Winter 2017/2018 - Thread

[LabR@t]

Of scantily clad hardened northern women

With or without a kebab / fag / pint in hand?

 

[DampDog]

The red warning we just endured really does show how soft we are in the south. A breeze with around 4-5 inches of snow over the course of the afternoon.
Pretty sure we never had a red warning for that in the 80's when it wasn't exactly a rare occurrence!

Think that has as much to do with the way warnings are actually issued than anything else. It was just a case of "be prepared" for winter back then. As you say, back in the late 70's early 80's we had some pretty harsh winters, far, far worse than this, they just didn't make the fuss about it like they do today. Partly due to the lack of social media, but also because thing's were not as joined up as they are today. Having been stuck once 1979 iirc, I must be one of the few that still chucks a snow shovel and a few essentials in the back of the car. Sitting in a car, in sub-zero for a few hours is not to be recommended. So far this week, locally we've pretty lucky and not seen anything like the conditions that have been seen/predicted elsewhere.

 

[Rroff]

Sitting in a car, in sub-zero for a few hours is not to be recommended.

Whatever the weather I'd still keep a couple of Mylar "space" blankets and a regular blanket in my car.

 

[pastymuncher]

So how was Winter for you guys?

It's been worse than the last few years at times but nothing really bad and what we have had hasn't lasted very long, until now. Certainly nothing like 2010 when we had 4 feet of snow and several days when it stayed at -18 during the day and -22 at night. We even got to Inverness and back last night with little problem and I believe our amber was upgraded to a red while we were out as well. I posted this earlier:-

We had snow flurries off and on all day yesterday and gave up trying to clear the path and road after the third time. Before we left for Inverness to see the Classic Rock show (which was bloody brilliant) we had around 6 inches ying and a foot or so where it had drifted. Between here and Fogwatt the roads were pretty bad but fine if you took your time. Got to Elgin which is 16 miles north of us and they had barely had a dusting. Between there and Inverness there was nothing at all. We came out of the concert at 22.25 to find no snow still but it was down to -2.5 degrees this had dropped to -7 by Nairn but bear Scotland were out gritting the A96 although it didn't really need it at this end. Got to Alves and they had a light dusting which got to around a inch at Elgin with -5.5 degrees. This is where things got treacherous because we were now on roads that Moray Council are responsible for and gritting stops at 18.30 now due to council cutbacks. This policy is going to get somone killed sooner or later because the roads were lethal between Elgin and Aberlour and only passable with extreme care. Still had some ****** in a 4x4 right up our bumper until he had a "moment" trying to overtake us. Bloody 4wd drivers think they are invincible!! The worst bit of the journey was the last few hundred meters as we had more heavy snow when we were away and it was 10-12 inches deep so we struggled to get through it but we prevailed in the end.

We haven't had anymore snow today but it is very cold at -5.2 degrees with a nasty Easterly wind giving us a windchill of -15.7 degrees at times.

 

[Rroff]

Right on the edge of the red alert now - looking like probably 3-4 inches over night on top of the ~2 inches we have - probably starting to thaw out Friday afternoon/evening though by the current forecast.

 

[Defiant306]

I got caught in the Edinburgh A720 traffic yesterday trying to get home, I left work at around half one and didn't step in the door until around six forty that night. I had to take round about way home as folks crashed and got stuck on the A7 just off Sheriffhall all the way around Dalkeith. The snow was so bad last night that I couldnt get down the street with my car, I had to park just off the A7 where the car got stuck in the parking area snow lol. Clearing the path and pavement was at minimum one foot of snow with parts up to one point five to two foot deep. I thought 2010 was the worst year for snow up here, but I now consider this to be the worst I can remember.

 

[Spacedeck]

I'm ready for all this snow to disappear now. Getting fed up seeing it.

 

[Chugz]

I hate walking in the snow, especially when I keep slipping on the black ice.

 

[LabR@t]

I hate walking in the snow, especially when I keep slipping on the black ice.

Get some slip on shoes spikes.

 

[Chugz]

Get some slip on shoes spikes.

I think I'll have to pop into Timberland one day and get myself some proper boots. I wear Oxfords at the moment, and there is no grip at all on them.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

So, this looks interesting tonight. All this moving in between now and midnight, just heard on local radio potentially another 15cm to fall before midnight in the south.

 

[Rroff]

I've got some Merrell Polarand 6 so I'm sorted on that front should it come to it but work chucked everyone out at 3pm and I suspect won't be opening tomorrow - its starting to though belatedly pick up to 2009 like conditions here. Really coming down at the moment.

So, this looks interesting tonight. All this moving in between now and midnight, just heard on local radio potentially another 15cm to fall before midnight in the south.

Yeah - its really coming down here now. Sadly its probably going to be the last few hours before conditions start to move towards a thaw though.

 

[Kerplunk]

Seems to be raining here now!

 

[Hades]

Oh how they laughed when I bought this:

Well I think my winter coat is sorted... Rab Infinity Endurance down coat. 850 fill power. I can't believe how warm it is. Even with only a tshirt on I can't wear it in the house for more than a few mins.

I take it you'll be moving from down south then? I can't see any need for something that warm down there.

I've been so warm and toasty in it I must admit I did have to put on a fleece underneath this morning rather than just my usual t-shirt. I've been out walking in it at -5

 

[Kenai]

I've been quite warm and toasty in my £50 coat too

 

[Deleted member 651465]

I had my North Face Summit Series jacket on to get in/out of work. Wind proof, water proof and warm... brilliant.

In work a nomex fire retardant boiler suit, jumper, t-shirt and hi-vis coat.. not too bad but the wind chill was killer.

 

[opstrat]

been a funny day with work. started off with stay by the phone we may go in then we didn't. now tomorrow has been cancelled after 3 debating phone calls. getting fed up with it now.

 

[Amp34]

It was 8 weeks of it both at the end of 2009 and 2010.

Not sure what you mean there.

I was thinking of just after Christmas in 2010-2011 where the country was “covered” in snow for a couple of days.

I don’t remember anything of note in 09-10. The best winter I ever had was in around 05-06(?) when we had a week where it barely went above freezing and we had about 4-5” that lasted a week, which lookscomparable to this event.

 

[ChroniC]

People are idiots. Im sure there should be an iq test for driving.
Had a 45 min queue because some **** in a white van overloaded with stuff trying to get up a hill in 1st gear. I passed him and explained that if he put it in 3rd and stopped trying to smash the land speed record we could all go home.
On the motorway I was met by more idiots doing 10mph on salted slushy but gravelly road, whicvh you could easily do 40 or 50 on.

After i manged to get past the mentally incapable travelling really isnt that bad if you know how. Different ball game on some hills in deeper snow but for the most part people blow **** out of proportion.
I know no one will go to work tomorrow and I'm blagging a snow day even though I know i could get in easily because I can handle the roads.

 

[LabR@t]

People are idiots. Im sure there should be an iq test for driving.
Had a 45 min queue because some **** in a white van overloaded with stuff trying to get up a hill in 1st gear. I passed him and explained that if he put it in 3rd and stopped trying to smash the land speed record we could all go home.
On the motorway I was met by more idiots doing 10mph on salted slushy but gravelly road, whicvh you could easily do 40 or 50 on.

After i manged to get past the mentally incapable travelling really isnt that bad if you know how. Different ball game on some hills in deeper snow but for the most part people blow **** out of proportion.
I know no one will go to work tomorrow and I'm blagging a snow day even though I know i could get in easily because I can handle the roads.

I cycled past a few cars this morning!