Hello All,
I came back to the west country from Richmond last night on the A303, as I headed out of London on the M3 at around 22:45 the outside temp was reading around zero to +1 whereas it had been -3 to -4 only a few hours earlier. The M3 seemed fine though as I hit the A303 with the ambient at about +2 I could feel that car twitching so slowed considerably, I pulled into the Popham services and felt the ABS cutting in and likewise the TC as I got back on the move so I took it very easy cruising at around 40 to 50mph.
I must have seen at least ten, perhaps 15, cars in the bushes, in the barriers, facing different ways, some with lights shining though the foliage, the emergency service were aware and were attending.
I guess the road surface was frozen solid and with an ambient only just in positive figures it meant that the rain was simply freezing on the road surface.
Hairy!
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The temperature outside, last night, was already -7 Celsius at about 7pm but must have warmed up considerably during the night as the 'warm' front came in from the West.
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going up to durham in 1981 three of us up in an avenger and we stopped on the road to put a beetle back onto its wheels as it had rolled from the southbound carriageway and was now facing north, the lass was okay and the car restarted and we waved her on her way and reminded her she was now travelling in the wrong direction we resumed our journey,we got up to catterick and a few miles after there was a little chef so we decided to call in as we were now literally one of the few cars that was getting through,we all got out of the car and pronplty all fell on our bums
how we larfed
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Been raining here since about 10pm last night (NW coastline)...:-)
Not that we had very much snow in any case although conditions had been tricky at times in some areas.
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The Beetle is a tail slider - my tail slid on a bend into a runoff drain at right angles to the road and flipped - but an excellent, strong car for rolling over - 3 times I think although I wasn't counting. I finished upside down but a pass-by helped me to right the car and I drove home with a bashed-in roof and a non-closing offside door. There was a little of my hair caught on the mirror but no other injury.
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I had to scrape the ice off the windscreen before I left the office at 4:30 yesterday, and according to the Golf's dash it was -6.5°C. The conditions first thing this morning were treacherous. It rained most of last night, but it fell onto compacted snow on hard frozen surfaces.
Did a little experiment in the diesel Golf while turning round on the ice rink at the end of the close. Popped it into first and just let the clutch out with no throttle. Revs didn't so much as dip, and the car sat there happily idling, front wheels slowly rotating and not moving. The state of the road surface was confirmed moments later by my neighbour who crossed the road, did a pretty impressive breakdance impression, and fell on his backside. Luckily he was fine.
It's been well above freezing all day, and raining on and off. Apart from the odd dinner plate sized clump of snow clinging on here and there, you'd never guess how it had been the past week.
Last edited by: DP on Sat 4 Dec 10 at 19:46
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Good news in the East Midlands. Temp has gone up to a very little above freezing but the rain that fell did not turn into ice of any colour and my drive down very minor roads, to and from work, was uneventful. I have still have to manage tomorrow!
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I drove back to Devon from Southampton docks on Monday 29th Nov' showing -2 to +1 all the way. No ice no probs thankfully.
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I seem to remember reading somewhere that road salt is only effective down to about -2C. Any one know different ?
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when i went out around 2am it was showing -12 c and when i went out at lunchtime today it was at +8c that is a massive rise of 20c in 10hrs.
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As we are all aware, ice can catch out anyone.
Devon gritting lorry overturns on ice (The lorry driver was injured).
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-11917966
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My external temperature sensor is showing 0.8C at the moment, and we have a clear sky. The coldest we have had recently is -12C.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 4 Dec 10 at 21:15
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Ice !! - Oldgit
