Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

snow??

hardon

hardon

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 27, 2003
178
48
UK Kent
so here is the UK problem lol :)
im not your average UK resident, i own a G5 thats not the story,... not being yur average football or rugby supporter, i love to ski.

Infact i love to ski so much i go to Canada twice a year (love to go to USA too) but this week its snowed in the UK, 2/3 cm across the country!! lol and yet we cannot cope with this amount of snow.

airports come to a halt! as do motorways, i even got out ny Nordica's??? expecting a Dump.the AA/RAC expects us to carry warm drinks and xtra clothinng in our motors??? wthell is going on???

a couple of cm 's of snow and the UK goes to Hell!! how come the rest of the world can cope and the UK cannot??

perhaps it's the salt instead of grit and sand?????

comments please :confused: :confused: :confused:
 
hardon said:
a couple of cm 's of snow and the UK goes to Hell!! how come the rest of the world can cope and the UK cannot??
comments please :confused: :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

It seems to me that anyplace that does not normally deal with a lot of snow (or other weather phenomenon--ie lots of rain) will have difficulty coping with it.
 
mcmav37 said:
It seems to me that anyplace that does not normally deal with a lot of snow (or other weather phenomenon--ie lots of rain) will have difficulty coping with it.
Click to expand...
But really, 2/3 cm?! That's less than half an inch of snow. I know this is just proving your point but nobody in my city even notices half an inch of snow. For Pete's sake, they won't even consider canceling school for any less than 7 inches of the white stuff.
 
In Vancouver its pretty bad too when it snows. We get maybe one snowfall a season (if were lucky) and the city pretty much shuts down. My school will shut down if there is 2 inches. And the worst are all these people that don't know how to drive in the snow! There are so many accidents.
 
Here in Charlotte, any prediction of snow is immediately followed by a mad rush to the grocery stores, so everyone can stock up on milk, eggs, and bread. Then, of course, it DOESN'T snow. Personally, I think most snow predictions in non-snowy areas are a conspiracy by the French Toast Council to boost their numbers.*

* Since you make French toast with milk, eggs, and bread.
 
Parts of the UK can cope just fine with snow. I lived in Aberdeen for a while where we got a 'surprise' heavy snowfall (8 inches or so) one Hogmanay (31 Dec) which started about 8pm and carried on til 1am. By the time I left the New Year's party I was at 2ish, the main roads had been cleared and gritted and the cabbies were having no problems.

The trouble comes when the snow lands in places where there is rarely snow (London/Southeast). The trouble comes on the roads where train drivers etc can drive to their depots because no-one knows how to drive in the snow without skidding, causing accidents. The airports don't get enough snow to justify having the number of snow ploughs they do in the northern US for example. One snowy day every 2-3 years isn't enough to have more than emergency coverage.
 
I agree the south east usually grinds to a halt with anything over 2". However I think its a good thing, you can blow out school or work and have some fun. Even some neighbours I don't see from one month to the next greet me with big smiles.
 
hardon said:
so here is the UK problem lol :)
im not your average UK resident, i own a G5 thats not the story,... not being yur average football or rugby supporter, i love to ski.

Infact i love to ski so much i go to Canada twice a year (love to go to USA too) but this week its snowed in the UK, 2/3 cm across the country!! lol and yet we cannot cope with this amount of snow.

airports come to a halt! as do motorways, i even got out ny Nordica's??? expecting a Dump.the AA/RAC expects us to carry warm drinks and xtra clothinng in our motors??? wthell is going on???

a couple of cm 's of snow and the UK goes to Hell!! how come the rest of the world can cope and the UK cannot??

perhaps it's the salt instead of grit and sand?????

comments please :confused: :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

I think it's how we all watch too much TV and are completely brainwashed into a weird nanny state where we don't think anymore.

We think the treatment of foxes is more important than the treatment of patients in filthy hospitals, we think that speeding and speed cameras will fix the world just like bigger locks on our valuables stops burglars from being bad people.

Let's face it, if we can't see the tail lights of the car in front we cease to function and snow just makes it hell because we we're too close to stop.

Driving has become hell in the UK since it became a police state, we're all following the car in front and the car at the front is too busy watching the speed cameras to watch for kids crossing the roads.

It's crazy that the country comes to a halt for an inch of snow, but more people die from the effects of filthy hospitals than die on the roads. You're more likely to die in hospital from a super bug than the car induced minor head injury you went in for.

so yes, snow, let's get thing's into perspective.
 
A scattering of snow in London last night and the Metropolitan line is down causing me to miss an early appointment in Harrow.

The inability of London's infrastructure to handle a little snow never ceases to amaze me.
 
This country is pathetic, a scattering of snow in the south east and the weather people are telling everyone to only travel if they absolutely must :rolleyes:

My journey in was fine :D
 
I was driving into work today and there was a warning on the radio from the police to say not to make any journeys unless absolutely necessary. That would be fine but it’s 4ºC and sunny with only a slight chance of snow showers later.

Snow story one: We don’t get heavy (2”+) snow much and it had been maybe 5years since the last time. During that time, and because of the chaos the last fall had caused, the local authority had made plans to avoid a repeat of the problems. These plans included leaving large bins of grit dotted around so that hills etc. could be gritted without the need for a central grit depot. The only problem was someone had the bright idea to leave the bins a the top of each hill and the gritting lorries couldn’t climb the hills to load up –Doh!

Snow story two: We had a little snow fall one winter and I went to work as normal in my little hatchback FWD, took extra care and got there in about 30mins. instead of my normal 15mins. My manager was also a little late after driving carefully driving his Toyota MR2 RWD sports car in. Our boss arrived 2hrs late in his Land Rover AWD (from his large collection of 30+ cars) skidded across the car park and ploughed into the wall. Which just goes to show that it’s the people that cause the problems not the weather.
 
The southeast parts of the USA are much the same - some of these places almost never get wintry precipitation of any sort.

I'll use Brownsville, TX as an example. Their average snowfall each year is 0" (no snow at all). They didn't get snow this year, but they did get some sleet/freezing rain...which is also highly unusual for that area.
 
mpw said:
Snow story one: We don’t get heavy (2”+) snow much and it had been maybe 5years since the last time. During that time, and because of the chaos the last fall had caused, the local authority had made plans to avoid a repeat of the problems. These plans included leaving large bins of grit dotted around so that hills etc. could be gritted without the need for a central grit depot. The only problem was someone had the bright idea to leave the bins a the top of each hill and the gritting lorries couldn’t climb the hills to load up –Doh!
Click to expand...

Where I used to live they had a large collection of snow ploughs and gritters which was good. The problem was the area the depot was in was usually the first place to get cut off by the snow. The council would only send the stuff out to clear roads when the snow was obviously going cause trouble.
By that time, of course, they couldn't get to the trucks!
 
Give all the tv reporters out there (covering the "event" everytime theres a snowflake spotted, interviewing people who have nothing to say etc.) a shovel and the problem would be fixed in no time.
 
i live in saddleworth and the snow up here is amazing. alright its only a couple of inches thick but everything is so beautiful. snow doubt (hah! see that?) all the kids will be sledging off the moors later ruining it all, but oh well.

viva le snow!!!

but yea, a few roads leading into manchester and oldham are more congested than usual. but my sisters school is open which is amazing as its right on the top o' the hills and practically a mile under snow.

us northeners are prepared ;)
 
i really am not a big fan of snow..or cold weather for that fact...but here in holland it has been snowing for the past few days. It doesn't usually snow much but a few centimetres have fallen and there isn't much news about it... Ok i don't really know much cos this is the first time i have seen snow. But i reckon that your case might just be a bit of....'well there is no news lets make some.'

Peace
DjVoTeZ
 
school being closed because of snow ? i would have liked that...

this year we had more snaw than usual and even some mountain villages etc. got shut off and they had to flew in food for few days ...


record snow this year was something around 30" within 36 hours in a tyrolian town ... here we have perhaps still 10-13" but the streets are clean (we've got enough snow plows)..so while driving is dangerous it's not like everything comes to a halt on the streets...
 
I think this is just wonderful! For some reason I've always loved seeing snow. It always makes things look so darn beautiful. Granted, that may simply be because it covers all the crud lying around, but even so....

Around my area (Faversham, Kent) we've had in the region of 2 - 3 inches. It may not sound like much, but it means my office is closing early today.

I get to go home at 3pm :D :D :D

Time for a snow-ball fight. Anyone coming?
 
raggedjimmi said:
i live in saddleworth and the snow up here is amazing. alright its only a couple of inches thick but everything is so beautiful. snow doubt (hah! see that?) all the kids will be sledging off the moors later ruining it all, but oh well.

viva le snow!!!

but yea, a few roads leading into manchester and oldham are more congested than usual. but my sisters school is open which is amazing as its right on the top o' the hills and practically a mile under snow.

us northeners are prepared ;)
Click to expand...

Ahh cool i live in stalybridge :) and yeah up on t'pennines they close Snake Pass and Woodhead Pass as soon as it snows pretty much but they are proper country roads. I think Holmfirth road is closed as well :)

Going into Manchester this morning was a nightmare was a lot busier. But us northerners can cope a lot better than southerners as I found out when I was down there working a couple of years ago when they cancelled all flights home because of snow on the runway ... cmon! Ringway doesn't shut for a bit of snow!
 
hardon said:
so here is the UK problem lol :)
im not your average UK resident.............Infact i love to ski so much i go to Canada twice a year
Click to expand...

I say you're not the average UK resident!!!!!
I love getting on a ski lift with someone from the UK, especially when it's real cold (-20C and below, not including wind chill.) They are terrified of frostbite! :D :D :D

Anyway, great company to talk with on the lift while staring at the Rockies. I hope you come out West to real mountains and avoid the "hills" in eastern North America.

Blue Velvet said:
The inability of London's infrastructure to handle a little snow never ceases to amaze me.
Click to expand...

No offense as I like London. However, I am always amazed that London's infrastructure handles anything. Old bits and pieces along with ultra-modern parts make one wonder how it all functions on a daily basis. Does make for an interesting city.

CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT MY FIRST POST IS ON.......SNOW!!! :eek:
 
Kato C. said:
CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT MY FIRST POST IS ON.......SNOW!!! :eek:
Click to expand...
Just doing your bit to maintain the Canuck mythology, eh? (short pause while I don my touque and put some back bacon on the frypan. A bit early to crack a Labatt's)

Snow + Victoria BC = utter chaos. Last big snowfall we had, 1996, whole city shut down for 5 days because of 4 feet of snow. we get usually 2 inches of snow in a year -- yet this was the third highest one-day snowfall of any major city in Canada. We don't have a metro area government, there are about a dozen independent municipalities. So they plough the main roads; each municipality only goes up to their border of course. But they sometimes chose different routes to plow first so the streets don't meet up, just end in a wall of snow at the border to the next muni. Doh!
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2001/alm01dec2.htm
 
Kato C. said:
No offense as I like London. However, I am always amazed that London's infrastructure handles anything. Old bits and pieces along with ultra-modern parts make one wonder how it all functions on a daily basis.
Click to expand...

And we're supposed to be pitching for the Olympics...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back