Or snowpocalypse.
Status report:
Time: 22:47:23
Location: About 10 miles east of Bicester
Snow: Sod all.
You lied to me, BBC Weather presenter.
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A friend of mine with a pub just outside Bicester says its snowing right at this moment.
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Snow on the bonnet of my car in South Manchester. Turned to ice now. Nothing except wet on the road but the gritter went past earlier.
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>> A friend of mine with a pub just outside Bicester says its snowing right atthis moment.
JackFM tweeted that it was snowing in Witney an hour ago.
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Light covering here in High Peak, but we are over 1000 feet.
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It was raining half an hour ago here n Reading, but no snow.
I'm more worried about tonight's wind - gusts of 59mph forecast.
www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/reading
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When I looked at the Met Office website at 11.00 o'clock last night it was showing an 80% chance of heavy snow for Rochester between 05.00 & 08.00 today - its not even raining. The Met Office is useless !
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Mrs B said there was a bit of it in the wind when she came back from orchestra last night. Nothing much though.
The forecast here was gradually backing away from predictions of snow since late Monday.
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Fat flakes of very wet snow falling in Hants/Surrey border when I left the house at 6:25 this morning, but not settling even on untreated roads. Had turned to drizzle 10 minutes into the journey.
Another load of sensationalist bullplop from our clueless weather forecasters who seem to think any deviation from the standard British 10-18°C and light drizzle warrants lots of orange and red "warnings"....
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Tricky call to make - 1 degree is the difference between rain showers and snow flurries.
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We received a dusting overnight, the travel and weather people are forecasting a dump of snow this morning with a "It may look OK now but you may have difficulty later" warning.
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Part of the problem is the stupid and exaggerated language used, on the BBC at least. "If you are in Scotland today high pressure will be on offer"! No it won't, if you are there you are stuck with it! "Temperatures will plunge to -2C tonight" Falling from +2 to -2 is not a plunge, it is a very slight reduction. In fact the temperature "plunges" a lot more than 4C between midday and midnight at the height of Summer!
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>> Tricky call to make - 1 degree is the difference between rain showers and snow
>> flurries.
Spot on. UK weather is driven largely by interaction of air masses over different parts of the Atlantic and the European continent. What happens where they meet is a confusing skirmish.
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A couple of inches in upper Ribblesdale, elevation 800'. Blue skies at the moment, temps above freezing, and it will have melted by the end of the day.
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not sure it even rained here
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Our bit of sky has just gone from clear blue to dark grey, and we now have light horizontal wind blown snow. It helps you see the wind direction. I am about to drive to the far side of Edinburgh, I may be some time. :)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 14 Jan 15 at 09:07
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Cloudless blues sky, light breeze and +1 C here. Cars had frost on until sun got to them though.
Rising wind and then heavy rain due overnight according to BBC.
Hopefull worst over by this time tomorrow when I'm giving Nobb Edd's trumpet a lift to Liverpool.
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Going to be dodgy Friday:www.metbrief.com/EGRR.html#60 Nice 528 line....
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Never knew the Met Office had an ICAO designator (EGRR)
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www.metbrief.com/aviation.html
Bracknell?
Last edited by: NortonES2 on Wed 14 Jan 15 at 09:42
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We had two feet of snow here.
tinyurl.com/k9df6jk
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>> >>What happens where they meet is a confusing
>> skirmish.
>>
Anything might happen, it's not worth trying to predict it really.
Let's just wait and see.
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>> Anything might happen, it's not worth trying to predict it really.
>> Let's just wait and see.
>>
I didn't say that.
Point is that forecasting for UK, particularly at a local level, is far more difficult than in a continental landmass where systems move predictably.
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Which prat at the Met Office used the words 'weather bomb' a couple of months ago, where the press (notably the Torygraph) could pick it up?
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The DM is using the word "thundersnow".
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>> Or snowpocalypse.
>>
>> Status report:
>> Time: 22:47:23
>> Location: About 10 miles east of Bicester
>> Snow: Sod all.
>>
>> You lied to me, BBC Weather presenter.
If it's Carol, I'd like to be lied (to) by her! (Yep, I know the grammar is duff).
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Snowed a bit here last night and stuck. Not deep though. Done a 100 mile round trip this morning in my RWD summer tyred automatic including some hills and ungritted country lanes and surprise ruddy surprise I'm not dead. A wee flicker from the TC light now and then and it just plodded on.
Much ado about nothing springs to mind.
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Some folks are affected by the snow n winds.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30804065
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I gave up on the Met office app on my phone - If it said rain it was usually dry and sunny outside.
I've reverted to the old fashioned method of weather forecasting - I look out of the window.
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Mrs O'Reliant asked me if I thought it was going to snow. I've assured her she's going to get eight inches tonight.
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>> Mrs O'Reliant asked me if I thought it was going to snow. I've assured her
>> she's going to get eight inches tonight.
Didn't know BBD was in town.
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We don't have a Domino's pizza in Settle
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Now back home, one heavy snow shower on the way to Edinburgh which thawed on contact with anything. Even though visibility was good and the roads wet the sight of a snowflake or three put many drivers into panic mimse mode. Good job the snow didn't settle it might have become as deep as a tyre tread depth. We are now snow and wind free.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 14 Jan 15 at 16:35
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Had a dusting here in the wilds of Leicestershire last night. Some of it's still on the car. I haven't been anywhere today.
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Anybody getting any?
Squally blizzard here just now but don't think it will amount to much. Manchester airport was snowed out for a few hours earlier with the inbound Qatar Airways flight flying a wide oval between here and the NE Midlands. Open again now though.
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I'm getting all I need .. thanks for asking :-)
As far as snow is concerned, about 5cms from 11am today.. (we had 2 cms last night - but it all thawed.)
It's thawing as I write but more is forecast.
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Had a good dusting about an hour ago here in the Vale of Belvoir but it's melted off the roads already. Blue sky and sunshine the order of the day, although the Met Office website is giving "heavy snow" until 1800.
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Currently no snow in central E Anglia; it's just pretty breezy with some rain in the wind. Temp is 4.2 having gone down by 1.5 in the past 2 hours.
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Chilly wind around Heathrow but only wet, not white. Shouldn't impede my journey home.
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Still dry here in ye olde surrye computer belt.
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A light dusting last night at the North end of the Forth bridges, now 90% melted in the sunshine. The temperature is 1C with almost clear skies, a cold night coming no doubt.
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>> Still dry here in ye olde surrye computer belt.
OK - cancel that, Just when dark and we have been hit with a hailstorm.
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>> >> Still dry here in ye olde surrye computer belt.
>>
>> OK - cancel that, Just when dark and we have been hit with a hailstorm.
>>
and now the snow
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>> Still dry here in ye olde surrye computer belt.
>>
Just a little bit of rain on the Esher folk.
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Started about 10 mins ago in Reading, although sounded more like hail initially. Definitely white outside.
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A good 3" at home in Lanark last night. There is even lying snow (OK, not much!) on the ground here at the refinery in Grangemouth.
Feb may bring some interesting times....
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We have about 5cms here and it's just started snowing again as I write,,at 4pm.. That 5cm fell in about 2 hours so we could see quite a bit.
The overnight snow melted and washed away most of the salt so our local road is rather entertainingly slippery (if you are watching,not if driving)
Last edited by: madf on Thu 29 Jan 15 at 16:04
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>> Started about 10 mins ago in Reading, although sounded more like hail initially. Definitely white
>> outside.
We had that followed by a few minutes of it coming down in lumps. Now clear and sunny with temperature falling rapidly.
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Had some snow here about 30 mins ago (Wokingham, near Reading). I dutifully went and scattered some salt but it's now melting everywhere of it's own accord. Forecasts suggest maybe a bit more to come later.
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Now falling in St Albans from about 20 minutes ago. Started with little flakes and are now big fat ones are falling.
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And now stopped with a clearing sky - boring!
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Low scudding cloud driven on a strong NE breeze. Some of the clouds are big enough to father squalls. Currently got the scanner on Daventry sector ATC - quite a few requests for deviations to avoid weather.
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Nawt here...snowy hills that's all.
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Wet snow showers in North Norfolk. Quite fresh on Cromer pier this afternoon. Took sanctuary in the Red Lion.
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Winter wonderland here in Sth Manchester. About 2 inches on the cars. We were both going out so I cleared SWM's for her, then tackled mine.
I had a car booked in the city centre to take for service so I nipped in the house and checked my booking on-line. It wasn't out before my booking so I brought it forward an hour and set off for the city. It was a bit of a white-out going in but people seemed to be driving well and making progress.
I left mine in a pay and display bay and set off for Stockport with the Toyota. I drove out to the M60 with few problems then the fun started. The queue on the inside lane started as soon as I got on and never finished. Same with the next two. All these slip roads end in the Stockport Council area so I assume they hadn't bothered to grit at their end. I just kept in the outside lane at about 15 mph with the other ' movers ' .
I wanted the 3rd junction. There was a bit of a queue off the M Way to the roundabout. That was it ! I spent 40 minutes on the roundabout due to idiots blocking the various roads with nowhere to go. Classical gridlock ! I think there are about 10 on and off roads here. Time was slipping away, I was within a mile of my appointment but I couldn't see me getting there any time soon, especially as I had to be somewhere else at 3pm. I phoned and aborted my efforts...returning to the city centre somewhat faster on the A6.
Booked the job again for tomorrow. I can't get the car 'til 1330 as it's out on hire. Better for me really...gives me more time each side of the booking.
Why does the world have to come to a stop when all the mimsers find a bit of snow. I got a bit off wheelspin a couple of times but that was probably me going a bit heavy on the loud pedal. It wasn't icy....just slush.
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I live round the corner from Ted, not too much of a problem but only been round the corner and to the local hospital to drop my mother off. Traffic is lighter than usual if anything but the roads are all fine.
My mate works in Stockport and had place work shut down the afternoon to allow staff to get home, so I suspect it is a lot worse there (more hilly).
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This morning was quite bad here. As you will have seen the airport runways were closed for a while.
I left the house at 9:40 to pop to the post office, surgery and then Tesco. I cleared the roof, bonnet, boot, windows of the car. When I came out of Tesco around 10:40 there was 2 inches of snow on the car!
On the way to the Tesco was slow but I saw some stupid drivers. Low traction so they'd just spin the wheels. Roads slow and gridlock because drivers were incapable of knowing why they had no traction. Young and old driver. Male and female. The 40s male driver of a current Golf GTD was quite amusing. He didn't have a clue. Another car looked stationary coming up Tiviot Way.... but no it was moving at about 2mph! And cars then struggled to go around them when they could.
Took a while to get back home though. But I didn't think the roads were that bad (they weren't when I'd got home just slush) but drivers were numpties! And enough on the roads locally to snarl them all up.
Locally a woman in a Mercedes 500 SL (the original folding hard top model) gave up in the road and put hazards on. Everyone else had to drive around here. Most wouldn't venture into the part time bus lane for long (idiots). She clearly had problems with a rear wheel drive 5.0l V8 car with auto box. I am sure it was her and not the car. She was middle aged and blond so BBD might know her.
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>> I wanted the 3rd junction. There was a bit of a queue off the M Way to the roundabout. That
>> was it ! I spent 40 minutes on the roundabout due to idiots blocking the various roads with
>> nowhere to go. Classical gridlock
If you were coming off at junction 3 then that must have been the Toyota dealer near Denton rather than Stockport? Gridlock caused because people couldn't drive up Tiviot Way and Lancashire Hill for starters. Except they weren't that bad. It was the drivers. Makes you think training is needed as part of the test for future drivers. Give up on the current ones.
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I wrote that badly, Rob...actually what I wanted was the 4th junction after coming on at Princess Parkway. After the Pyramid, the traffic was moving well but not fast. I came off at the Portwood roundabout for St Mary's Way and RRG Toyota. I take the centre lane on the slip as it naturally leads you round into the correct exit without haviog to jockey for lane position.
There was a car on the line at the bottom of the slip with it's hazards on so the van in front of me and I started to make arrangements to change lanes and avoid it. We both got our noses into the next lane when the driver got out, took off his jacket, folded it up and put it on his back seat. Then he switched his hazards off and drove across the junction.
Most people were ignoring the box junctions and traffic lights on the roundabout which probably made things worse. At about 1215 we were all still sat there so I managed to get off at the Portwood exit. The exit I wanted was blocked by a car transporter. Took me another half hour to get to the bottom of Lancashire Hill and from there to the A6 at Heaton Moor it was OK.
Knacked when I got home but then I was in a manual car...not used to all that left leg effort.
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You were close to me then. Tiviot Way was silly because of drivers. So I took the 'back road' from the Tesco around and then onto Knightsbridge. At Lancashire Hill it looked like people were going up okay (as steep as Tiviot Way) so I went right.
Someone in a van told me of the problems at the top and I'd not get up... I was thinking it would be fine but if too many numptys in front. So dropped back down off Lancashire Hill (11:30-11:35) and on towards A6 via other route.
I guessed at this point an hour to home! It should be 5 minutes. It took 30. A6 was fine.
Not knackered... did most on creep on the DSG. So probably knackered it :-)
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>> My mate works in Stockport and had place work shut down the afternoon to allow staff to get
>> home, so I suspect it is a lot worse there (more hilly).
Soon got better around midday. The poor skilled drivers might still spin their wheels. Especially those with more powerful cars with wide tyres. And because they spin the wheels you obviously have to rev the engine even more in first to make progress :-)
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SMBC had gritted Ted, but it was last night. Most of the snow arrived during the morning rush hour, when gritting can't happen due to traffic.
Every one made it to the office in central Stockport more or less on time. I was earlier than usual. the only lady who had trouble with the steep approach to our office drives an older BMW 328 auto.
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As you say they gritted but the snow came in earnest during the rush hour and the hour or so afterwards.
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It's been damp underfoot sometimes, but only hard frost on one day in the past week or two in this area. No snow yet, accursed stuff... it's damn cold outside now though. The day was all right, cold but patchy weak sunshine.
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Drive back to the MRI was pretty horrific, nearly had an accident when a car decided to turn right straight into my path, thankfully I anticipated it and managed to slow avoid it. As I got into Moss Side this freak snow/sleet storm started, I have never seen anything like it but the driving conditions were not too bad, it was all the mimsers causing the problems.
I was amazed at the people driving with no lights on, considering it was raining/snowing so much that my wipers were on the maximum speed and still couldn't keep up. I hope the temperature stays above freezing tonight other wise the driving conditions tomorrow will be a lot worse due to all the ice.
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I was in NI this week. Snowed a fair bit especially on Thursday in Belfast which caused a fair bit of local traffic disruption. Anyway, I caught the Thursday evening ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan ( Stranraer ) and it docked on time in Scotland at 22.00. By then it was snowing heavily and the police at the port were stopping traffic from heading north up the A77 Coast road to Ayr as it was blocked. They were also stopping and advising all drivers that the A75 from Stranraer to Gretna was " barely passable" in places but was still just about open.
Faced with a 260 mile run home from there I set off on the A75 which is about 100 miles of twisting, winding, rising and falling mainly single carriageway. The first 50 miles to Dumfries was fairly challenging with many sections being covered with up to 6 inches of uncleared snow and more falling. I tucked in about 200 yards behind a well driven artic, stayed in his tracks and we managed to average about 40 mph albeit slowing considerably for the tighter bends.
After Dumfries the the snow stopped and the roads weren't too bad although now the temperature dropped to -4C so ice became a feature. More of the same all the way down to Preston-ish on the M6 with Shap being surprisingly clear.
After that though the snow began again in earnest with the M6 becoming quite treacherous judging by the number of vehicles stuffed into the Armco and the "jackknifed" lorry just south of the Thelwall viaduct.
Finally pulled onto my drive at 03.30 having actually only taken an hour longer than normal for that run so not too shabby in the end.
Quite chuffed really with the way the car coped given its alleged limitations of RWD and summer tyres mated to an auto box. It did have a lot of weight on board which may have helped of course including a humungeous top box.
Either that or I'm a driving God. It'll be one of those things I suppose.
;-)
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>> Either that or I'm a driving God.
>>
>> ;-)
Don't kid yourself, you are just an experienced (old?) driver who does not panic at the sight of a snowflake. :)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 31 Jan 15 at 12:41
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Also the electronic trickery on modern motors is pretty damn good - surprising how much difference it can make when needed
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Well of course you may well be right, but I'm not entirely convinced, for example when I asked my wife the same question I'm certain one of the things I heard her mutter was "Oh God"...
;-)
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Obviosuly its a tall tale, and never happened. I mean we all know that kind of thing is impossible unless you fit winter tyres.
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Almost an inch of snow has fallen overnight in Surrey.
Chaos reigns. Europe cut off. Asked to comment, a veteran Scottish actor on 'Dad's Army' reportedly stated "we're dooomed".
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Same here in the Fen Duncan.
Schools closed and all services stopped!
Met office red alerts have gone into meltdown.
Pat
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>> Same here in the Fen Duncan.
>>
>> Schools closed and all services stopped!
>>
>> Met office red alerts have gone into meltdown.
>>
>> Pat
Yeah, but people in The Fens always make a fuss about things - don't they?
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We had about 50mm yesterday even on Anglesey....(largely unheard of really) - stopped me taking my truck out to south Gwynedd where it was quite a lot worse. Nothing here this morning - see what happens today.
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>> Almost an inch of snow has fallen overnight in Surrey.
>>
>> Chaos reigns. Europe cut off. Asked to comment, a veteran Scottish actor on 'Dad's Army'
>> reportedly stated "we're dooomed".
Aye, just awoke to a WHOLE INCH of the stuff. Think this is the first time Fifi Mk2 has seen the stuff. She is not keen.
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Another beautiful sunny day here in upper Ribblesdale. On day off so might pack crampons & a flask, drive up to Ribblehead viaduct (roof down) and stroll over Whernside where there is still plenty of frozen white stuff, as there is on all the hills around here. Followed by gym, sauna, beer & curry. Just a perfect day.
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>> >> Almost an inch of snow has fallen overnight in Surrey.
>>
Not enough to last so the locals can practice dodgems in their nice wide summer tyres.
I can only watch from the bus as my two weeks medical ban on driving is still not over.
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>> Not enough to last so the locals can practice dodgems in their nice wide summer
>> tyres.
Too late - its turned to black slush already.
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>> Too late - its turned to black slush already.
>>
Looks outside. Oh dear, that's spoiled my viewing fun.
A neighbour has just driven off in his MB with full load of snow on the roof and the rear window.
I guess that is OK as he has heated door mirrors
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The snow that fell last Monday is still here. Two successive nights of -4.5C.
Quite mild compared to 2011 (-18C),
I see the southern wusses are complaining (as usual).. They no doubt can't drive their 4x4s due to snow...:-)
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Nothing here in Arcadia....just a clear sky and bright Sun. Just going to fire up the Suzuki and nip down to Audiology to get me ear trumpet unblocked.
Got loads to do in the garage but too cold for my fingers, even with the heater on in there.
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A light covering here in Northants but not enough to stop the school buses etc. Forecast to stay cold until the weekend though.
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Will the roof be open in Cardiff on Friday evening?
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We had an inch or so last night between 7-9pm. Easily brushed off the garden path and the car first thing this morning, and all gone now. There was a reasonable fall of the stuff near Bingham around 9am, enough to briefly turn the surface of the A46 white and bring the sensible drivers down to 50mph. Still some unlit loons tanking past at 90 though.
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3 inches in places here in South Oxfordshire. Gloucester had none according to the insurance engineer who came to assess my car this morning.
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What did he say about the car? And have you got a replacement vehicle?
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50/50. Will only get a courtesy car if it's deemed repairable, and will be supplied by the approved repairer. If the decision is made by tomorrow afternoon that it's repairable I should get a courtesy car within 24 hours.
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All gone from my corner of South Oxfordshire, not that there was much to begin with. The County Council website had no school closures to report, and it doesn't usually take much to provoke those.
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>They no doubt can't drive their 4x4s due to snow...:-)
About an inch of the white stuff here in Basingstoke this morning when I took my car into the garage. Traffic was much worse than normal even though the main roads were clear so I got there closer to 9AM than the 8AM I'd intended.
Guys on the service desk told me that I was only the second customer to turn up and loads of people were calling to cancel.
It's a Jaguar/LAND ROVER dealer for Glub's sake!
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"About an inch of the white stuff here in Basingstoke"
An inch of the white stuff every twenty minutes usually leads to twonking a bird in the pub toilets. Be warned.
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>>
>> Guys on the service desk told me that I was only the second customer to
>> turn up and loads of people were calling to cancel.
>>
>> It's a Jaguar/LAND ROVER dealer for Glub's sake!
>>
Which basically tells you all you ever wanted to know about the mentality of some LR drivers....
To be fair, what's the point of a go anywhere 4x4, when other drivers get stuck in front of you...and you never go offroad in the thing?
Image? More money than sense.. in my view.
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>> To be fair, what's the point of a go anywhere 4x4, when other drivers get
>> stuck in front of you...and you never go offroad in the thing?
>>
>> Image? More money than sense.. in my view.
I have a 4x4...and...very rarely go off road....but.. I tow with it regularly.
Furthermore, even if I didn't tow with it, I'd still consider one as a second car, because:
A, I like the higher driving position, I can see more when driving on country roads
B, it's handy to have chunky tyres when driving in Dartmoor lanes, so pot holes, bits of branch etc don't bother you
The downside of course would be poor fuel economy. I suspect that would be the decider and it would be a 'no'...however, I wouldn't rule it out.
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It snowed a bit here in the small hours, but it was gone by 12.30 when I went out. The window washers in the car are still frozen up though. I keep forgetting to buy soapy antifreeze washer fluid and have to top up with water.
Slob, no excuse.
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Had to wait on an snow-packed, unclassified road while they recovered some prat from a ditch. 'S' marks indicated he was all over the place before he parked it there (at some considerable speed from the evidence).
Colleague had to have three attempts at a nearby gradient, due to others in front not being able to get up it. He's only got a Fiesta and I rolled up it at a steady 20 in my Yaris.
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Snowmageddon - No FM2R
