be very potent going by the current intensity charts.........10mm of rain is 4inches and there could more ppn than that

[Nick L]

Light snow of the tiny flake variety here, getting slightly heavier, but is more of a nuisance than anything.

[Nabraxas]

It's very quiet on here today... has nobody else got any snow?

[conor123]

Had about 1-2cm generally here in Telford though on the bits of snow leftover there was slightly more.

Still a few tiny flakes coming down, have been all morning, im still thinking tommorows storm may be to far west.

[drgl]

Had about 1-2cm generally here in Telford though on the bits of snow leftover there was slightly more.

Still a few tiny flakes coming down, have been all morning, im still thinking tommorows storm may be to far west.

I think we may be in the right place this time, only time will tell!!

[Nabraxas]

I think we all need to do a snow dance to will that front a bit further East tomorrow so it stalls over us

[locneverstop]

Woo! Metoffice upgrade for West Midlands on Wednesday! 2-5cm though seems a little low with all this talk of West-East battlegrounds.

[derby4life]

It's very quiet on here today... has nobody else got any snow?

taken this morning

Edited January 11, 2010 by derby4life

[Nick L]

Woo! Metoffice upgrade for West Midlands on Wednesday! 2-5cm though seems a little low with all this talk of West-East battlegrounds.

We will likely be on the very edge of the band, so we may get some brief heavy stuff before it moves away and/or dies out. I think an inch or two is the most likely at this stage

[locneverstop]

We will likely be on the very edge of the band, so we may get some brief heavy stuff before it moves away and/or dies out. I think an inch or two is the most likely at this stage

I hope you're right!

Went out for a walk along the canal yesterday and it frightened me seeing so many holes in the ice. I think I'll leave this cold spell behind happy knowing we got one last inch or so, even if it does thaw quickly.

Best go out and start my snow dance...

[derby4life]

hopefully we can be more in the firing line again for this event ...patience is the key ...our snow hasn't melted at all ....god only knows we waited long enough for it

could be a very interesting journey back into work at Bala wednesday morning

[DR Hosking]

had an inch of Snow overnight in Western Northants, added to the 6 inches from last week. Just when the roads were improving over the weekend this morning they were worse then they were on Friday.