Is the snow really that bad?!

[dudi]

I'm in Finland at the moment, and have heard on the news that everything has gone to shoot in england because of the snow...

is it really that bad? or is it just our hopless infrastructure failing itself again?

Over here there's about 5 inches of snow on the ground, what seems to be a permafrost covering the lakes and slow moving rivers... everything is functioning perfectly though!

 

[marinyork]

It's just lazy people basically. The gritters have done an excellent job of gritting main roads. Some side roads haven't been cleared as people can't be arsed to do a little work and then whinge about it and drive aggressively. It's in stark contrast to 10 or 15 years ago where everybody cleared their drive and an area around it in the road and tried to clear some walkways. Everybody chipped in and things ran better.

 

[johnnyh]

local councils here have failed to grit and it has made it tricky.

basically the system isnt prepared to cope.

 

[cookiemonster]

Where in Finland are you?

I'm in Oulu

 

[Chuffy]

We get this kind of weather very, very rarely. Hence we don't have the experience or infrastructure to cope with it. If it lasted for longer and was consistent year on year then we'd probably cope a whole lot better. I believe Finland is luckier than us in that respect...

 

[barq]

It's just lazy people basically. The gritters have done an excellent job of gritting main roads. Some side roads haven't been cleared as people can't be arsed to do a little work and then whinge about it and drive aggressively. It's in stark contrast to 10 or 15 years ago where everybody cleared their drive and an area around it in the road and tried to clear some walkways. Everybody chipped in and things ran better.

Yeah, there was a letter in my local paper about some people (local residents, not council workers) who'd been trying to clear a road. Apparently people kept driving at them, deliberately splashing them, and giving them verbal hassle.

The thing I noticed was that numerous people cleared their drives and dumped all the snow in a great pile each side. It struck me as needlessly inconsiderate to pedestrians.

That aside the whole business has been quite sociable and rather fun. Shame about the cost to the economy though.

 

[marinyork]

I got some abuse for clearing the uphill corner of the road outside. 1 inch thick supercompacted ice and gradients don't mix. It's stayed clear all week whereas the rest of the road is still under 1 inch of compacted snow and there have been various small accidents. I've seen various people using the bit I dug out to turn around safely.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I'm in Finland at the moment, and have heard on the news that everything has gone to shoot in england because of the snow...

is it really that bad? or is it just our hopless infrastructure failing itself again?

It's not that bad, no. It's mostly the press talking it up to try and inject some excitement into everyone's hopelessly dull lives.

 

[HJ]

I'm in Finland at the moment, and have heard on the news that everything has gone to shoot in england because of the snow...

is it really that bad? or is it just our hopless infrastructure failing itself again?

Over here there's about 5 inches of snow on the ground, what seems to be a permafrost covering the lakes and slow moving rivers... everything is functioning perfectly though!

It is strange how 2 to 5cm of snow is considered to be "heavy snow", I can remember when that was considered to be normal in winter and I am not that old...

 

[derall]

Roads blocked, no buses, most of my work cancelled, sent home early; the snow today on a Chilterns-Severe-Weather-Scale-of-1-to-10 it probably rates an 8. On a North-East-Scotland-Severe-Weather-Scale-of-1-to-10 it would probably be about a 2.

 

[Night Train]

It's the suing culture.
I read something once that siad if you don't clear the footpaths near your house and someone falls on it then it is unfortunate. If you do clear them and someone falls then they can sue you for not doing it properly.

Last time it snowed I was clearing the carpark at college on my own as I was the first one in.

 

[HJ]

Roads blocked, no buses, most of my work cancelled, sent home early; the snow today on a Chilterns-Severe-Weather-Scale-of-1-to-10 it probably rates an 8. On a North-East-Scotland-Severe-Weather-Scale-of-1-to-10 it would probably be about a 2.

Actually North East Scotland had 30 to 50cm of snow, now that is heavy snow, it is just that they don't make a fuss about it...

 

[marinyork]

The snow in Sheffield has been bad for recent winters but if you go to the period before 1996 this was normal once or twice a year event to have snow this bad. It snowed like this in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996.

In some ways I think the UK got let off lightly. Some of the prolongued cold snaps have been worse than some of those winters but it's been bone dry. If the precipitation had been there in December or January we'd have got several snow ala 1950s, 60s or 80s style.

 

[Night Train]

The snow isn't really bad here.

About 20 years ago I was driving from London to Norwich through 12" of snow in a Land Rover. Took me all night to do it including towing out less fortunate drivers out of drifts and off ice.
I also tried to drive the Ridgeway, from Wiltshire back to Reading, where some of the drifts were 3' deep. 6 Land Rovers and a Suzuki jeep managed 3 miles in 6 hours. Part way through the day we were passed by a guy on a bike. Later he came back and told us it was worse 3 miles further on so we turned round and went back. The M4 was under 6" of snow in places.

 

[snapper_37]

What snow?

Got a little piece remaining on the drive and that's only because the temperature has dropped.... and it's yellow.