Weather

[folderol]

Just wondering who's having problems with the weather lately.

Yesterday I actually managed to get into work - about 30 miles across North Kent, but only stayed there long enough to check e-mails and make sure the phone divert was working correctly. Nobody else managed to get in, and as it started snowing again, I went straight back home, passing a lot of stranded lorries, and broken down cars.

Today I got about halfway there before it became apparent I just wasn't going to make it and turned back. I only just managed to get halfway down my road before it became too dangerous to continue, so had a fair way to walk carrying a heavy toolbox down a steep frozen path

There is no sign of a let-up in the weather, but I've got at least a week's food in the freezer, and a few days worth of fresh fruit. I still have one open fireplace, so even if we get a power cut I can keep one room warm. Of course if that happens, I take the food out of the freezer, stick it in plastic bags and shove it out in the snow!

[offthewall]

 
I know just how you feel, Will.  This situation is just so typical of our head-in-the-sand country ..... a few inches of the white stuff and the whole infrastructure grinds to a halt. 

I worked for 25 years as an (passenger) ambulance driver, out in the elements every day but it seems to me that we generally get so little snow, compared to a few decades ago, that most people don't know how to drive under these conditions.  As I am now retired from that game all I have to do is go to the shops now and then and provide transport for my elderly mother (too often) 

I would advise you to take full advantage of the situation and get some extra chores done at home (musically speaking) .... I would take my own advice only the studio is up in the attic with no heating  -5 degrees up here at the moment as I type with gloves on.  ... not so easy for playing guitar ... the little bits of wool get stuck on the strings 

 
James

[kara]

Same situation here...  
We have snow since a couple of days, around 20 cm (6 inches)
Alltough the main roads are cleared by public service it stays dangerous on the smaller ones.

And normaly I have to travel to Belgium next week  

k

[kara]

... not so easy for playing guitar ... the little bits of wool get stuck on the strings 

 
James

Learn keyboards, you can play it with gloves 
Sorry couldn't miss that one 

k

[folderol]

... not so easy for playing guitar ... the little bits of wool get stuck on the strings 

 
James

Learn keyboards, you can play it with gloves 
Sorry couldn't miss that one 

k

Some people just have no soul do they James

[Wyatt]

We actually had a white Christmas in Oklahoma..first in living memory. Three inches lasted only three days.

Prior to that they had blizzards north of us and blizzards south of us, but missed us altogether.

Weather has become a lot more important to me since living on a boat, and after living in some sub tropical climates, I still, 5 years later, consider Oklahoma one of the best kept secrets in the USA.

We seem to alternate between a week of cold, (barely freezing)..and a week of warm, (t-shirt weather).. throughout the winter, and still had roses the first week of December.

[bvdp]

Up here in the mountains of the British Columbia (Canada) interior we're having what I'd call a fairly normal winter. Perhaps less snow, but winter's not over yet ... so it's hard to say.

And, I see that with all the global warming the US south is having unusually cold weather.

But, hey, I'm just a sax player ... so I'm not expected to understand all this stuff!

Take it easy on the roads! If you think it's dangerous it probably is. Better to stay home than risk your life or that of others.

[MarioD]

It has snowed every day since January first here.  We’re getting approximately 2-8 inches of light fluffy snow a day.  I’m so tired of shoveling and snowblowing!  Plus it’s been cold.  This weekend the highs are going to be in the *** (F) again! 

[rharv]

About 6" of snow here - gotta get out and move some snow now myself
December was one of the coldest in 50 yrs
Its the global warming I tell ya!!

Denver has set cold records this year for last few months
Florida is freezing their oranges off

..but the planet is warming 

[Wyatt]

About 6" of snow here - gotta get out and move some snow now myself
December was one of the coldest in 50 yrs
Its the global warming I tell ya!!

Denver has set cold records this year for last few months
Florida is freezing their oranges off

..but the planet is warming 

It was the same guys who doctored the data, that changed the name from "global warming" to "climate change".

Maybe they know something they aren't telling?

[offthewall]

 
I think the trouble is that ..... you guys Stateside and Canada, etc. are used to having these conditions so your countries are 'geared up' for it. {what the heck IS a snowblower, anyway? }
Over here, in the forsaken land, the national politics have decreed that since we only have extreme weather conditions for a couple of weeks per year these days that there is no need to have measures put in place to cope with it.      Consequently we have six inches of snow and the whole *****ing country grinds to a very chilly halt. 

 
James 

[folderol]

What doesn't help is that so many posers in their 'Chelsea Tractors' think that 4 wheel drive and ABS makes them invincible. They are learning the hard way that 1/4in snow on worn (under-maintained) roads is enough to turn 4 wheel drive into 4 wheel slide.

The bad news is that they use the rest of us as brakes

[bvdp]

What doesn't help is that so many posers in their 'Chelsea Tractors' think that 4 wheel drive and ABS makes them invincible. They are learning the hard way that 1/4in snow on worn (under-maintained) roads is enough to turn 4 wheel drive into 4 wheel slide.

The bad news is that they use the rest of us as brakes

I've owned 4 wheel drive trucks. I have gotten into much MORE trouble (read stuck in massive snow drifts) with 4WD that I ever got out of with it. And, these idiots forget that just because they have 4 wheel DRIVE they still have the same brakes as the rest of us.

I live on a side road which gets plowed late in the cycle and sometimes there is a fair bit of snow on the road. I get up pretty well with my front wheel drive Nissan car with snow tires (BTW, not having snow tires in parts of Canada during the winter is against the law!). I don't even bother to try with my rear wheel drive pickup truck ... if the roads are bad it's parked.

[Oren]

The upper altitudes on Vancouver Island get big snow, while coastal areas experience a mixture of rain and snow. On the south end of the Island, in the city of Victoria, we have only seen a few flakes of snow this winter. Although the temperature drops to the freezing point at night, the ornamental cherry trees are beginning to bloom, and we saw the first robins of the season two days ago.
It's beginning to feel like spring...

[kara]

We got an extra 2 inches this night and it is still snowing.
This is quite exceptional for this country.
Will upload some pictures later....

k