Heavy snow and ice bring travel chaos across UK

[Gerald]

Christmas travellers are facing severe disruption as heavy snow falls across many parts of the UK. Heathrow and Gatwick airports were forced to close all runways amid severe Met Office warnings for parts of London, the Home Counties and Surrey.Roads, railways and airports were all affected across Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.Airports in Germany, France, Denmark and the Netherlands are also suffering cancellations and delays. Meanwhile hundreds of drivers were stranded overnight on the M6 motorway in Greater Manchester. Similar conditions in Germany and Italy also saw drivers stuck on icy roads, as temperatures plummeted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12025538



Note: 18 December 2010 Last updated at 14:10 GMT

[STEED]

A bit of snow and this country falls apart, again.

[papa_smurf]

Originally Posted by STEED

A bit of snow and this country falls apart, again.

[STEED]

I've been playing spot the gritter around here and so far not one. I wonder if my council feels its a better idea to keep the gritters in the warm.

I'm amazed every year when the first Snows fall.


Fact: It does happen EVERY year. (Snow and Ice)
Fact: Most people have lived here thier whole lives.
Fact: Every year at the first Snow fall? Some Minds are erased!
(That is based on the observation that people forget Ice on the road will cause you to slide and I count them in the ditches!)
Fact: It's not just young kids doing this!
Fact: We have signs that say Bridges freeze over faster then Roads, but no one seems able to read them?
Fact? Was Ice and Snow one of Natures way of weeding out the Unfit?


If you can not drive on Ice and Snow after living your Whole life in the same area?
Don't Drive!

[Sledgehammer427]

I'm tempted to get a Subaru Impreza WRX and a co-driver and have at when the snow falls. Alone in an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme can get a bit hairy, no matter how confident you are. Oh how I wish to be a rally driver...

If you can not drive on Ice and Snow after living your Whole life in the same area?
Don't Drive!

I'm sure our friends in Finland will be along any moment to explain the driving conditions there.
my girlfriend always told me that they go fast no matter what the roads are like there.

You and I live mostly in the same area.
People in Finland, (like Dowly),
would make us look like Idiots on Ice!
(Hmmm a new Ice show I'm sure!)


But I think everyone understands what I mean.
If you spent your whole life in Ohio where I'm at?
And it does snow every year?
Why in the name of all that is Holy do you
FORGET HOW TO DRIVE ON THIS STUFF!


Let's see,
I fall down on the way to the Car cause it's slippery.
That seems to ring no bells for the "Ones that should not survive".
Car won't stop when I hit the brake!
That seems to ring no bells for the "Ones that should not survive".
It's the weathers fault!
BS! You grew up here! When did the weather change? It does this EVERY Year!
That seems to ring no bells for the "Ones that should not survive".

[krashkart]

Well, when my mother visited Phoenix this year she was detoured around a serious pileup on the freeway. The pileup was caused when a thunderstorm rolled through and everyone forgot how to drive. All that from a rain storm?? My God, man. The Midwest would kill them.

[Oberon]

One tiny thin sprinkling of snow here. But ice...yeah, plenty of that stuff. Will make the walk into work at half six tomorrow interesting no doubt. Almost wound up sliding down Church hill on my arse back in Jan when we had the snow, and for Suffolk, land of the flat, it's a pretty steep hill.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...79.26,,0,13.44

The pavements will get sand on them no doubt...but probably not until after I've slid into work which is just round the corner, so perhaps the momentum will deliver me there.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by privateer

I'm amazed every year when the first Snows fall.


Fact: It does happen EVERY year. (Snow and Ice)
Fact: Most people have lived here thier whole lives.
Fact: Every year at the first Snow fall? Some Minds are erased!
(That is based on the observation that people forget Ice on the road will cause you to slide and I count them in the ditches!)
Fact: It's not just young kids doing this!
Fact: We have signs that say Bridges freeze over faster then Roads, but no one seems able to read them?
Fact? Was Ice and Snow one of Natures way of weeding out the Unfit?


If you can not drive on Ice and Snow after living your Whole life in the same area?
Don't Drive!

The same could be said for North Virginia. Everyone acts like it has never snowed here.

[Gerald]

Snow leaves travellers stranded at Heathrow and Gatwick! Thousands of travellers have been stranded at Heathrow airport overnight, and hundreds more at Gatwick, as snow continues to disrupt much of the UK.There will be no flight arrivals at Heathrow on Sunday and only a handful of departures, while many Gatwick flights are affected.Problems persist at airports UK-wide, while the Met Office is warning of icy roads across much of England and Wales.More heavy snow is expected in eastern Scotland and north-east England.Up to 10cm of snow are expected in these areas, and up to 20cm in hilly areas.Forecasters said the UK was hit by extremely low temperatures overnight, with most parts of the country struggling to get above minus 5C, while fresh snow fell in eastern Scotland and north-east England.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12030233


Note: Update record, 19 December 2010 Last updated at 08:36 GMT

Damn, I am expecting visitors from 4 UK airports tomorrow and only Manchester isn't on that list of affected airports.

[Gerald]

Then it seems to be a problem, how do you solve it

[XabbaRus]

I get fed up of the people moaning.

Some do not seem to realise the amount of snow that has fallen in a short space of time, eg the stuff that has shut Heathrow and Gatwick.

It easy to say "THey knew it was coming" but a forecast is just that. The forecast where I live has said heavy snow and then there has been none.

If you get 8 inches of snow dumpe on you and in freezing temperatures you can plow all you want but it has to be constant.

Heathrow has the machines I was watching them on the news yesterday.

Also people are told "Don't travel unless you have to" but hey people have to do their christmas shopping....deserve to get stuck.

Fact: These wintery conditions in the UK are NOT the norm, the trend has been for warmer and wetter winters. If the government had spent billions on salt and snow clearing kit and then we had a mild winter they would have been accused of wasting money. Also take a look at France and Germany, they are not doing much better either.

I really wish Brits would stop moaning and just effing get on with it. I hope moaning is made an olympic sport with various categories. We would be garunteed golds. Then again we would teach everyone else in the world and they would do it better, then we could moan again how we used to be great at a sport....

[Skybird]

Partial chaos in Germany the past days as well. However, in my home town Münster, with lots and lots of snow and ice during the past 2 weeks - it is amazing to see how many people still ride their bicycles in snow that by falling down or moving it around reaches heights of up to 20 cm! In other pictures from other German cities, bicycles are alomost erased from the public sight. Not so here.

I plan to buy myself a second bike next year before winter, a not so special one but with very wide spike-tyres. Currently, spike tyres are sold out everywhere. I had one belly-crash so far this winter, on bike.

However, the paradoxical effect of two white winters in a row now is only local weather, no global climate trend. Climatologists already rate 2010 as one of the globally warmest years of the past 100 years, it could even become the third-warmest once the analysis is finished.