I drove back from Oxford last evening, M40, M25, M26 and M20. It started snowing when we got to the M25 at around eight o?clock. The traffic got slower as the snow got heavier. Eventually all lanes were down to a few mph. This lack of headway seemed to allow the snow to settle and pile up between the lanes. The traffic report from Radio London indicated the problem was on the uphill section around the M23 turn off. Progress was very slow. There were an ominous number of breakdowns on the hard shoulder. Sometimes all the lanes stopped and I really thought we were going to spend the night in the car.
It was concerning that some cars were sliding when moving off and we were on a flat section of the road! We moved for a number of miles, letting the car idle along in first so as to rest my clutch foot. Eventually the snow stopped and the traffic eased along a little faster, second gear at idle was possible. The dreaded uphill section proved to be OK?more slush than ice and there were no problems. We got home after mid-night.
The driving standard in the bad sections was pretty good, everyone keeping a decent distance and speed. We all new it would only take one slip to cause havoc. The problems came when it got slushy around the M26 turn-off. Drivers, having been held up in the snowy sections, started hacking down the outer lane at speed, even though the road was thick with slushy debris. Lorries and large panel vans the most noticeable culprits.
More snow is forcast. It?s currently snowing here in Maidstone.
|
|
|
We have about 6-8 inches in Orpington- the garden looks like flippin' Narnia.
Very few cars on the main road I can just see from our Close. Trains up the spout- don't know if we have any or not. DEFINITELY not getting the bike out, even though I bought new jacket & trousers at Excel on the weekend. I'm staying home, do some work, build a snowman with the little feller. Not so bad really!
Most impressed that Milkie made it to deliver our daily pinta at about 0700...
Winter greetings to all!
Alex.
|
I think the buses get cancelled because the staff can't get in to work, rather than >> the buses not being able to cope with the snow.
Its the same problem with the railways as well... there will be sections of line where the third rail has problems but most will be ok... but staff getting into work is another matter, most of us don't have any choice but to use our cars as when our shifts start or finish there doesn't tend to be any other transport!
I'm on at 1430 this afternoon and its still snowing here in the Midlands, so it should be an "interesting" journey!
|
People are being ultra cautious in Bracknell. The temp is +3, the roads are clear of snow but are wet and people are driving around at about 15 mph with their knuckles white on the steering wheel as if they were on black ice - which they aren't. Got to get to Reading and back tonight for a show - I think we'll drive rather than chance SW trains getting us there but not back! 3 ins of snow and airports are shut and we have had a good 4 days warning, not very First World is it?
|
.. 3 ins of snow and airports are shut and we have had a good 4 days warning, not very First World is it?...
Few countries have to cope with the range of temperatures we do - get a hot summer and the Tarmac will melt.
Designing systems to cope only with extreme heat or cold wouldn't be too difficult.
Dry, hard-packed snow is also easy to deal with/drive/walk on, but you can bet we'll get a partial thaw, then it will freeze, then it will snow.
And we seem to get wide weather variations at the same time in what is a relatively small country.
|
|
Absolutely IIH, and this is the reason the Brits always talk about the weather. It's so varied, it's Quite Interesting.
|
|
|
Yep its like the leaves on the line thing, most European countries don't have trees near lines but Britian likes to do things differently. Network rail tried to fell some treets and chop some back a few years back to help with the problem but they just got a load of enviromentalists protesting so they gave up, although interestingly at least up here it didn't seem to cause any delays this year.
I've had a few delays on trains caused by buckeled tracks where they have melted when the temperatures have dared to reach 25c!
I am tempted to stay in bed until July and not wake up.
|
Yep its like the leaves on the line thing most European countries don't have trees near lines . chop some back a few years back to help with the problem but they just got a load of enviromentalists protesting
They do, but they don't have the trouble with environmentailsts! Having said that they've chopped an awful lot back last year!
I've had a few delays on trains caused by buckeled tracks where they have melted when the temperatures have dared to reach 25c!
They don't melt, they expand! The gap that's left between lengths of rail for expansion gets filled and then if the rail continues to expand it buckles... rather similar to those expansion gaps you see on bridges... hope that clarifies it!
|
>>They don't melt, they expand! The gap that's left between lengths of rail for expansion gets filled and then if the rail continues to expand it buckles... rather similar to those expansion gaps you see on bridges... hope that clarifies it!
I thought the current method was welded joins, with no expansion gap. I can't understand it myself, they must still expand/contract with temperature changes.
|
I thought the current method was welded joins with no expansion gap.
Modern high speed track does have long welded rail, but it still has to have expansion joints but instead of being a straight cut across the rail its an elongated joint so it can expand more... bit difficult to describe, but it does generally work, I can only remember the odd buckled rail problem last year...
|
|
Ah! I think I understand. I'm imagining a diagonal cut, rather than one at ninety degrees to the length of the rail, or even a mortice and tenon?
|
I'm imagining a diagonal cut
Thats the word I was looking for!! :-)
|
|
|
Snow is quite rare in the part of Manchester where I live as I live in the flat part (not the Pennine area). I woke up this morning to see everything white, thats an extremely rare thing, we get a lot of ice and frost but not snow that actually sticks.
I am a bit worried about my dad and also a friend who has had to drive a long journey through the Pennines (though mostly on the M60) to start her new job, I have not heared anything yet :(.
I have to go to the city centre soon, I wonder if there will be any buses, the media only ever seems to report on London. I am all aching every where and I feel pretty awful, its probably down to the cold.
|
|
|
3 ins of snow and airports are shut and we have had a good 4 days warning not very First World is it?
9 inches* of snow here in north surrey which is 8 miles south and 6 inches deeper from bracknell.
*measured on a flat open non drifted spot
|
Extremely slow through Wokingham earlier.
Was following a Beemer following a pushbike on a back road. I assumed it was the bike holding us up, but he eventually started to pull away from the Beemer. We were going about walking pace or less, and any time the Beemer put any power on the back slid around. I'd forgotten how much better fwd is for snow.
|
|
Sun's shining in Bedford - well, trying to.
|
|
I just walked to local shops and I was amazed by the amount of people driving cars with lights still covered in snow!! Don't these people have a brain??
|
Don't these people have a brain??>>
You have to remember that approx 50% of drivers are of less-than-average intelligence;-) Frightening, isn't it?
|
Loads and loads of snow here in North Hants (yes, that's a technical measurement) - more than I think I have ever seen down here before!
I was in bed very smug that I had booked today off in advance to use up some leave, and then two members of my team decided they weren't going to work either (one didn't want to drive in the snow, one couldn't get a train because they were all cancelled)!
I haven't tested it out today but normally when we have snow it's all but gone by the time we get to work, which is further south. I'll give it a try tomorrow.
|
|
The weather hasn't stopped the DVLA wheel clampers. They've just passed the house for the third time this morning with a vehicle on the back.
Edited by daveyjp on 02/02/2009 at 11:25
|
Looking at all this snow brings back memories - In my Ford Zodiac days - 2.5 RWD I had a spare pair of wheels with Town and Country tyres on - They along with an old Jag auto box in boot made for steady progress in any snow -- I can still remember Frankley Services on M5 before M5 was joined to M6- being only car in car park and practicing powered broadsides then doing 180 spins and driving backwards - then snow plough came and spoilt it.
Looks like our dusting of snow is now going to become a covering here in Shropshire - coming down steadily
|
|
I live in North Lancashire and we have had a covering of snow here, I'm usually fine in our Shogun but this morning I was left with an Automatic Clio to get to work in so I wasn't looking forwards to my journey to work. We live at the top of a hill on a single track road, I had to wait a while for cars to come skidding up the hill but the Clio got me to work with the help of a pair of 'AutoSocks' on the tyres (they are designed to help you drive on snow/ice - bought them on the internet, roofbox.co.uk), very reassuring when I got to the bottom of the hill to find someone else had cleaned out the garden wall of a house at the bottom of the hill, presumably skidding into it!
|
4 mile cycle ride down main road to Reading station at 6.30 this morning was a bit scary, but roads were wet rather than icy so just about kept upright. Usually get the 7.27 Reading to Bath train but the 6.57 was still sitting in the station, so got that instead. Train was approx 80 mins late by the time we got to Bath. Hold up due to over-running engineering works and broken down goods train, both at or near Didcot - don't know if weather was the underlying cause.
Not much snow in Bath but getting heavier as I write this - getting back to Reading might be interesting...
|
Wife in London overnight and decided to come home early rather than the 14:00 train Euston-Manchester. Glad she did. GMR now reporting 'avoid travel to London' and her train has been delayed by 40 minutes since it left Euston.
Luckily no major appointments today or tomorrow.
|
I cracked and went into the office. M3 was deserted and safe for a steady 50 or so in lane 1, although lane 3 and the hard shoulder looked very iffy.
Getting to/from the M3 was huge fun though, but the S60 felt as surefooted as the proverbial mountain goat. Built for far harsher things than any British winter can throw at it. Heater was blowing warm by the time I'd de-snowed it (with a broom!)
Just 4 people in the office (out of 40 or so). Might go and do a handbrake or two in the deserted 'overflow' car park on the way out, just 'cos I can! :-) 5" or so of pristine snow just waiting to be ruffled up! :-)
I'm such a child!
|
3 to 4 inches in my part of West Sussex and SWMBO was a bit worried about driving to work and according to the radio her nearest station to work was closed.
I took her in her Yaris the 12 miles or so to her work, dropped her off early and still got to my office four miles on - five minutes late and I was the last one in.
SWMBO 's office which has 200 or so staff only had four there when she arrived.I too was tempted to have a bit of fun in their large empty car park.
However - It is still snowing quite heavily so getting back home might be fun.
|
|
I was amazed by the amount of people driving cars with lights still covered in snow!!
Got my car out the garage this morning. No snow on headlights (obviously). However when I got to my destination and when looked at the front of my car, the headlights were covered in snow.
Don't these people have a brain??
I'm sure they do, and you can't help snow settling on your headlights when its tipping it down and you're not going fast enough for it to blow off.
|
Just got the bus to town [Manchester city centre], everything seems as normal, its not really properly stuck in the city, its a bit slippy but thats it. It is still snowing here in south Manchester but its light snow really and no longer appears to be sticking. Its flipping cold though, although I might be coming down with a flu bug as I am in bed, tired and everything is aching.
I don't know how I would have coped living through some some of the winters of the past where you didn't have central heating and temperatures often fell well below 0c.
The bus coming back was extremely busy (partly due to the stupid driver) so it hasn't seem to stop people from going out.
I am so glad I went to London two weeks ago and not this week! Not going down there till at least April now so hopefully the snow would have melted by then although Londoners do need to be taught a few good lessons!
|
Rattle said he did not know how people coped in the past with these temperatures.
Well of course this is mild. In the 19th century the Thames froze. And in the Middle Ages there was a mini ice age.. much colder than now.
I was brought up as a teenager in a big house in Northern Scotland with cooking range in the kitchen, a fire in the lounge and that's it. No heating in the bedrooms.
You wore more clothes - several layers.
You went to bed after putting a HOT water bottle in it - or 2 - half an hour before you went to bed.
You did exercise to keep warm - like walking (we were 2 miles outside town.. and we walked or cycled everywhere.)
In fact very smiliar to today.
Thermals, mittens 3 fleeces and warm socks..
Of course when I grew up we had at least 2 winters with 5 metres high snowdrifts outside the house, blocking the road: for months- it was too small for a snowplough.
Sledging was great.
Elderly people either kept warm in front of a coal fire: or died of hypothermia. Often the latter.
Not too different from today but at ages 20 years older.
|
I don't know how I would have coped living through some some of the winters of the past where you didn't have central heating and temperatures often fell well below 0c.
You wimp!
I used to spend school holidays at my grandparent's farmhouse and they had no mains services whatsoever ~ no gas, no electricity, no water, no drainage and no sewage. They used to get water out of a pond in an adjacent field and store it in milk churns. In summer when the pond dried up they had to take the milk churns in their pony and trap to the next farm to get water out of a well. In winter condensation used to freeze on the inside of the windows.
This was as recent as the 1950s.
Edited by L'escargot on 02/02/2009 at 15:07
|
Just been into Northampton, roads are fine, even our close out in the countryside is free from snow in the road.
Its just started coming down again but Im so far unimpressed! Barely 1/4 of an inch on the drive!
|
Check the radar for your local area:
eg. BBC oxford
www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/weather/forecast/
From current time, Back button for actual radar images, Forward for forecast snowfall.
[the radar images should show Stunorth why he has missed out on the snow, and how close it came to him!]
Edited by jbif on 02/02/2009 at 13:30
|
I'm sure they do and you can't help snow settling on your headlights when its tipping it down and you're not going fast enough for it to blow off.
This is one of the occasions I miss the proper headlamp wash / wipe the Carlton had, seems to be a very rare fitting these days.
|
Walked to paper shop early AM. Minus 2C and powder snow as global warming predicted - warmest winter for 2,000 years.
Pushed a young lad with a wide wheel motor out onto the main road and noticed others slithering about - one with just a slit to see out of at the front and a mountain of snow on the bonnet.
Spoke to another walking bloke - he had a 4x4 but couldn`t use it due due to others blocking the road.
One motorist said `stupid car` it wouldn`t make progress - the wheels howled and spun as it went sideways into the kerb.
Came home and sat in the garden with a beer and knotted handkerchief on my head taking advantage of winter global warming heat - which threatens to turn West Yorkshire into a desert ...... probably a baked plum pudding...
|
global warming >>
Climate change, Oilrag, climate change ;-)
|
|
Snow showers interspersed with sunny spells here in Leeds.I am not risking rear wheel drive so I am using the mountain bike today,I shall be wearing Axo elbow protectors though.
|
There was no way I was driving today, so got the train from Portsmouth to Basingstoke. i was impressed! It was only ten minutes late. Lots of other South West Train services are a mess, though, and getting home will be fun!
There was absolute carnage on the roads during the 10 minute walk in though. Cars slipping and sliding, RWD cars flooring it trying to get up ramps to the car park and gently going sideways.
The funniest sight was a bloke pushing a Smart car up an incline, with the driver slowly making 45 degree progress towards a UPS van. Luckily it straightened up just in time!
|
So who's got the BIGGEST?!?
Er, snowfall, that is. I've got 12"/30cm here in Leatherhead. More snow falling, so I'm expecting an improvement.
Global warming? Snowball warning more like!!
|
I have 9 inches here in the woking area
|
Global warming? Snowball warning more like!!
The charts here
www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/europe/surface_pressu...l
show all the warm Atlantic air that we should be getting is funnelling up to Greenland!
The LOW which normally centres around the West of British Isles is way down South and is centred over Spain.
Edited by jbif on 02/02/2009 at 15:01
|
So its off to Box Hill for a fun days sledging then Boxsterboy.......
|
cept you cant get UP box hill to sled down again.
|
So its off to Box Hill for a fun days sledging then Boxsterboy.......
I (and the kids - schools closed) would love too, but the roads are just too bad. Schools are closed again tomorrow, so maybe if the roads are better then. But of course I'll be taking my snowboard!
|
Drove to work in the morning [-2 C few inches of snow on side roads]. In one roundabout, I wanted to go left but car decided to sail to right instead. It was scary but I eased accelerator off and regarding control (my car doesn't have traction control - plain FWD).
Came back home at lunch as all my colleagues either didn't arrive or already left by then!
|
I'm sorry any commenst about climate change are from ignorance.
When did the Thames last freeze over?
|
There is a reason the Thames doesn't free anymore, and it's not due to our winters now being warmer.
I can't recall the exact reason but it has something to do with amount of obstacles in the water (bridges etc.) disrupting the smooth flow of the water, which reduces the chances of the water freezing.
|
|
snow ! what snow....feeling left out here....
|
AE says nine inches. That's what we have here in North Kensington too, still powdering down with varying intensity. Had to move the car from round the corner half a mile or so to the garage for tomorrow, if he's working. I feared numb hands and so on but the thick snow swept off the windows fairly easily without soaking or freezing me - I am 70 and wasn't wearing gloves - and the jalopy started. It didn't like driving out of the parking slot though and was skittish during its u-turn. So I mimsed shamelessly like all the local money men tiptoeing about in their Beemers, tee hee. Left the nine-inch thick chef's hat on it though as even a lot of black cabs seem to be doing. Traffic needless to say is thin for a Monday. Not a bus to be seen. Will it be a de facto three-day week in the Smoke?
Pavements are packed snow even in the main road for the most part. No salt anywhere. Perhaps we can't afford it or the people and trucks to lay it any more.
In Sussex yesterday it was above freezing and felt absolutely arctic. Today in all this non-melting snow it is merely bracing provided one's shoes are good enough to maintain a brisk pace. For HB's information the cheapo Chinese plastic walking shoes I got in a hurry in a small Australian town (from a Mancunian shop assistant though, nice lady) are just as good in snow and ice. All terrain as it were.
|
|
Oh yes... my sister-in-law took a taxi to Heathrow this morning for a flight to the US. And had to take one all the way back here because the flight was cancelled along with all the others.
|
... the Thames doesn't freeze anymore, and it's not due to our winters now being warmer. I can't recall the exact reason .. >>
That and the Greenland was once green myths explained here:
www.newscientist.com/article/dn11644
and most other skeptics debunked here:
gristmill.grist.org/skeptics
Edited by Honestjohn on 02/02/2009 at 17:20
|
I am still in bed with every bone in my body achiing, I had to cancel my job as it was a 1.5 mile walk and there was no way I could face that. Snow seems to have stopped here now, it not even stuck to the pavement anymore, its just cold even with the central heating on full blast I am sat here shivering.
My dad apparantly had a scary moment this morning where the car almost didn;t stop at lights because it was so icy and slippy.
|
Can anyone point me to a source for establishing whether East Midlands Airport is operating normally? SWMBO is due on a flight from AGP to EMA tomorrow!
Their site is no help & neither is Ryanair's.
|
I live in a cul-de-sac so it doesn't get gritted.
So my is totally covered with the white stuff, there were a few peeps going by in their cars, but they were wheel spinning like they were in 1st or 2nd gear all the time.
I popped into town (High Wycombe) in my Golf & the roads were cleared apart from the footpaths which may or may not have been touch by the odd pebble of grit.
But when I got home I couldn't get on my driveway (which slopes down to the road) my wheels were spinning & I just couldn't get any traction at all. But at least where I stopped to give up the front of the car was just off the footpath.
|
Not too bad here in South Manchester...about 1 1/2 inches. Went out this morning to get the snow off the C3, opened the door to get the scraper and about 2 pounds of snow landed on the driver's seat..what happened to gutters ? Still, I was preparing it for SWMBO so it didn't matter too much. I'll let you know which ward I'ill be in.
Ted
|
By the look of the weather radar you are about to catch a bit of snow in NW England:
www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/index.html
|
I'm really having a day of it.
Up at 5.30 at my desk in London by 9.30 but not one my staff made it in, the soft Southern jessies.
Gave it up as a bad job at 3.30 with Virgin call centre telling me all trains were cancelled but their website saying some were running, now on train to find that it's starting to chuck it down in Manchester, which I will get to just as rush hour is at its height.
Got to do it all again on Wednesday.
Quality
|
|
I think you live in North Manchester, I have been told it is pretty bad up there driving wise :( here in jessymanc its stopped snowing now and the show seems to be clearing.
|
Yes I've been pondering leaving the car at the pub at the bottom of the hill and sticking on the wellies for the last mile. Well, mostly pondering going into the pub actually.
|
Drive to Northampton station no worse than usual after a light snowfall. Gritted roads fine, first half mile just needed a bit of care. London Midland cancelled the 07:13 train without telling anybody (although the PA system told us at least for times not to smoke/leave luggage/run!). Following train pretty much to time, snow only heavily apparent from around Watford, never seen 8 inches of snow in central London in thirty years of commuting. Bike ride down Woburn Place/Kingsway was "interesting" with bus lanes virgin snow and all traffic in the slushy outer lane.
First in the office at around 09:00 and only one other person, from 12, turned up. No buses, v limited tubes and Kent/Essex under the best part of a foot of snow did for the rest. Cancelled a big meeting for tomorrow and emailed work to the absent before being kicked out at 12:45 by the building manager anxious that noone was trapped in London!
Back again on a Manchester train as far as MK - agree with Nsar that customer advice from Virgin (and London Midland) was shockingly inconsistent. Finally reached Northamptonat 15:00. On arrival passengers for Crewe and Brum were sent back to MK where twenty minutes earlier they were being advised to change at Northampton.
Snowed in chunks from about 14:15 to 16:00 but stopped now.
Edited by Bromptonaut on 02/02/2009 at 17:30
|
Drove from Addlestone to Newlands Corner with mates to enjoy the snowy slope (Had a fantastic time!) and the roads were generally OK, few iffy bits but as people have said it's all about feel.
FWD automatic Proton on skinny Dunlops, suprisingly capable in these circumstances!
|
Im in HW as well... I found it fun getting out my drive!
Worse place was Beaconsfield, Reading had naff all snow compared to Beccy..... but the Reading folk were all over the place!
Im a bit worried it will freeze tonight... if it does, Im back to bed! work will have to live without me
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
