Associate
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- uk
-3 feels like -8 apparently.
Which is nice.
Which is nice.
Winter 2024/25 - Cold or Mild? Rain or Snow?
- Thread starter Neil79
- Start date
Associate
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- 9 Jul 2013
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-6 here. Had to scrape the inside of the windscreen :/
Leave the windows cracked open for half an hour after getting home for the night. Rain and security permitting.
I would 100% forget I’d done that and leave them open all night.
Just looks like a bunch of people that can't drive in the snow...
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Nov 2005
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All it takes is 1 or 2 idiots and the entire road is blocked though
with high pressure sitting over us, hints of a more significant colder patch going into February though.
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2009
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- 8,102
Not enough people with experience its snowed twice in teh last 10 years or and this lot was gone by the morning. Temperature above freezing the whole time not by much 1 or 2c but its enough to melt the whole lot overnight. Dry and sunny
I wouldn't pretend to be an expert but there is a certain skill to driving in the snow (proper snow), being able to sense, feel and anticipate which quite a lot of people just don't seem to have. Not quite going at it like a bull but quite a lot of people, even those who drive cautiously in the conditions, don't seem to have the instincts for working with the conditions rather than trying to force their way through. As well as getting the right gear, knowing when to have ESP on or off etc. so as to avoid locking up the wheels, or have run away wheels, and so on.
My brother once drove around 100 miles in atrocious winter conditions where even 4x4 were being abandoned in a Golf on whatever the OE tyres were - did quite a few miles on the motorway where it was just him and another truck that were managing to keep going and everyone else had given up or were stuck.
My brother once drove around 100 miles in atrocious winter conditions where even 4x4 were being abandoned in a Golf on whatever the OE tyres were - did quite a few miles on the motorway where it was just him and another truck that were managing to keep going and everyone else had given up or were stuck.
That's part of the problem - people don't actually know how to drive a car due to all the driver aids like traction control, stability control, ABS etc etc. When these systems and rendered moot due to things like snow, people try and drive like they normally do and fail to realise that all these new safety systems is what has kept them safe and driving in "normal" weather.
I guess I was "lucky" to have crappy old cars when I was young without all these features, as well as living in the sticks, so had to learn it.
I suppose this may come across as harsh but, either learn to drive in the snow or stay off the road when it does
We've had like 3 or 4 snowy days like that in my 35 years living down here, of course people are not going to be used to driving in it. Those roads are very busy anyway, throw in some heavy snow and those roads are down to 1 lane, its going to gridlock regardless.
My dad had a florist shop up north and had to do deliveries in a Toyota light-Ace van through snow several feet deep regularly. The roads were like scalextric tracks with the ruts in you couldn't turn out of. Had to take several attempts at getting up some banks, but never got stuck.
Just experience I guess, some people just have no clue how to adapt the way they drive.
People seem to want to stop and crawl along super slow which is the worst thing you can do. You want to keep momentum going so you have low torque through the wheels.
Similar to driving in sand dunes. The old method is slow and steady, but you just get stuck. You have to attack them at speed and don't stop.
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I don't think attack them at speed is right either. You need to maintain steady progress at medium revs, not braking or accelerating aggressively. Just smooth steady driving in a lower gear than usual (because you will be going slower than usual and engine braking is better than wheel brakes).
I had winters of driving to Aberdeen for work, two weeks on, one week off and I lived in the south. Many ten hour drives in snow, ice and sleet.
I had winters of driving to Aberdeen for work, two weeks on, one week off and I lived in the south. Many ten hour drives in snow, ice and sleet.
I didn't mean attack snow at speed, but that's how to you attack sand dunes.
When traction is low, stopping is the worst thing.
And yeah engine braking. The amount of videos I see of skidding cars with the wheels fully locked up.
Soldato
- Joined
- 9 Nov 2005
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- Southampton, hopefully not too hot, or too cold
I've been in Southampton just over 33 years myself and I'd struggle to recall many spells where it snowed at all and times when it stuck around for over 24 hours are super rare from my bad memory...
Feb '18 Beast from the east?
Apr '16? Whichever Easter it was, I remember my better half walking home from work in town
Dec '12? Smaller snow spell of few days
Dec '10? One or two days
Dec '07 or '08? Horrendous black ice in the city centre where people were waling faster than cars were moving on e morning, small inclines by The Common were almost undriveable for a day
Can't recall anything from 90s.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2004
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There was already a heavy frost well before it got dark.
We had storms but they weren't called Betty or Charlie or Flo, Ignatio, Henri or Juan. Some years we froze, some we shared baths to save water but the British have always had weather.