An advanced warning for winter 2011/2012 for the UK. Be prepared!

After the last two winters, the UK should be prepared for periods of colder than average weather. However, I am pretty certain that the majority of people at this stage in the year have not made any preparation in order to protect themselves and their properties for the coming winter.

At this stage, there is evidence that we may suffer the coldest winter on record, colder than the previous years. If we start to prepare now, we should cope much better than in previous years!

As well as the personal impact heavy snow can cause, it can also cost the economy £1.2bn A DAY!
Source: Channel 4 News

In a time of economic difficulty, the least we can do as indivisuals is be prepared and make the effort to get into work to keep the wheels turning. If our fragile economy suffers any more, we will certainly see more cuts and more families falling into poverty.

Based on the natural factors that I have covered and in terms of how I calculate solar activity into my forecasts, it would be adequate to suggest prolonged periods of well below average temperatures and widespread heavy snowfall throughout this winter. This will result in the fourth bad winter in succession for the UK, and will prove to be the worst of them all. I now fully expect records to be broken, with the Highlands of Scotland being once again particularly hard hit. It is therefore vital to start preparing now in terms of high energy bills, and raised awareness amongst the elderly and most vulnerable people.

Source: Planet Watch

So as a fellow Brit, I urge you all to prepare. Some things to consider...

- insulate external and internal pipes
- collect plenty of fire wood if you have an open fire
- minimise your energy usage over the summer in order to compensate for high usage in the winter
- buy winter tyres for your car
- Have a good pair of wellies!
- get your boiler serviced
- towards the end of the autumn, get plenty of long lasting foods ie. tins, dried foods, bottled water etc.
- buy warm clothes, hats, gloves, scarves etc early to avoid increased prices

Let's not get caught out this year and risk becoming the laughing stock of Europe again!

Good luck and stay warm!

reply to post by fiftyfifty

- Have a good pair of wellies!

I am a Yank ...what are these wellies you speak of

Originally posted by spoonbender
reply to post by fiftyfifty

 

- Have a good pair of wellies!

I am a Yank ...what are these wellies you speak of

Wellington boots old chap, wellington boots.

Do -not- let your pipes freeze. It is costly to fix, and probably not the best thing to happen in the dead of winter. Let your water run from the taps, just one droplet every couple seconds. Enough to keep the water flowing and it will not freeze.

Canadian winter is just as bad constantly

reply to post by spoonbender


For us "yanks" its a pair of rubber boots, the kind you seen farmers wear, lately they have been popular in plaids, and stripes for women, rain puddle boots for kids if you prefer.
Remeber the yellow ones kids used to wear - those.

As for the original post, not only europe, but us too. We are getting ready now, winter things are cheaper in the heat of July. so we are buying ahead, but we live out in the country, and are somewhat better prepared than others I think.

Kudos for your forecast, your right on the money OP.

The only thing I'm worried about is Russia turning the Gas off.

They can't even get the weather forecast right from one day to the next... I wouldn't pay to much attention to this..
And I don't think it will ever be cold enough to take extreme measures.. Except in the far north and Scotland..

For many years I've kept my legs warm in winter by wearing ladies' tights beneath my trousers. I've never found it embarrassing, as they make perfectly good - and economical - leg warmers.

As a Trucker saving money and staying warm are my priorities. In summer I switch to wearing cooler and more hygienic stockings and suspenders.

Originally posted by EnigmaAgent
For many years I've kept my legs warm in winter by wearing ladies' tights beneath my trousers. I've never found it embarrassing, as they make perfectly good - and economical - leg warmers.

As a Trucker saving money and staying warm are my priorities. In summer I switch to wearing cooler and more hygienic stockings and suspenders.

edit on 11/7/11 by EnigmaAgent because: (no reason given)

My dad always did that. Used to tie an old pair of my mum's tights round his neck to keep the drafts out too. Odd as it sounds he swore by it.

FANTASTIC THREAD!
I think people in the UK especially have too much expectation when it comes to the weather. We assume we live in a Mediterranean climate when infact the UK is more at a same latitude as Siberia, Kamchatka, Nova Scotia & Alaska. I find it somewhat amusing that for 4 months of the year people complain as if they've never seen snow before in their lives and don't know how to deal with it, then for 4 months in the summer complain about how were not getting 25-30'c of heat when realistically the UK's average summer temps is 25'c max.

Back to winter though a lot of misery is to do with clothing manufacturers not accommodating for outdoor wear during the winter, how many people do you see wearing business suits, summer Hoodies and normal shoes in the middle of a city snowstorm..almost everyone it seems. It's just not 'fashionable' to be wearing Berghaus hiking shoes, a outdoor mac, and fully lined fleece. Stupid kids want to remain trendy even if it means them shivering down to their toes for the priviledge. At a latitude comparable of that to Nova Scotia & Alaska we have to ask ourselves is this sacrifice for fashion over health really worth it, the number 1 killer in the UK afterall is the cold.

Edit. yes I myself have already got Hiking boots, gloves, scarf, winter Mac (windchill proof), outdoor fleece, Underlay Hoodie, fleece Socks, and necessary survival gear including the know-how to build a snow shelter/den.

Originally posted by EnigmaAgent

Originally posted by spoonbender
reply to post by fiftyfifty

 

- Have a good pair of wellies!

I am a Yank ...what are these wellies you speak of

Wellington boots old chap, wellington boots.

edit on 11/7/11 by EnigmaAgent because: (no reason given)

Haha. I hadn't realised that 'Wellies' was an English term. Looks like they call 'em rubber boots over the pond!

Originally posted by Misterlondon
They can't even get the weather forecast right from one day to the next... I wouldn't pay to much attention to this..
And I don't think it will ever be cold enough to take extreme measures.. Except in the far north and Scotland..

And what are you basing your knowledge on? Last winter was definitely a winter worthy of taking extreme measures. I live in the Midlands and it was far less harsher than up North.

Don't pay attention if you don't want to but is it not better to be prepared just incase based on the early evidence we have? You will soon be complaining if you can't get out of your street and the supermarkets run out of food I'm sure.

- Have a good pair of wellies!

For many years I've kept my legs warm in winter by wearing ladies' tights beneath my trousers. I've never found it embarrassing, as they make perfectly good - and economical - leg warmers. As a Trucker saving money and staying warm are my priorities. In summer I switch to wearing cooler and more hygienic stockings and suspenders.

OK, so make sure I get myself some stockings and wellies - would fishnets be ok?

Originally posted by sean_uk

- Have a good pair of wellies!

For many years I've kept my legs warm in winter by wearing ladies' tights beneath my trousers. I've never found it embarrassing, as they make perfectly good - and economical - leg warmers. As a Trucker saving money and staying warm are my priorities. In summer I switch to wearing cooler and more hygienic stockings and suspenders.

OK, so make sure I get myself some stockings and wellies - would fishnets be ok?

Throw in a pair of suspenders and you are prepared for anything my friend

Seriously though.... I remember my grandparents talking about 'Long-Johns' ( I think they are just like long pants [the english type of pants])Maybe it's time to bring them back into fashion!

SSW=Sudden Stratospheric Warming is the trend were looking for, the same trend has been prevailant (albeit not dominant) throughout Summer as it was the same 2x Winters the past row. Its the Easterlies from Siberia that gives us the reversed flow feeding in drier-colder continental air from the Russian landmass that gives a more stable cold pooling across all of Europe as it has no SSTs (Sea Surface Temperatures) to raise convective inhibition, displacing the airmass as it travels.

This in turn enables the high to establish itself over the UK for weeks at a time, continually keeping the continental air feeding across. Unlike Atlantic-based cold-pools which are just arctic blasts coming from the North that rely upon DAM pooling (known as the freezing layer) to drop to ground layer. If I remember right, I think 526 is when the DAM touches sea-level. Guaranteeing all of the UK some snow-fall from any arctic precipitation.

I am currently looking for a cheap 4x4 ready for the winter months....

Nice bit of profit when the snow comes down

interesting post op!!

but if you read down threw the page with the source you provided not many believe this will be the case, and many told to believe this with a pinch of salt, mostly due to the research which was carried out to get this weather prediction.
they seem to know what they are talking about and point out that many other factors come into account in predicting the coming season here in U.K. region. and the op in that thread did not take these into account, also as someone pointed out the the information he used was "limited".

just pointing out to not take this warning as 100% fact, and we were advised to take it with a pinch of salt.

Well, I always have a quantity of things to burn on the open fires dried food and what not.. I think it is simply a good idea to buy such things before winter sets in and the profiteers appear!

In the space of a couple of days last year bags of coal doubled in price as did heating fuel forcing many of the locals into the woods to cut down trees or freeze.. *shakes head at such a sorry state of affairs*

All in all good advice OP

One thing to really think about getting is a ski suit, I've had one for years and I've never even been skiing, I was however someone who rode a motorcycle all year round and putting a ski suit on under my normal clothes in winter meant I was always nice and warm on bike trips whereas my riding companions ended up shivering (that stopped them laughing at me in my bright blue one piece "romper suit" as they called it)

reply to post by yellowbeard


Is there a picture for us to s'n-word' at of the romper suit? That better better to look daft and be warm and toasty, than look cool and be frozen solid and wishing you hadn't gone out!