Chaos? What chaos? I can't believe it - here in the rural North-East corner of Aberdeenshire we seem to have escaped today's snow. But the TV & radio forecasters are adamant - it's a high alert. I reckon they exaggerate the severity so that we are happy when what arrives is less than expected. The local wisecrackers (not me-honestly) have been having a field-day. Thundersnow is go! Reports of severe arctic weather are blizzarding across the North East. Last night, up to half a millimetre of snow fell in Westhill. At one point I counted more than 8 snowflakes on the roof of my car. As "Snowmageddon" approaches, the A944 Aberdeen to Westhill road is believed to be impassable due to convoys of news teams from all the country's media searching for the worst devastation. Nearly 20% of Aberdeenshire farmers are believed to have donned their semmits underneath their short sleeved checked shirts to ward off the bitter, biting cold. One farmer commented "Aye, it's nae as warm as it wis in June" Stories of "Snowcopalypse" and "Winterdoom" dominate the media. A spokesman for "The North", Jon Snow, was overheard mumbling "Winter is coming".... Get ready to watch the TV news tonight showing loads of BMWs and/or M Benzs spinning wheels in light snow.
Present company excepted of course. ;) I think most members on here either have Winter tyres - or stay at home when it snows. Some even spend their Winters in sunnier climes.
Winters on and managed in the 3cm of snow we had today...... To be fair, it only settled on our farm track (which was already frozen overnight) but the roads were clear. We did have some pretty heavy blizzards on the south Cambs border but it was too wet to settle anywhere else. All a bit of a damp squib in the end, IMO.
we were in the danger area on the weather maps but not a flake has fallen around we had a thirty second hil shower at two o clock today and that was it car is fitted with winter tyres snow shovel in the boot and it is going nowhere
About an inch here in rural Cheshire this morning. Once off the minor roads it wasn't too bad at all. An opportunity then to stay on the minor roads, switch off the traction control a little bit and have some fun on the winters
Here in Cheshire, we had winter last night when 1/2 inch of snow fell. Looked out of the window this morning - bright and sunny, no snow to be seen. So, much worse than last winter. BTW What are winter tyres?
By this morning we'd had about 120mm of snow over this side. It tested the winter tyres, last evening and this morning. Must say that only 6mm of tread is starting to show, losing the ability to keep the car from being a bit twitchy. Last evening was a bit different, as I drove home from being with friends. Snow was getting deeper as I drove. We'd had about 9 - 10cm before I went out early evening. Much of it had come down in no wind, so stuck to everything. Conditions were changing as I was driving home, the first gusts of wind started blowing. Suddenly a few trees were getting the gusts and started dumping the snow. Total white out in milliseconds. Had to brake hard and stop dead in the road. It seemed like tons of snow swirling all around and over the car. A wait for it to blow out and clear and then on again, only to have it happen over and over, for about a mile or more, until l was out of the trees. I've never experienced anything like it. A bit scary when you are making an emergency stop on snow, into a wall of falling snow, which simply overwhelmed the car. Almost like an explosion of snow and zero visibility. Put hard braking on snow with winter tyres to the test. Nothing has melted today and fresh snow covers the car this evening. Peter
A slight sprinkle on the cars this morning in South Buckinghamshire, all very anti climatic as the bishop said to the actress Sent from my iPhone using The Force
Been driving up and down to Aberdeen for last 11 years, 90% of the time in BMW's. Although there has been some really bad weather on occasions, so long as driving style was adapted to conditions and allowances for time I have never had a problem. Personally I blame Sky news for the paranoia
Saw a live news clip this morning on the BBC news. About half an inch of snow and some ice. The guy was describing the chaos, which did appear to be happening around him. Just shows how unprepared we are in the UK for winter conditions. I've heard the statement on the news channels, "drive to the conditions". I do ask what is driving to the conditions, when winter tyres are part of the kit needed to drive to the conditions, and most don't have them? Does that really mean stay off the road, if the vehicle is not setup for winter? Peter
I forgot to add, when the snow fell all over the car it was so thick on a couple of the drops, it temporarily blacked out the light. Very strange feeling looking through a dark grey screen, very weird indeed. Peter
Quite a bit of snow here last night and this morning, roads white over and cars under a covering of snow. Winter tyres all ready and fitted to the BM and I'm in bloody work today, so off I go in my little Fiesta van
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/live-a470-gwynedd-blocked-after-12446162 that is a news story from a road/ pass near where i live, the amount of snow that caused the cars to get stuck is shocking just shows how unprepared we are for snow
Driving back to the UK late last night (Thursday) we approached the port of Dunkirk when the snow started to fall and similarly to what Peter experienced, it made it near impossible to see where we were going. I've had to slow right down to about 20 miles per hour but with only a few miles left to the port we managed to still be in time for the ferry crossing. It made us apprehensive that this was a sign of things to come in the UK but the drive from Dover to London was thankfully completely free from snowfall. Guess we were just lucky with our timing. A few hours after we arrived home another fresh bout of snow fell on London for quite some time, albeit by then it had become too warm for it to turn it into a winter wonderland.
we havent had a flake of snow for the last two days, just looked out the window before turning in for the night and wow Two feet of snow