Weather reporters are reporting that night temperatures this weekend could get very cold - quote "some parts of the Midlands could get as low as -12°C"
That's cold enough to freeze the coolant in your block and radiator if your antifreeze is a bit weak.
You have been warned.
Edited by rtj70 on 06/02/2009 at 20:04
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Report on the BBC says it could be -5°C in Manchester Saturday night but TV says it could be as low as -7°C!
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I find the BBC tends to be more accurate it has been -5 this winter before. I shall make sure I increase the mix in my dads expansion tank tomorrow. I am only just getting over this flu so cold weather is not what I need, gone back to work today after a few days mostly in bed and shattered now. I just cannot wait till the warmer weather/
I am just so glad at this time of the year I don't live in the hills, my mates on the Pennines have to deal with such things as snow.
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I will need to see some brass monkey's with welding gear before I believe a word from the inept forecasters of the BBC scare department. They keep telling me we have snow in my area but it must be that invisible stuff.
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Aye it's cold OK. There were reports of dogs having to be snapped off lamp posts too . . . . .
TBH I find the fact we are having a true winter somewhat reassuring. Glasgow has seen almost no snow but boy has it been consistently cold. I'd rather have this that grey, mild drizzly winters believe me.
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It's already -5° at j22 M62
Beautiful clear skies would suggest that figure is going south before the night's out.
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You really ought to move to the mild, bracing North West coastline...:-)
We had three brief flurries of snow at the beginning of the week, none of which stuck, and have been laughing our heads off at the whingers in the south. For too long they have shown little or no sympathy if the weather north of Watford has been truly of a winter nature.
But I must point out to Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon - to me as pompous and patronising an individual as you are ever likely to come across - that the expression: "It only happens once every 18 years" (in the London area) will come back to haunt him far sooner than his sound bites to deflect criticism of non-existent public transport, schools closures and poorly gritted roads assumes.
In fact I'll lay a pound to a penny that I'm right.
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For too long they have shown little or no sympathy if the weather north of Watford has been truly of a winter nature.
I'm glad you find our snowy apocalypse funny. And I'm sorry for the lack of sympathy too. Just one thing, what does sympathy sound like? How can I be more sympathetic in the future?
Sympathetically,
FD
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Stuartli - I live in Blackpool and know what you mean about the complete absence of snow - though it has been pretty cold (try riding a motorbike to work every day).
What I haven't noticed is much 'laughing our heads off at the whingers in the south'.
I lived in London during the 'Great Hurricane', and regularly visited Kent in the late Eighties when there was at least one major 'snow event'. Both were among the most severe weather events I've encountered - the southerners aren't whinging, they really do get it bad especially in that far south-east corner.
On the specific topic of this thread though - I remember a winter as a teenager when we got down to -17c at night in Lincolnshire, and it didn't get above freezing during the day for at least a fortnight. We couldn't go to school because the air systems in the buses all froze - we had to get off the bus through the emergency exit because the doors wouldn't open.
I think that was 78/79 but could be slightly out - anybody else remember?
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"I think that was 78/79 but could be slightly out - anybody else remember?"
I remember that winter. I was at RAF Scampton at the time (night time Police Dog Patrols were COLD!). It took nearly a fortnight for the compacted snow to melt and drop out from the wheel arches of my Dolomite Sprint.
John R
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"I think that was 78/79 but could be slightly out - anybody else remember?" I remember that winter. I was at RAF Scampton at the time (night time Police Dog Patrols were COLD!). It took nearly a fortnight for the compacted snow to melt and drop out from the wheel arches of my Dolomite Sprint.
I remember winter 1981, was -15 and more at night for about 2 weeks, I remember it so well because it was my first winter walking a beat, we were better off than the guys in cars (metros LOL's) keeping moving we could keep reasonably warm, plus the odd coffee or tea in local hotels. I had a moustache (was the style at the time) and it froze up like the arctic explorers on the TV, then came the thaw and all the pipes burst, nearly did a plumbing apprenticeship then as well. Also a thing never advertised was the amount of sudden deaths due to the cold, it wasn't unusual to have to deal with 3 a day, when the normal average would be something like 1 every 2 months.
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It was 1978/9. I spent four weeks of January in Edinburgh and I don't think the temperature got above freezing the whole time. I lived in the Pennines, and had a Mk 2 Escort that winter and kept two bags of sand in the boot - something that I would have done this week had I had a similarly handicapped car (like a BMW for instance ;-)).
Edited by Manatee on 07/02/2009 at 14:14
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"I think that was 78/79 but could be slightly out - anybody else remember?" I remember that winter. I was at RAF Scampton at the time (night time Police Dog Patrols were COLD!). It took nearly a fortnight for the compacted snow to melt and drop out from the wheel arches of my Dolomite Sprint.
Your post brought back fond memories of the Dolly Sprint, John R. Just looked at my old diaries - 15 Feb 1979 - 'snow+++, main A43 blocked.....' Great car, as long you noticed the coolant loss via the leaky water-pump in good time - but lousy in snow!
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>>What I haven't noticed is much 'laughing our heads off at the whingers in the south'. >>
Believe you me, there's been plenty in my area...:-)
I know the south has had it pretty rough, but "once every 18 years" as the politicians are so keen to describe it, doesn't call for handkerchiefs to be used en masse.
Scotland, Wales, the Pennines, North East etc have the experience most winters and the population copes admirably with little or no fuss, yet those in the south hardly raise an eyebrow as to their plight.
But hats off to the TV news reporters and camera crews who been on call throughout the day every day (in clearly very cold and unpleasant conditions) in some of the worse hit areas and kept viewers right up to date with the situation.
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Seems that the Transport Secretary has backed those in the north(!):
tinyurl.com/db4rhc
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The BBC talks now of "weather events" in the steady advance to jargonise language ("that's yer weather" or, on the radio "let's take some sport") and/or ban everything else including enjoyment in case it offends or rhymes with 'golliwog'.
"Snow flurry" can be descriptive, as can "blizzard" but now we have regressed to "snow event". Marvellous.
Anyway, I think I'll tap enough of my bitterness away to make it to Halfords and read some antifreeze bottles.
What I'm trying to say is thanks for the warning Altea Ego. Fokey deserves a gift for a stirling job in all weathers. This could be my way of giving something back.
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I have a weather Icon in the bar at the top of the screen - using Ubuntu. It`s currently showing -3C and `clear sky`for Leeds.
One of the TV news channels last night reported " Some people are now feeling persistently bullied by the snow"
Edited by oilrag on 07/02/2009 at 06:49
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-8C this morning as I set off for work, Stamford Lincs. These weather people get my goat too! The temperature actually drops less now, day to night, than it does in the Summer but it is still described as "Plunging" or Plummeting". I was also told the other day that "High pressure is on offer in the Scottish Highlands" - it isn't on offer - you are stuck with it without a choice, apart from driving away from it!
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The phrase that annoys me is (I think) from Sally traffic who always says "To the North of Scotland there will be icy roads etc" when to my mind, "To the North of Scotland " is the North Atlantic - why not just say "In N Scotland"?
Pedantic (or wrong?) Phil
(Who also sat at traffic lights in Hereford (or was it Worcester?) yesterday looking at a sign to "Town Center" next to a hotel offering "Accomodation")
Must be my age.
PS Also remember that most temp forecasts on BBC are based on towns/cities - if you live in a rural area temp could well be a few degrees lower than forecast.
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It was minus 7 around St Albans on tuesday morning.
BTW, how do you get the degree symbol on your keyboard?
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My car's external temperature thingy showed -9degC at 7am a few weeks ago.
Very heavy frost here in the Vale of Evesham last night - I haven't ventured out yet. Roads look very icy.
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>> BTW how do you get the degree symbol on your keyboard?
>>
tinyurl.com/2b276z
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Cue another "My screenwashers are frozen, what do I do?" thread.
Edited by Old Navy on 07/02/2009 at 10:30
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The Met Office forecast for Coventry (which is close to the Meriden, the centre of the country, i.e. The Midlands) gives a minimum of -4°C. tinyurl.com/5azrdt
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The Met Office forecast for Coventry (which is close to the Meriden the centre of the country i.e. The Midlands) gives a minimum of -4°C. tinyurl.com/5azrdt
yes but thats the mid midlands, not the east midlands or the west midlands.
Anyway its not the centre
the centre of Great Britain (excluding islands) according to the OS is is Calderstones Hospital, near Whalley, Lancashire (grid reference SD7232136671)
Its not even the centre of England which is (again according to the OS) is
Lindley Hall Farm, near Fenny Drayton, Leicestershire (52°33′42.942″N 1°27′53.474″W / 52.56192833, -1.46485389 (Centre of England); grid reference SP3637396143)
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Were you bored today, AE?
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well have you seen the england v italy game? sigh
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"Its not even the centre of England which is (again according to the OS) is..."
I once read that the lowest temperatures in the UK were often recorded at Stowe-on-the-Wold
because it is the town that is furthest from the sea. Oops - only a few miles north of me. :(
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.
Edited by L'escargot on 07/02/2009 at 16:15
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For those BRs who have summer and winter wheels, I was in a LIDL supermarket (dont ask) this afternoon and they were selling a wheel storage rack. It was a vertical post with a base, a cover, and would hold four wheels.
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Aldi chocolates best in UK! Loads of Aldi/Lidl stuff is very good and good value for money!
tinyurl.com/dfmlkp
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 07/02/2009 at 16:51
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(Motoring connection - Japanese engines used to be made of cheese and chocolate)
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choose your aldi chocolates with care - some are foul and others are wonderous.
ditto aldi wine. They do a nice soft bardalino....
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Same with the bread type products AE; their pittas, crumpets and sliced bread can be quite nasty. Cleaning things (W5) and fish and meat are really good as are some of their motoring special offers.
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LIDL supermarket
wheel storage rack. It was a
I saw that too this afternoon ON, but its maximum size is 225 and mine are 265, besides, they sit comfortably on a wooden bench in my garage.
And as we all know the garage is not for storing the car only junk..;)
Must be the economy but i have never seen Lidl's so busy as the last 6 months, and they do have some handy motoring bits now and again..
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Been using Lidl and Aldi for years (as well as the big name supermarkets) - great value for money, quality products and some excellent motoring, electrical and electronics offerings on a regular basis.
It's a snob attitude that's prevented many people from using such stores, but things are different these days; one of my best friends wouldn't hear of anything but Waitrose or Sainsburys until a matter of months ago, yet happily shops at Lidl, Aldi and Morrisons now...:-)
Edited by Stuartli on 07/02/2009 at 18:09
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Been using Lidl and Aldi for years (as well as the big name supermarkets) - great value for money quality products and some excellent motoring electrical and
Those in the know use a mixture of Lidl, Aldi and big name supermarkets. Aldi and Lidl are variable in quality and limited in choice (like today i needed calves liver and and fresh sage - you wont find that in Lidl or Aldi). Aldi electricals are variable as well, sdometimnes superb, sometimes tat - again pick and choose (power tools tend to be cheap and good quality for the price) If you want consistent excelent quality food and wine you shop Waitrose (you cant get limoncello in aldi or lidl!)(or tesco come to that)
Morisons is for the poor northerners....... (good fried brekkie tho)
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I tried some Aldi port (ok at 4 quid you cant expect anbything great). It was, frankly, undrinkable. Its now used to add body to any red wine sauces i make.
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Oh and it hit Minus 17c at avimore this weekend.
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