More snow on its way,.
Now then, you lot warble on about being badly prepared, have winter tyre sets just in case etc.......
I live in the south,. The average temperature this winter has been about 9c We have hed 6 days of below freezing during the day, and three days of heavy snow. In one three day period this year I left home at 6:00am and it was -7c. I got home two days later and it was 9c
How does one prepare (or prepare the roads for that matter) with such unpredicatability around,.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
**Thread title changed, to make it relate more to what the thread appears to be about. There is already a place for discussions about climate change, global warming etc. PG**
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The very reasons why so many councils get usually unwarranted criticism for not being prepared for winter conditions that may arise once every five years or more.
Annual preparation to cope with such conditions is based on averages rather than the extreme.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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The only times I have complained to my council about gritting is when every weather report has been warning of weather approaching and still they can't work out that you need to grit before the snow falls, not once it has fallen and been compacted in seconds by traffic that is now griding to a halt, preventing the gritting wagons from getting out.
It is simple stuff and I have no confidence based on my experience that they are up to the task.
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Winter tyres have proved superfluous in Frankfurt too this winter. Only one morning of snow that I can recall, and very mild temperatures.
Last winter of course was a different matter...
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Last month the weather centres gave advance warning of heavy snow, but as far as I know the local council did not do any gritting the day before.
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If we get a good fall of snow here in Cumbria, I can see myself getting more than little annoyed. Why? Well, I'm driving to the Alps in a fortnight, so I thought I'd invest in some snow chains. They haven't arrived yet - just as I might be able to give them some use!
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I'm driving to the Alps in a fortnight, so I thought I'd invest in some snow chains.
You make it sound like it's optional, but isn't having snow chains in the Alps mandatory?
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Gritting helps prevent ice on roads. Putting grit onto a dry road prior to a rapid, heavy fall of snow will do little to prevent settling/build-up.
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Gritting helps prevent ice on roads. Putting grit onto a dry road prior to a rapid, heavy fall of snow will do little to prevent settling/build-up.
Thanks for the correction.
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I'm confused, if gritting is good for prevention the surely the point is to spread it before not after the snow falls.
On the M60 last night the gritting signals were lit and my car computer was reading 10 degrees outside! Unsurprisngly not a flake fell overnight.
A child with a pine cone could do a better job of reading the weather.
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Blizzarding (and I mean REALLY blizzarding - I can't see the house 15 feet away but can hear the snow hitting the ground) in Leeds at the moment.
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Just this minute started snowing...:-)
I'm on the North West coast.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Exactly - gritting at 7pm on a Saturday when snow has been forecast for lunchtime today - useless muppets.
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Exactly - gritting at 7pm on a Saturday when snow has been forecast for lunchtime today - useless muppets.>>
Had overnight frost been forecast?
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since when do we grit for frost?
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since when do we grit for frost?>>
Maybe you don't get ice forming on roads in your neck of the woods? We certainly get it in East Anglia - 'black-ice' is very worrying indeed if you ever find yourself skating over it towards the nearest hedge.
Gritting is good for ice; snow ploughs (and chains) are good for snow!
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We don't get black ice forming at 10 degrees centigrade on cloudy nights. Not sure who does.
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Ah, this just may be the answer to my first question ...... 'had an overnight frost been forecast?'
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Apologies, I thought my posting the temperature earlier on the thread would have made this obvious.
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What is forecast and what actually happens are two different things. Gritters have to go by forecasts for obvious reasons.
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Snow forecast for around lunchtime Sunday so why grit a a motorway early Saturday evening?
On other occasions snow forecast for a given time, so why send out gritters some time after the snow has begun falling?
Either way you're taking the forecast and reaching the wrong conclusion.
Useless, which ever way you look at it.
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since when do we grit for frost?
Here in Northants pretty much always. The half mile from my house to the gritted route can be quite scary at -5celcius
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I would agree with that. In cold weather quite thick frozen dew can gather on road surfaces in cups in the ground. Same undulating street can be perfectly OK on the crests and very slippery indeed in the hollows, even in London.
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"even in London"
Don't like to think about the consequences of a head-on collision on the Fulham Palace Road Lud, closing speeds of 6 or even 7 miles an hour. Nasty.
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Tee hee BBD, but actually I was thinking of the back streets of Tooting at 4 a.m., where 50 seems perfectly all right until you go all sideways between the rows of parked cars...
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Agree with Lud about local variations. Not a winter goes by without cars going off on local bend where dip, canal and shelter from wind create an outstanding frost pocket. As a back lane this bit only gets gritted in extended severe weather or when used as a diversion during major roadworks.
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Nice bend here that catches non-locals out, they ither crash or get stuck in a ditch. It's a good place to be for some untaxable income with a Landie come the snow - or invisible ice.
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What snow?
I was all prepared at the weekend with mats, sack of grit, shovels, deicer, emergency food rations, marker flags, flares, warm clothing, arctic survival kit. So far I haven't seen a single flurry of the promised snow. Sunday was a cold but bright sunny day here in west Wales, perfect for working outside in the garden.
The children were so looking forward to getting the tobogan out, for the first time since the last lot of snow we didn't have.
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Blame it on that "hurricane" and Michael Fish in 1987, Cliff.
We haven't had a weather forecast without gross exaggeration since then so that they are "covered " if something slightly unusual happens.
On the met office site this morning there were "extreme weather warnings" of heavy snow for the whole country, yet if you looked at the rainfall radar
www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/index.html
on their own site, it was obvious that there would be only the occasional snow/hail/sleet showers. There wasn't a decent "front" which would have brought prolonged snow/sleet anywhere to be seen on the charts. Mind you, there's probably been a heavy shower or 2 in Wilts, Hants, IoW in the last hour or so.
You are better off doing your own forecast from the pressure charts
www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/europe/surface_pressu...l
and rainfall radar.
By 3 pm, the only place with with "extreme" warnings was the far north of Scotland, and our "extreme "weather had been a bright sunny day with occasional snow flurries and one sharp shower about 5 pm - obvious from the radar and charts.
I think the best forecasts are not from the met office itself but sites like metcheck
www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/HOME/
--
Phil
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There was some horrendous sleet in west london earlier. But by the time we came out of the pub the road was just a bit damp.
Perhaps the awful weather stuff we're supposed to be getting now is just a new weather thing every five or ten minutes. Constant change so to speak.
God how pathetic.
Call that the end of the world?
Mere TV.
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Snow not forecast though it is supposed to be -3 here this AM and it is not.even freezing.
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It's March. It's cold/hot/snowy/rainy every year. It snowed for a bit on Sunday when I was being towed and I didn't cry or think that Armageddon was upon us, even when my wipers went! : )
Why do we make such a fuss?! There's only a few roads in the UK that ever get closed off in bad weather (Buxton-Congleton springs to mind).
Can you imagine how much a Norwegian or a Finn would laugh at us when they see a report on the TV about "horrific weather" and there's a picture of a car with snow on the roof?
Watch me get caught in a snowdrift on the way home. Karma........my name is Steve, I'm just trying to be a better person.
It's my birthday today, BTW, so don't pick on me! : )
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Happy birthday Steve,, except this small personal rain cloud as a gift.......................
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr thanks TVM!
Well hopefully that's rained some sense into me, at long last.
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The weather does vary a lot in March anyway. Last week there were a couple of days when we were not given the usual severe weather warning, which was a shock.
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>> since when do we grit for frost? Here in Northants pretty much always. The half mile from my house to the gritted route can be quite scary at -5celcius
Just before Christmas the gritters were out in Northampton, followed by the roadsweeper. Good old Northampton council. No wonder they are skint and have to close all public toilets.
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This suburban village is under Towcester based Soth Northants DC.
Suspect the County do the gritting and the Borough/District the street sweeping, hence the lack of co ordination.
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Just before Christmas the gritters were out in Northampton, followed by the roadsweeper. Good old Northampton council. No wonder they are skint and have to close all public toilets.>>
Fabulous - now that really IS muppetry!!!
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