UK this could be snow joke!

reply to post by steelman


It's thundersnow....just means you've had a particularly heavy show storm. We had one up here on Deeside two nights ago. We've also had perhaps another 4-6 inches of snow over night on top of the foot or more already fallen, and no....still no gritters or ploughs. The roads are insanely bad with ice under the snow, so there is almost no traffic here at all, apart from tractors. There is more to come, so I would suggest that you be prepared to stay home if you can...it's just not worth it. Ok...so maybe not the worst weather on the planet, and I know lots of other places get lower temperatures and much more snow, but it's still deadly.

Will post pics later today if I can get my puter to stop acting up....

Cx

Originally posted by angrydog
so you fear a simple winter now? :O

No, we don't fear it.

Its just that the UK rarely gets freezing temperatures, so when we do, many including the authorities are not prepared for it...despite it happening most years.

When you are unprepared, thats when it can get serious, especially for those more vunerable.

CX.

All I can add is that I hope you guys keep safe and enjoy the snow for me

It seems the Sussex coast will remain snow free at this rate

Sumthing realy bugging me about this is that lastnight it was not only snowing all night but we got hailstones at diffrent intervals and this is in scotland, id also like to piont out that yes we can get freek weather at winter times and this kind of weather is what i remember when i was a kid, the srangest thing about lastnight is i remember big flashes of light that where so bright i couldnt see out the window and this happend at 2 intervals , one of which was 3 flashes and second was 2 flashes no noise lol with all this north korea stuff goin on, i kinna # ma pants so my eyes where on the window and i could see the flashes and my partner who is a sheep and not awakend in any way saw the same, no noise too

reply to post by jazz10


if u cant live atleast 30 days without ur government... its pathetic

Originally posted by jumpingbeanz
hey im uk too I have only seen an inch of snow in the last week, it seems worse east side of the UK at the min, its very warm today too,

also I have a log burner so no energy bills for me!!

get yourself one, then you can burn anything wood

Well hey they say there is going to be an ice age over there soon. I live in Florida and UK always good friend of US so I will offer up my 2 spare rooms to 2 of you should the SHTF. Really! Have to earn your keep though!

reply to post by KDM_Souljah


It's only thundersnow...unusual but not that rare, even here. We had it two nights ago.

Here is linky...I know it's Wiki, but it's actually very informative. So don't panic!

Thundersnow

reply to post by jazz10


I wonder if we're being told the full extent of the deterioration of the Gulf-stream!

i just thought it wierd as there was no sound after the flashes and the uk and scotland in particular doesnt get snowstorms with thunder, i can only speak for myself i have never experianced it

reply to post by jazz10


If only they could invent some magical substance that could, upon application, lower the freezing temperature of water. I would call it sodium chloride, and fill the oceans with it so it would never run out. I would also litter the ground with easily accessible mines.

This material would need to be laid down evenly on the roads with a four-wheel vehicle with a big bucket that I call a "truck."

I predict that this will be the FUTURE!!!

Originally posted by McGinty
reply to post by jazz10

 

I wonder if we're being told the full extent of the deterioration of the Gulf-stream!

Or whether they have played around with it?

Well i have to say, some people are more understanding of the situation than others.

Particularly impressed with the calls to look out for others like the elderly.

But...

I've this for those who think suffering cold weather is all about not being able to drive to shops to stock up on food, minor inconveniences compared to the actual gravitas of the situation of sub zero periods.

In 1991, myself and my girlfriend were walking home from doing some shopping, down Tottenham High Road, in North London and heading towards Edmonton before the Spurs ground, there's a local council housing office and i found a homeless guy who appeared to be sitting on the steps but in fact had frozen to death, he was dead on the steps of the housing office.

Over recent years, there are a lot more homeless people, we are not seeing anything like what is needed to prevent loss of life among the homeless communities around the country due to cold weather and i doubt the real numbers of vulnerable people will ever be disclosed, doubtless a few charities are trying to provide some respite from the harsh conditions for some over the past couple of days and may try to accommodate as many as possible for the duration but usually there is only a small period around Yule to the new year where any real effort is made, all to grandiose media hype like something real is being done but in fact is only a small sticking plaster to the actual numbers needing help to stop them dying from exposure, but nothing at all has been said about the homeless and not much has been said about the elderly either.

How many in years that temp's have not been so harsh have lost their lives?

Well, we are going to see more and more of these harsher periods, it is nature kicking back and it will be for longer periods, maybe a year or two will have milder, then more harsh until we see a good 3-4 months where the death rates among elderly, homeless and also unemployed will rise due to sub zero temperatures.

But fuel prices go up, more people end up on the streets as homeless and more elderly are left alone and too scared to burn fuel to keep warm, as well as unemployed.

I know this is also the case in the USA and the rest of Europe etc but this thread is the UK.

Never mind the fracking roads getting gritted, vulnerable people need real help especially the elderly and homeless peoples.

How many elderly and homeless people have died in the past two days?

There should be a proper census of deaths due to exposure, of elderly and unemployed people actually in their homes, because they cannot afford fuel and they have died from exposure in their homes because it's the same temperature inside as out, -10C etc, as too there should be a proper census of how many homeless are dying from exposure outside.

Year in, year out, these deaths are kept as an unknown quotient, the problem is large scale, it's not the odd couple of people, it's thousands of preventable deaths every year, just because the state and society in the main, don't actually give a damn, few actually give these people a second thought but they are people in a modern developed country who do not deserve to die from exposure because of recession, because of high cost of fuel, because government want to spend More on weapons than we need or can afford, because the greed of the affluent comes before those suffering due to the creation of their wealth, where the many suffer consequences the affluent simply do not understand nor care about.

As a kid of 7, i ran away from abuse in the home and actually slept in snow, a couple of hundred yards from where Dennis Nielson the serial killer had just started killing people in Cranley Gardens, Muswell Hill and i've slept rough as an adult when Alcoholic, in sub temp's, before 2000, so i know what it's like and speak from experience.

Never mind the inconveniences of not being able to drive around etc, this weather kills people, a lot of people, it is going to get worse in the future, that's a certainty, so why isn't more being done to ensure elderly and homeless as well as vulnerable unemployed do not suffer, the cold weather payments for the elderly don't quite cut it, they are a token gesture and don't actually help many people, certainly not the homeless around the country.

But like i say, 19 years ago i saw a man dead on the doorstep of a housing office, just so those callous bastards in Haringey council knew what they had done to him, he died right there so they would all know their denial of housing killed him.

I don't see anything different today, in fact it's worse.

So when people are getting out of their prams about being inconvenienced because the fracking roads are not gritted and they can't drive everywhere, consider that all too many lose their lives in these periods of sub zero temp's, if not being able to drive is the worse you're suffering, shut the frack up and consider yourselves lucky.

That is indicative of the egocentrism which is one main thing which is wrong in the modern and developed world, far too many whine and whinge about the minor inconveniences, locked up in their relatively comfortable worlds and don't actually give a frack about anybody, all about me, me, me isn't it.

Well, it's only snow, if you are not elderly, homeless or too poor to burn fuel to keep warm, suck it up and get on with it.

Like somebody said earlier in the thread...

Adapt!!!

There are those suffering a damn sight more than not being able to drive when this weather hits, it kills them.

So please, try to help others.

I mean if you have money, a garage or shed, hows about buying a cheap heater and sleeping bag and asking a couple of homeless people if they'd like to sleep somewhere warm while the sub temp's are hitting us, get a paraffin heater and some fuel for an elderly neighbour and see they don't run out, make sure they wear a woollen hat and gloves as well as layers even indoors etc, get them to eat high calorie foods, Peanut Butter is excellent for old people and homeless as much as hot soups, so the body can burn it's own fuel to keep warm.

We can do a lot more for others, those who have money, doesn't cost much to help those at the bottom to survive the winter so please don't be egocentric and just consider your minor inconveniences, do something positive and care about the less fortunate in society, if not your uncaring attitude could see the local homeless, soldier, teenager, cracked up people because of life traumas, elderly people locked behind their doors as too afraid to venture out, those unfortunates you see around in milder weather, if people who know they are there don't give a crap, they could be dead in days to the next few months and you could have made that bit of difference which kept them alive.

These periods of sub zero temp's and snow are not just a minor inconvenience, they are fatal conditions which kill.



Spread this sort of sentiment so others consider those vulnerable people more in this period of sub zero weather and keep on pointing out the painfully obvious, otherwise, many just do not, nor want to, consider the realities the less fortunate and vulnerable have to suffer and may die from .



Thanks.

Originally posted by aRogue
Australia have been enduring a weird climate for the past month or so. Especially in Victoria. It's been raining non-stop with humidity. Normally it would be scorching hot with no cloud in sight as we're entering Summer.

edit on 28-11-2010 by aRogue because: (no reason given)

Oh I don't know mate, from where I am it's looking pretty sunny in Brisbane!
Apart from Ricky Pontings face that is...

I live in New England, and we seem to do well in regard to maintaining through winters. Why is it 'Old England' has such problems?

Anywho.. that being said... I don't think there will be much "chaos" from this. I think some people will have it worse than others. Road closures, power outages, limited supplies in certain areas.. but not really, the UK isn't that big. If by some unbelievable oversight the UK is waylaid by winter chaos, then I'm sure "Europe" will lend a hand if need be.

reply to post by SyphonX


They key to it all is preparation. On a personal level, with things such as food, fuel, clothing, making sure the car is right, and stocked with what you might need if you get stuck, and all the other things that we forget we might need if there is a bad spell, or a power outage. Medication, fuel, firewood, batteries, torches, alternative light sources, spare phones, dogfood, tinned food, baby milk, toilet paper....the list is endless, and we have to learn to live like this.

But also there is responsibility at local government level, and this is where the big problems seem to be arising. In our area, despite one of the worst winters in 30 years last year, local government have, or are trying to cut the budget for gritters and snow ploughs by 50%. They absolutely got caught out this week and very little had been gritted in rural areas, and I can't work it out. Even at their worst innacuracy, the Met Office usually get the fact that there will be some snow correct. I had customers telling me at work 10 days ago that there was big snow on it's way, and since we live in a rural area, this is a huge deal to us. So why don't the local council have enough ploughs, or even drivers, which is apparently the real issue...not enough drivers.

Winter preparation should become a priority for all of us, not just at a personal level, but pressure really needs to go on local government too, to get it right. Repeated winters like this and last year will cause deaths, and our anger at the no gritter situation is not because we want to go and swan around the shops in the city. It's because we want and need to get to work, and god forbid that any of us needs to go to hospital, or needs an ambulance, or take an animal to the vet. There would be next to no chance at the moment, unless we hail a tractor.

Basically, we're spoiled. We don't know how to live like this, but we're going to have to learn, and very quickly. Preparation is the key to it all.

Cx

reply to post by jazz10


I gotta say I think you're panicking.

First of all, this is not the first time we've had snow, let alone bad snow. I know I'm only 20-odd but I do remember having really really deep snow and still having to go to school. These days - the first sign of the white stuff and schools are closing down for weeks at a time. What the hell?

Secondly, yes we've got a lot of snow and the earliest winter snowfall for 17 years but things really aren't that bad. There seems to be a lot of exaggeration going on here and this is coming from someone that is living in the middle of the worst of it. The drive way leading out of our residential area is quite long and steep and iced completely - meaning that we can't get food deliveries or take-aways! Oh woe is me!.....Uh, no, wait, I can just get off my lazy ass and walk places. Hurray, all is not lost.

Some residential roads aren't that clear and some of the outer country roads have been closed but other than that.....

And come on, so people can do without buying things for a few weeks because the ATMs are empty. We've done it before and we'll do it again. People need to remember how to do things without having their hand held every step of the way - go learn what will last in your cupboard (grains, rice, eggs) and stock up, learn the variety of meals you can make with that stuff and have at it.

I'm genuinely sorry if this came off all ranty and it wasn't completely directed at the OP but I am so sick of this "it's-gonna-be-the-worst-winter-for-a-thousand-years!" and "whatever-will-we-do?" malarkey. I am sick of fear-mongering.

Honestly, what would our ice-age ancestors think of us if they could hear us now o_0 I'm pretty sure they'd be ashamed of what they'd spawned.

The coldest night EVER in some parts of the uk.

www.bbc.co.uk...

So for all those going "You think that's cold, it goes to minus 40 every day here and I still wear a T-shirt" lot, this is an unusual event for UK.

Which brings me nicely onto my second point, the response of the local authorities, or lack thereof. It's these people who are rightly fearing for their jobs due to austerity cuts. Many people slag off those that work in local government being work-shy, disorganised jobs-worths, when than can be bothered not to phone in sick. I hasten to add that I fall into this category.

So given an opportunity to publicly shine (who knows what they do the rest of the time) by organising enough salt (it hardly goes off does it...), then handling the crisis smoothly when it happens. Brilliant, they publicly fail miserably on both counts.

Still no snow in the West Midlands. I feel cheated

I wan't to ambush my kids with snowballs, make snowmen, snow angels, and be five years old again, but not a single fricken flake!

It had better snow soon or I will be registering my rage via a very firmly written letter to the met office!

Originally posted by Yissachar1
Still no snow in the West Midlands. I feel cheated

I wan't to ambush my kids with snowballs, make snowmen, snow angels, and be five years old again, but not a single fricken flake!

It had better snow soon or I will be registering my rage via a very firmly written letter to the met office!

Your not the only one... bright sunshine today!!! and not a jot in the air, and pretty warm to boot...

I had sledging plans!!... last year just about everything that could slide was used on the downs, tables, chairs, bits of cars.. and everyone had fun.. we even worked together to clear the roads when the council let us down by hiding their head in the piles of salt they hadn't ordered..

The snow brought out some really good community spirit alongside a mountain of giggles.. and right now, I feel cheated..

Originally posted by KDM_Souljah
i just thought it wierd as there was no sound after the flashes and the uk and scotland in particular doesnt get snowstorms with thunder, i can only speak for myself i have never experianced it

It doesnt matter about location when it comes to Thundersnow...we have had it here for the past 2 nights, and it was very extensive last night across the eastern half of scotland.

The reason you didnt hear thunder is because of the snow falling. It absorbs the sound so it doesnt travel so far. Believe me it is very loud...we had lightning over head last night and the house was shaking with it. Brilliant Blue lightning. We have about 15" of snow at the moment.