Deep and Crisp and Even*
Snow?
Joke**!
The Met Office had been warning about a 'cold snap' forecast for this week. Fair enough, that is the job of the Met Office.
Then the media got hold of the information and really 'bigged it up'. The wind was due to veer Easterly, bringing cold weather in from Europe and Siberia. So 'they' decided to call it 'The Beast From The East'!
Warnings, with various danger-linked colours (yellow, amber, red even) were issued about cold and snow.
The more sensational media headings were along the lines of -
"We're all doomed" ('I tell ye, Dooooomed!' 'Don't panic, don't panic! It's going to snow!')
Those less driven by sales figures/viewer ratings were more along the lines of -
"It's going to be Very Cold. Wrap up warmly. Check on your elderly neighbours. Don't travel (by car) unless you really, really, really HAVE to!"
Yes, well. We live on the south coast of the UK. In the centre of a very built up island, thus surrounded by sea, and sheltered by a Very Big hill to the north. It rarely snows here. I checked. We have photos of snow back in 2012 and in 2010. I remember the 2010 snow. It barely covered the grass and lasted, to the final fallen flake, less than a week. That's snow for us here.
Anyhew, Monday a few flakes fell. Feeble. They didn't even reach the ground. (I did tell you we live in the centre of a very built-up city, on an island, thus surrounded by sea, etc?)
Tuesday, being Tuesday, I did my usual 40 lengths' swim, then walked, well wrapped up and scrupulously dried, downwind, along the front to the Coffee Cup Cafe. I ate in, and was glad I did when suddenly the darkened sky let fly a proper little snowstorm.
For all of about 15 minutes. It lay. All 5mm of it (that's less than 1/4", for those of you using Imperial measurements!) The beach looked quite pretty. Then it melted.
Having lunched, I left the cafe and headed, again downwind, for the bus stop. That was when the next mini-snowstorm fell - another fifteen minute jobbie. I had to walk crosswind when crossing the road, getting a earful of freezing wind for my pains! I was out in it all of ten minutes, by which time I was very grateful for the nice, snow free and, above all, warm, bus.
By the time I got home most of that snow had either been blown clear or was starting to melt again. By end of day it was only lying on the north sides of buildings (out of any sunshine etc, which had returned.)
Wednesday was brightly sunny. Didn't need the fire on in the front room during the day as the solar heating was more than sufficient. Yay! The only snow left was that hidden from any ray of sunshine - not much at all.
Thursday was St David's Day. Yay, February is over, it's March! It was also the Big Day. The Day we would be (depending on your source of information) be Buried Under Snow! (see para about where we live.)
It was overcast all morning, and windy, and COLD. Like below freezing (with wind chill) all day. Not needing to raid the market I decided to stay in, but I was the only one available for the Frontline Debt Advice service we run from the Chapel on a Thursday afternoon so I duly ventured forth - well wrapped up.
The local primary schools were 'chucking out' in advance of the threatened Storm (forecast about 3pm.) Consequently the main roads were a bit congested, all those parents driving to 'rescue' their little flowers. No, Dear Reader, I know it's serious, but it all seemed a bit of an overreaction. In hindsight it still seems so.
The Food Bank was open, with several clients coming in to stock up (don't get me started on being one of the richest countries in the world, in the Twenty-first Century, yet more and more people are needing to use Food Banks, even if they have jobs!) I set up, and knitted, and chatted with the Food Bank people - clients and staff. It started to snow about 2pm. It was laying. It got thicker - in the air and on the ground.
One lass, an expatriate Scot, was really excited. She'd been wondering about driving up to Scotland for the snow. Now it had come to her.
Nobody wanted Debt advice. The Foodbank clients drank up their hot tea, wrapped up and went home. The rest of us looked at each other, looked at the weather, and decided to shut up shop early. We all wrapped up warmly. I put my waterproof over my long mac, put on my woolly hat, mitts and gloves and, walking carefully and thankful I'd brought my trusty stick, headed, upwind, to the bus stop.
Got home ok, for all the main streets were becoming gridlocked as everyone tried to get home. Many places were closing to allow their staff home 'before it got too bad'. Even H's workplace. Consequently there was a flood of people trying to get/drive home through a few mm of snow, with more falling. Cue accidents cos we just don't know how to drive in snow. For that matter, some motorists seem to not know how to drive safely at all, even in the dry and warm! People have died in road accidents.
H took this shot of Fareham station.
Red oval due to bad processing on my part. Look how deep the snow is. After an hour it barely covers the ballast!
The trains were, mostly, running late, if not cancelled. 'Points frozen', they said. H was let out from work at 3pm. He finally arrived home 5:30pm - which is half an hour late by normal standards (when he leaves work around 4pm!)
It stopped snowing around 4pm, then started again later. We warmed up, had tea and stayed in the warm.
Friday morning it was crisp and even, though hardly deep. H's work sent out an email telling everyone they could stay at home. Yay! So we put the gas fires on and proceeded to enjoy ourselves. H caught up on some much needed sleep.
I wrapped up warmly again and headed for Slimming World to weigh in. 1.5lbs on. Poo! Ah well, I know where it came from and it won't be happening again (this year. The event, not the weight gain, alas.) I measured the snow while out - using the ferrule on my stick. It came all of half-way up the ferrule - 2cm (less than an inch) to 5cm (about 2 inches) in 'deep' drifts. In some places the snow had been blown away. That was worse as there was a glaze of ice on the ground. By 10am the roads were starting to get churned into slush.
Anyhew, H grabbed the camera and got a few shots for posterity. As you may know, we live in a corner house, so have 'views' to the North
That's the side of our house on the far left. Look at that terrible depth of snow!
South
Note the newer style of houses to the south of ours. That was courtesy of the Luftwaffe. Otherwise the area is Victorian terraced houses built post 1870.
East
And West
Yes it was that gloomy, all day.
We stayed in the warm. We're also old enough to remember The Winter of 1962-3, when it started to snow on Boxing Day '62, and finally melted early March 1963. More than two whole months, not a feeble three whole days! In between there were blizzards, blizzards, and more blizzards. Snowfall was measured by the foot (it was 1963. That's 30cm.) By the yard (90cm) in some parts of the country. In some places even whole houses were snowed in, up to the eaves! For more than Two Months!
We were six at the time, living in central Bristol (me) and suburban London (H.) The schools may have closed out in the countryside. Where we lived we just wrapped up warmly (yay for mothers and grandmothers who knitted, with wool) pulled on wellie-boots and carried on. Schools were open as normal. We built snowmen. There were 2' (60cm) high snowdrifts in the gutters where snowploughs had cleared the city streets. They made crossing roads even more 'interesting' than usual!
Should you be interested, Dear Reader, here's a documentary made at the time.
The Big Freeze.
As you can see, British Rail did their utmost to ensure the trains stayed running - partly at least to rub the noses of the Road Transport industry in it! I think we must have been tougher then.
Saturday there was still some snow on the ground but rain is forecast in the afternoon. As it was a lot warmer and the snow already starting to melt, I got on and did a load of washing in the hope that it would be dry(er) by the time the rain came.
I checked with my Bro, who lives in Devon - where they'd had a lot of snow. Up to 15cm (6") plus drifts. He said he'd taken 7 1/2 hours to get home from work Thursday! (Usually takes 1 hour.) But by Saturday morning the snow had mostly been washed away by rain. So he got into work ok - which was good as he had to be in for 7am! Of course, there are flood warnings for the area now as the snow melts and more rain blows in.
Sis, in rural Gloucestershire, said they were cold, but ok, with maybe 3" (7.5cm) snow. Guess they'll be clear by now too.
And today it's all clear here and we are going about our normal Sunday businesses very thankful that it's all over. That's one thing about having Weather rather than Climate. Whatever it is, it rarely lasts for any length of time. We've had enough snow to enjoy. Sledges and shovels are totally out of stock. Bread and milk are in short supply as people bought them up. I made some bread rolls yesterday. They'll do us until supplies are restored.
Milk will take a little longer to sort out. Many farms countrywide have been snowed in, measured by the foot and yard in some places. This means the milk tankers which would normally collect milk from dairy farms each day have been unable to get to the farms - down twisty, often steep and snow-filled lanes. Farms only have milk storage capacity (in bulk tanks these days) for maybe three milkings. That's one and a half days-worth of milk. Farmers in some places are already pouring milk down their (frozen) drains.
Ah well, March this year came in like a snow lion. Wonder what the outgoing lamb will be like?
Readers who have Real Snow may like to wrap up warmly and go make (laughing) snow angels as the ROFL at all this. Y'all have a good day now!
*Yes, Dear Reader, I know I said I was giving up Blogging for Lent. Apparently Sundays aren't counted in Lent.
**And yes, I do realise other areas of the country had it much worse. Witness Larbert, on the East coast of Scotland.
Picture 'nicked' from the BBC News website taken by 'PA'. Please don't promulgate it.
Joke**!
The Met Office had been warning about a 'cold snap' forecast for this week. Fair enough, that is the job of the Met Office.
Then the media got hold of the information and really 'bigged it up'. The wind was due to veer Easterly, bringing cold weather in from Europe and Siberia. So 'they' decided to call it 'The Beast From The East'!
Warnings, with various danger-linked colours (yellow, amber, red even) were issued about cold and snow.
The more sensational media headings were along the lines of -
"We're all doomed" ('I tell ye, Dooooomed!' 'Don't panic, don't panic! It's going to snow!')
Those less driven by sales figures/viewer ratings were more along the lines of -
"It's going to be Very Cold. Wrap up warmly. Check on your elderly neighbours. Don't travel (by car) unless you really, really, really HAVE to!"
Yes, well. We live on the south coast of the UK. In the centre of a very built up island, thus surrounded by sea, and sheltered by a Very Big hill to the north. It rarely snows here. I checked. We have photos of snow back in 2012 and in 2010. I remember the 2010 snow. It barely covered the grass and lasted, to the final fallen flake, less than a week. That's snow for us here.
Anyhew, Monday a few flakes fell. Feeble. They didn't even reach the ground. (I did tell you we live in the centre of a very built-up city, on an island, thus surrounded by sea, etc?)
Tuesday, being Tuesday, I did my usual 40 lengths' swim, then walked, well wrapped up and scrupulously dried, downwind, along the front to the Coffee Cup Cafe. I ate in, and was glad I did when suddenly the darkened sky let fly a proper little snowstorm.
For all of about 15 minutes. It lay. All 5mm of it (that's less than 1/4", for those of you using Imperial measurements!) The beach looked quite pretty. Then it melted.
Having lunched, I left the cafe and headed, again downwind, for the bus stop. That was when the next mini-snowstorm fell - another fifteen minute jobbie. I had to walk crosswind when crossing the road, getting a earful of freezing wind for my pains! I was out in it all of ten minutes, by which time I was very grateful for the nice, snow free and, above all, warm, bus.
By the time I got home most of that snow had either been blown clear or was starting to melt again. By end of day it was only lying on the north sides of buildings (out of any sunshine etc, which had returned.)
Wednesday was brightly sunny. Didn't need the fire on in the front room during the day as the solar heating was more than sufficient. Yay! The only snow left was that hidden from any ray of sunshine - not much at all.
Thursday was St David's Day. Yay, February is over, it's March! It was also the Big Day. The Day we would be (depending on your source of information) be Buried Under Snow! (see para about where we live.)
It was overcast all morning, and windy, and COLD. Like below freezing (with wind chill) all day. Not needing to raid the market I decided to stay in, but I was the only one available for the Frontline Debt Advice service we run from the Chapel on a Thursday afternoon so I duly ventured forth - well wrapped up.
The local primary schools were 'chucking out' in advance of the threatened Storm (forecast about 3pm.) Consequently the main roads were a bit congested, all those parents driving to 'rescue' their little flowers. No, Dear Reader, I know it's serious, but it all seemed a bit of an overreaction. In hindsight it still seems so.
The Food Bank was open, with several clients coming in to stock up (don't get me started on being one of the richest countries in the world, in the Twenty-first Century, yet more and more people are needing to use Food Banks, even if they have jobs!) I set up, and knitted, and chatted with the Food Bank people - clients and staff. It started to snow about 2pm. It was laying. It got thicker - in the air and on the ground.
One lass, an expatriate Scot, was really excited. She'd been wondering about driving up to Scotland for the snow. Now it had come to her.
Nobody wanted Debt advice. The Foodbank clients drank up their hot tea, wrapped up and went home. The rest of us looked at each other, looked at the weather, and decided to shut up shop early. We all wrapped up warmly. I put my waterproof over my long mac, put on my woolly hat, mitts and gloves and, walking carefully and thankful I'd brought my trusty stick, headed, upwind, to the bus stop.
Got home ok, for all the main streets were becoming gridlocked as everyone tried to get home. Many places were closing to allow their staff home 'before it got too bad'. Even H's workplace. Consequently there was a flood of people trying to get/drive home through a few mm of snow, with more falling. Cue accidents cos we just don't know how to drive in snow. For that matter, some motorists seem to not know how to drive safely at all, even in the dry and warm! People have died in road accidents.
H took this shot of Fareham station.
Red oval due to bad processing on my part. Look how deep the snow is. After an hour it barely covers the ballast!
The trains were, mostly, running late, if not cancelled. 'Points frozen', they said. H was let out from work at 3pm. He finally arrived home 5:30pm - which is half an hour late by normal standards (when he leaves work around 4pm!)
It stopped snowing around 4pm, then started again later. We warmed up, had tea and stayed in the warm.
Friday morning it was crisp and even, though hardly deep. H's work sent out an email telling everyone they could stay at home. Yay! So we put the gas fires on and proceeded to enjoy ourselves. H caught up on some much needed sleep.
I wrapped up warmly again and headed for Slimming World to weigh in. 1.5lbs on. Poo! Ah well, I know where it came from and it won't be happening again (this year. The event, not the weight gain, alas.) I measured the snow while out - using the ferrule on my stick. It came all of half-way up the ferrule - 2cm (less than an inch) to 5cm (about 2 inches) in 'deep' drifts. In some places the snow had been blown away. That was worse as there was a glaze of ice on the ground. By 10am the roads were starting to get churned into slush.
Anyhew, H grabbed the camera and got a few shots for posterity. As you may know, we live in a corner house, so have 'views' to the North
That's the side of our house on the far left. Look at that terrible depth of snow!
South
Note the newer style of houses to the south of ours. That was courtesy of the Luftwaffe. Otherwise the area is Victorian terraced houses built post 1870.
East
And West
Yes it was that gloomy, all day.
We stayed in the warm. We're also old enough to remember The Winter of 1962-3, when it started to snow on Boxing Day '62, and finally melted early March 1963. More than two whole months, not a feeble three whole days! In between there were blizzards, blizzards, and more blizzards. Snowfall was measured by the foot (it was 1963. That's 30cm.) By the yard (90cm) in some parts of the country. In some places even whole houses were snowed in, up to the eaves! For more than Two Months!
We were six at the time, living in central Bristol (me) and suburban London (H.) The schools may have closed out in the countryside. Where we lived we just wrapped up warmly (yay for mothers and grandmothers who knitted, with wool) pulled on wellie-boots and carried on. Schools were open as normal. We built snowmen. There were 2' (60cm) high snowdrifts in the gutters where snowploughs had cleared the city streets. They made crossing roads even more 'interesting' than usual!
Should you be interested, Dear Reader, here's a documentary made at the time.
The Big Freeze.
Click to viewAs you can see, British Rail did their utmost to ensure the trains stayed running - partly at least to rub the noses of the Road Transport industry in it! I think we must have been tougher then.
Saturday there was still some snow on the ground but rain is forecast in the afternoon. As it was a lot warmer and the snow already starting to melt, I got on and did a load of washing in the hope that it would be dry(er) by the time the rain came.
I checked with my Bro, who lives in Devon - where they'd had a lot of snow. Up to 15cm (6") plus drifts. He said he'd taken 7 1/2 hours to get home from work Thursday! (Usually takes 1 hour.) But by Saturday morning the snow had mostly been washed away by rain. So he got into work ok - which was good as he had to be in for 7am! Of course, there are flood warnings for the area now as the snow melts and more rain blows in.
Sis, in rural Gloucestershire, said they were cold, but ok, with maybe 3" (7.5cm) snow. Guess they'll be clear by now too.
And today it's all clear here and we are going about our normal Sunday businesses very thankful that it's all over. That's one thing about having Weather rather than Climate. Whatever it is, it rarely lasts for any length of time. We've had enough snow to enjoy. Sledges and shovels are totally out of stock. Bread and milk are in short supply as people bought them up. I made some bread rolls yesterday. They'll do us until supplies are restored.
Milk will take a little longer to sort out. Many farms countrywide have been snowed in, measured by the foot and yard in some places. This means the milk tankers which would normally collect milk from dairy farms each day have been unable to get to the farms - down twisty, often steep and snow-filled lanes. Farms only have milk storage capacity (in bulk tanks these days) for maybe three milkings. That's one and a half days-worth of milk. Farmers in some places are already pouring milk down their (frozen) drains.
Ah well, March this year came in like a snow lion. Wonder what the outgoing lamb will be like?
Readers who have Real Snow may like to wrap up warmly and go make (laughing) snow angels as the ROFL at all this. Y'all have a good day now!
*Yes, Dear Reader, I know I said I was giving up Blogging for Lent. Apparently Sundays aren't counted in Lent.
**And yes, I do realise other areas of the country had it much worse. Witness Larbert, on the East coast of Scotland.
Picture 'nicked' from the BBC News website taken by 'PA'. Please don't promulgate it.