beast from the east, pfffttt, try winter soltau

as any ex squaddie will tell you, a tad on the cold side with a couple of feet of snow..................................................... good old days, pass the cherry brandy

 

Wolfgang our savour would turn up in his Bratty wagon to serve us hot food, and perhaps a yellow handbag of Herforder Pills....

 

I was talking about this earlier...

First point of reference, Riga.... the week ahead temperature in the hotel when i left showed lows up to -19 and highs of around -10. My missus was cold so she took temporary shelter in the tourist office. The young lady looked at her quizzically. My missus just said it was cold and she was thawing her fingers out. Young lady then looked confused and innocently said, "but its not even cold". It was around -4 at the time with maybe 2 cms of snow down where it hadn't been cleared.

I remember a good few years ago visiting Prague and it being -14. Alta (ok, it was the arctic) a few years ago and it dipped to about -12 with several feet of snow, including an icy runway at the airport which was navigated easily. All the people walking about contentedly, prepared, none looking like they were about to die of exposure.

Contrast with yesterday and the walk to the local supermarket in London. I thought i was with Amundsen, making my way to some arctic wilderness. A few snowflakes in the air, but people with fur hoods up, tightly wrapped up... quite amusing really.

I don't what it is about our country that makes generally moderately sensible people go into utter weather panic at the slightest sign of something that moves the weather needle from anything other than utterly bland.

The in laws apparently have 6 lots of 4pint milk in the fridge. 5 loaves of bread. More flora proactive than you'd know what to do with in a month.

News reporters looking aghast that the tiniest sprinkling of snow surrounds their feet as they inform the nation that snow fell somewhere.

Maybe we just have zero resilience as a society. It's all very bizarre when you compare to other countries. Though it will be interesting to see how the Romans fair with snowfall if its still around on Saturday when I arrive there.

 

I was enjoying 15-18 deg C temperatures last week on the northern Costa Blanca while the Spanish news was showing incredible storms and flooding in the Canary Islands.

There is no pattern to the weather any more. The seasons are merging into each other. Here in Harrogate the early Spring crocuses are carpeting The Stray but are now buried under a couple of inches of snow. The world's going mad. Even Barnsley are winning football matches (I predict an unbeaten run to the end of the season )

 

I once owned a Rottweiler Saint Bernard cross breed dog that had worked for the Swiss mountain rescue team... in sub Zero temperatures..it had a unique way of doing It's job ...on finding folk lost in the snow it would attack and bite them so they would then yell out thus helping the rescue team locate them then it would offer the lost traveller a brandy to calm their nerves... very clever dog indeed

 

News and weather reports are massively overreacting, we have false news now we have false weather.When you hear "the beast from the east" you expect howling winds and heavy snow.

 

I think its more due to the fact we do not have large fluctuations in temperature unlike other continental based areas on a similar latitude, so when we get outlaying weather patterns e.g coming from the North East rather than the prevailing South West we're not used it. I've been driven on a bus doing 50mph in the arctic circle in Finland on a road covered with snow, I doubt the Megabus from Leeds to London is equipped with snow chains for the very good reason that it doesn't snow for long enough to justify them, so when it does snow they have a problem.

 

We don't tend to get feet of snow like we did even 20-30 years ago. So the drama about half an inch of snow now is truly bizarre. We get in a tiz when it gets over 30 degrees, when we get a bit of wind, when it rains. So it seems more psychological than the mere preparation of it, which I accept, we get much less snow than some continents, but the stockpiling and panic for what is pretty small levels of snow seems way out of kilter.

 

We did the Lapland thing when the kids were young, 2005. We were wrapped up in cotton wool. Meanwhile the locals were complaining of the 'heatwave'. They'd never known such a snowless, mild winter and were worried we wouldn't enjoy the experience.

 

Don't you think its more of a news bubble though? I don't actually talk to anyone in person who is bothered about a bit of snow.

 

Maybe its a southern thing then. I cited the example of the inlaws who seem to be planning to be housebound for the next month.

 

Woiuld help if all car manufacturers sold cars with All-Weather tyres instead of summer only ones. Also UK (particularly as it is quite Northern compared to much of mainland Europe) could and should make winter tyres compulsory over the winter months say November to April as they do in quite a few countries. Also mandatory to fit either snow tyres or carry snow chains in certain areas during certain months. It would mean far fewer accidents and holdups if UK drivers swapped between Snow tyres and summer tyres each year. Initial cost aside you get the same wear rate using each set for only half the year
Fortunately, I have plenty of room to store my wheels and tyres and kit to change them (prefer to swap tyre AND wheels rather than just tyres) but there are plenty of garages and tyre fitters round here that offer a storage & tyre swap, balance and check service at reasonable cost which many people choose to do.

 

No visits? Bonus!

 

Have plenty enough excuses without having to resort to snow ;-)

 

Having driven for almost 35 years, driving from Barnsley to Leeds for 29 of those. I've yet to come across any condition that's required swapping my tyres in winter. Admittedly I've never had a BMW.

In my younger days, for fun, I used to seek out snow bound roads as a challenge. Cawthorne Park to Cherry Tree Pub was a good one. Rear wheel drive Morris Marina in 12 inch of snow. No problem.

 

It's getting to the stage where I'm going to ignore weather forecasts. The number of times they exaggerate or simply get it wrong is ridiculous. We had a tarp covering the roof of our leaking conservatory. It survived all the named storms and got tore to shreds in a Met forecasted "breeze".

 

Sounds odd that you fit snow tyres in Surrey, but I know what you mean. I've lived for many years in the south as well and have seen plenty of bad weather. Never quite understood that misconception that most of the bad weather in this country falls north of Birmingham.

 

I think you underestimate the difference between winter snow tyres and standard tyres not just in terms of extreme weather but overall stopping distance etc in wet cold conditions. Below 8C the differences are considerable. I used to be an MOT ADI instructor and loved going out in snow. I also used to head for Pipers Cottage car park when it was empty on snowy evenings. I was once practising there in snow and ice many years ago -controlled power slides, escape line braking technique, handbrake turns etc when a RT Granada with blue lights came flying into the car park. Thinking someone had complained, I stopped and sheepishly wound the window down when they pulled alongside me. "What do you think you are doing ?" he said. I told him I was an instructor and I was taking the opportunity to brush up on my car control in extreme weather. He said, "OK fair enough! It's our turn now so.... p*ss off and goodbye"
Ironically, the only time I have ever been stuck was about 5 years ago with my 4 x 4 - when the full winter tyres and snow chains were on.I was up in the mountains (Italy) and had just entered an unmetalled road near the ski lifts. The snow was deeper than I thought and had a thick ice crust covering. My car broke through the crust and with the rough road kit which has a flat plate underside protecting the sump transmission rear diff. etc I was 'beached'. I had to get cable winched out.
The worst two cars I ever had in snow were a 5 series Sport BMW and even stranger a Volvo 360. I never got stuck but they were useless in snow. Best one (4x4 aside) for fun was the relaunched (but not the latest) Panda!!

 

No. I think of this