It's snowing!

[ian]

I would imagine if Gatwick got 60 to 135 inches of snow every year without fail, it would never close either...

Possibly true.  But the today's snow was forecast, and a UK international airport should be able to cope with a mere inch or two of snow.

Passengers may complain but ultimately they don't want to pay more for the one or two days a year (increasingly fewer) when there is snow. Running a proper all-weather airport in a place like Alaska is a very different proposition. International airports around the world regularly close or have a lot of delays and cancellations when it snows because clearing runways is logistically difficult. You can't land a plane on a runway when you're gritting it and fancy heating systems are expensive for a big airport.

There's always a bit of British exceptionalism, but really, airports in the snowier parts of the US would be disrupted as hell the moment it looked like snow (that's you, Logan). Foreign countries also have things like leaves on the line too.

[Mr Larrington]

SNOpocalypse no deterrent to wildlife i.e. bloody pigeons practicing their ice dance routines on the roof of Larrington Towers at hours Way Too Early 

OTOH the bloke who drove past in a full-on 555-liveried Scooby Impreza was doing so very gingerly indeed.  Colin McRae would not have been impressed.

[ian]

Judging by the paw prints, the foxes, bears and yetis have been having some fun in the snow. Judging by the lack of pawprints from the cat flap and the smell from the litter tray, I'm guessing the cats have yet to be enticed outside.

From the snow on the balcony rail, it looks to be about 6-8 cm here on the North Downs. Heavy, wet, potentially melty stuff, though it started off powdery yesterday, hence the wheel-spinny roads.

[Mr Larrington]

About to poke my head out of the bathroom window again to see whether I dare cycle to Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles.  Larrington Gardens Road was a skating rink two hours ago and I doubt any of the other minor roads en route are much different.  And as for getting a laden Perfectly Good Gentleman’s Mountain Bicycle up the ramp from the Crooked Billet underpass…

[Polar Bear]

For those of us who enjoy a good dump ☺️ the early morning dusting is both pitiful and disappointing. 

I was looking back at some pictures from a decade or so ago recently and marvelling at the knee high settled snow and the roads made impassable to motorized vehicles.

I can but hope ... 

[Jaded]

From the snow on the balcony rail, it looks to be about 6-8 cm here on the North Downs.

What is that in a proper measurement? 

[ian]

Waist deep on a small squirrel.

[Jurek]

[The Family Cyclist]

From the snow on the balcony rail, it looks to be about 6-8 cm here on the North Downs.

What is that in a proper measurement? 

60 to 80 mm

[Mr Larrington]

Started the SNO equivalent of drizzle while I was in Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles – I bottled out of cycling there today – and is now coming down rather nicely again.

[De Sisti]

Cars attempting to drive in snow in Cheltenham.

(click to show/hide)

May contain a shunt or two.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1601988289891909634

[Jurek]

Cars attempting to drive in snow in Cheltenham.

(click to show/hide)

May contain a shunt or two.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1601988289891909634

I like the cyclist on an MTB - @ 0:29 & 0:36 making his way uphill unhindered 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Cars attempting to drive in snow in Cheltenham.

(click to show/hide)

May contain a shunt or two.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1601988289891909634

When I was a kid we used to say, "Oi cain't read and oi cain't write but that don't hardly, cos Oi do be from Gloucestershire and Oi can droive a tra'or" but these motorists are obviously incomers...

[Canardly]

Have the days of LA provided bins and grit to hilly residential areas gone?

[hellymedic]

14.00 GMT Outer Londonton
T 2C
Snow on concrete patio has vanished put about two inches/5cm remains on plastic garden furniture.
Snow has mostly persisted on trees.
Sainsbury's receipt has arrived, 16.30 delivery has not (yet) been cancelled.

[Mr Larrington]

I think there’s still a grit bin at the bottom of the hill on the road on which Fort Larrington is situated.  Whether it actually contains any grit, salt or other useful anti-SNO Stuffs is another matter entirely, it being Leafy Surrey where everyone is expected to have a Range Rover.

[Jaded]

Have the days of LA provided bins and grit to hilly residential areas gone?

Yes. Austerity.

(most Highways departments no longer fill them up and it seems to be up to Town/Parish to do so)

There are several problems with this, including people stealing grit for their own drives, and having no idea about how much grit is actually needed.

[ian]

Have the days of LA provided bins and grit to hilly residential areas gone?

Yes. Austerity.

(most Highways departments no longer fill them up and it seems to be up to Town/Parish to do so)

There are several problems with this, including people stealing grit for their own drives, and having no idea about how much grit is actually needed.

We get one refill a year – not sure whether it's the district council or Surrey (The Asbestos Palace is atop a short, sharp 25% hill, there's a bin at the top and bottom). At the moment, everyone on the street behind is emptying it to do their parking spaces and drives. Not sure what they're planning to do if there's none left for the hill. Same story every year. We keep a couple of bags of grit/salt in the garage for emergencies, as the council won't do refills even if the hill is dangerous (not actually sure of their liability, it's a council road).

Of course, if it snows we can walk to the shops (we can do it even if it doesn't snow), something that seems broadly unknown to most people around here, who would probably drive from the sofa to the toilet. Probably a sad indictment of a society that most of the people I saw walking were old people on treacherously ungritted pavements while the gritted roads were busy with younger people in big cars doing important things.

[Socks]

Our street (fairly quiet because it isn't a through road) has been covered in snow and ice for the last two days.  Obviously  a sensible driver would slow down and take  care.  Not the prawn in a big white car who has just driven past at a speed which would be dangerous even on clean dry tarmac.

[hellymedic]

My Sainsbury's delivery happened on time. (Well, 5 minutes early but that's OK.)
Temperature a steady 1.6C.
Road seems clear but white stuff persists elsewhere.

Might refreeze overnight.

D is off to Uxbridge on bike & Tube.

Should be OK...

[Polar Bear]

I saw a gritter just now.  First one that I can recall since last winter.

[rogerzilla]

Have the days of LA provided bins and grit to hilly residential areas gone?

Yes. Austerity.

(most Highways departments no longer fill them up and it seems to be up to Town/Parish to do so)

There are several problems with this, including people stealing grit for their own drives, and having no idea about how much grit is actually needed.

We get one refill a year – not sure whether it's the district council or Surrey (The Asbestos Palace is atop a short, sharp 25% hill, there's a bin at the top and bottom). At the moment, everyone on the street behind is emptying it to do their parking spaces and drives. Not sure what they're planning to do if there's none left for the hill. Same story every year. We keep a couple of bags of grit/salt in the garage for emergencies, as the council won't do refills even if the hill is dangerous (not actually sure of their liability, it's a council road).

Of course, if it snows we can walk to the shops (we can do it even if it doesn't snow), something that seems broadly unknown to most people around here, who would probably drive from the sofa to the toilet. Probably a sad indictment of a society that most of the people I saw walking were old people on treacherously ungritted pavements while the gritted roads were busy with younger people in big cars doing important things.

There's an urban legend that dead cats found on the highway should be put in the nearest grit bin, possibly as a form of mummification.  I doubt they do much for traction on icy hills, however.

[Mrs Pingu]

Cars attempting to drive in snow in Cheltenham.

(click to show/hide)

May contain a shunt or two.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1601988289891909634

Lol. Those bollards were getting a lot of use.
Also why do bus companies keep sending buses up big hills in unsuitable conditions? Fails every time.

[Hot Flatus]

Particularly enjoyed the guy mansplaining  how to drive in snow and criticising others' driving whilst being too chickenshit himself to drive in snow.

On another note, am I imagining it or did the cars of the 70s and 80s handle the snow much better than modern saloon cars with wide low pro tyres, or am I just getting old and shit at driving in the snow?

[spesh]

On another note, am I imagining it or did the cars of the 70s and 80s handle the snow much better than modern saloon cars with wide low pro tyres, or am I just getting old and shit at driving in the snow?

Yes.

Joking apart, skinny tyres should work better, plus they didn't have all those gizmos that lull people into thinking that they can drive in lousy weather conditions the same way they do when it's warm and dry.

WRT the latter thing, there may be a bit of "the fear" creeping in, plus we don't get proper snow* often enough to retain familiarity with how to drive in such conditions.



* The 2010 snowpocalypse was probably still considered by the Finns as just a light sprinkling.