Same here Wlat. However, with the fine dusting of snow over the ice it feels quite good to drive on. There’s more grip at these temperatures than when it’s around freezing and having 4WD helps a bit!
There’ve been lots of complaints about the council services but my cul-de-sac has been ploughed three times, gritted twice, the grit bin has been refilled twice (though my neighbours selfish attention to their own drives means there’s none left for the road itself) and even the bins have been emptied. All very impressive considering the WX and the fact the UK closes for 10 days over Christmas.
There’ve been lots of complaints about the council services but my
cul-de-sac has been ploughed three times, gritted twice, the grit bin
has been refilled twice (though my neighbours selfish attention to
their own drives means there’s none left for the road itself) and even
the bins have been emptied. All very impressive considering the WX and
the fact the UK closes for 10 days over Christmas.
Hi Andy!
It’s alright for some people! We have no grit bins, the roads in our estate have not been touched by the council, and they have just announced on the local radio that they will not be collecting household refuse this week.
I see Frank (G3RMD) is walking up Cleeve Hill this morning! I admire his dedication … for just 1 point!
I suppose we are much more likely to get ice and snow here than you are, we’re reasonably high up and further North than Moscow! When I was relocating up here Brian G4ZRP was looking at the brochure from the estate agents and asked what the funny square thing was by my Quince bush. When I told him that was the grit bin and there were 4 of them for a cul-de-sac of 31 houses he was mortified at the thought the weather was repeatedly bad enough that the council had provided grit bins for the residents to use!
I don’t want to consider how much gas I’ve used since this cold snap started.
Am I the only one looking forward to reading the report of Gerald G4OIG on his venture out to NP-017 Fountains Fell and the mountain that he attempted to climb before that?
Hopefully should have the report penned by this evening, work permitting. We didn’t actually attempt Pen-y-ghent NP-010 - not for want of trying, but I couldn’t get the Quattro onto the parking spot because of ice and snow. Managed to park off the road not far from the Blishmire cattle grid, but decided the extra 2km road walk would make an attempt on Pen-y-ghent from there just too much, so we went straight to Fountains Fell and “dummed down” to an icy Arnside Knott later on.
…he was mortified at the thought the weather was repeatedly bad enough that the council had provided grit bins for the residents to use!
We have them here in Northampton Andy, but it would be helpful if the Council actually filled them, especially as all the roads off the estate distributor road go uphill or downhill from it!
As for gas, we are running the house at a lower temperature and wearing fleeces indoors!
We’re running at a lower temperature as it wont reach what we normally would set. I don’t think my heating can raise the temp by 33C i.e. 20C inside and -13C outside!
I don’t think my heating can raise the temp by 33C i.e. 20C inside and -13C outside!
Ah well, we only had a mere minus 8C last night here nearer the equator, so could afford to turn the heating off and give it a rest ready for today. Just think of the poor people that have no power in these conditions - if it happened here we’d probably be outside huddled around the chimenea!
I dread the thought of losing the electricity supply.
My house has no fireplaces.
The gas central heating needs the electricity supply to make it work.
The only alternative source of heating would be electric heaters.
If we lost electricity for more than 1 day, I think I would check into a hotel until the power was restored!
Having said that, our gas central heating system has done an excellent job today. The temp outside has been -10C or lower all day, but the indoor temp is +20 C. One of the advantages of being an “OAP” is that we get a winter fuel allowance … and this year we have been promised an extra payment because of the unusually cold weather.
P.S. Just worked G3RMD/P on 80m. Frank was on Cleeve Hill G/CE-001.
-13 when I got in the car in Macclesfield this morning. I didn’t take that too seriously, as it normally takes my car five minutes before it reads an accurate temperature. Five minutes later, I was driving through Gawsworth, and it was actually -14, and it remained on that reading all the way to work in Stoke.
This beats the -11 indicated as Jimmy and I began our ill-fated journey to LD just before Xmas. I think the highest ever reading was in Summer 2002 en route to Essex, when it peaked at 36 while driving through Leicestershire on the A14. I think that was the summer of the first ever recorded 40 deg + temperature in Britain, just a few days after that in Margate IIRC.
The funniest line of the week had to be the MP from down the road in PMQs yesterday:
Ann Winterton cites the failure of Copenhagen and the current weather, “which clearly indicates a cooling trend”. Laughs and mockery. Will the PM reconsider the proposed wasteful expenditure on wind farms? The Tory MP is fast becoming Cameron’s worst nightmare. Labour absolutely loves it.
Those drivers had clearly no brain cells. To be out in their cars on that road and I guess the 4x4 driver thought he was immune hence why he was there, muppets if you ask me.
A total waste of MRT time and just a shame they could not be sent a bill by MRT
Last night around 9.00pm UK electricity demand was around 57GW and wind farm production was 250MW. Or 0.04%
What would be a big help would be to put major sources of hot air (politicians etc.) in close proximity to the wind farms. Or if some could arrange it not be perishinly cold when the wind stops blowing.
Yesterday I was briefly held up on the Leeds ring road by an accident involving a 4x4 that had turned on its side taking down a lamp post in the process. Thankfully it looked like no one was too badly hurt this time but it does suggest that many of these 4wds have very high centres of gravity and shouldn’t be driven at speed in icy conditions.
IMHO. The main problem with 4x4’s are the drivers, the second problem is their ego and the third is the tyres. Most 4x4’s are fitted with standard road tyres to reduce noise in the cab, improve road holding on nice dry tarmac and improve fuel consumption.
Fit a 4x4 with a driver that knows what he is doing and a good set of M&S tyres and there will not be many places he wont be able to go.
… And the places he cant get to, well, he would not have been stupid enough to try to get there in the first place anyway…
I totally agree Steve. Many people think a 4x4 will get them anywhere, anytime, regardless. The problem is that it is often at the expense of other road users.
In the UK, 99% of people only have one set of tyres for their vehicle. In Europe where winters are generally more severe, winter tyres are much more common. I’m one of the 99% and I must admit to being somewhat cautious about how my Dunlop SP1’s would perform on the ice and snow experienced during the recent trip up north, but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. Paul will testify that I was tip-toeing on certain stretches! It is a case of knowing the capabilities of your vehicle.
It is a case of knowing the capabilities of your vehicle.
Exactly. As Steve says having the correct tyres is so important. Like you Gerald, mine has road tyres which means that the vehicle’s capabilities is crippled from the start. Unlike your jalopy, mine only switches to 4wd once the front wheels have lost traction which is a further limitation along with the lack of a centre diff. However, having power at all four wheels at times does make a huge difference, especially if you don’t hoof it but just take this nice and easy.
Whilst I shouldn’t be surprised, I am at the speed at which drivers have become complacent to the snow and ice. We’ve had snow laying since Dec 18th and at first everyone was taking things easy and leaving sensibly large gaps. After nearly 3 weeks most people seem to be driving like loonies again and tailgating in these conditions is simply a case of “when” and not “if” they’ll have a bump. I suppose they think that ABS and having their front fog lamps will save them!
Interesting point Andy, I wonder it the accident rate goes up over time because of confidence, I have to ask a contact at the next RBS meeting I have in two weeks and see if he knows.
I suppose they think that ABS and having their front fog lamps will save them!
Yes, technology is one thing - being a good driver is entirely another.
Regarding the performance of the Quattro, we travelled 6 miles on iced up roads to get to Fair Snape Fell and it only slipped once about 100m from the parking spot and that was easy to correct. There was no problem either later getting over to Cracoe. The 4 miles on snowed up roads to the Fountains Fell parking spot the following day was a different challenge, but again I was happy with the performance and felt the car was well within its capabilities. At no time did the ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) system which links the throttle with the ABS and traction control systems come into play. Primarily this activates when entering a bend too fast - it shuts off the throttle and uses the ABS system to bring the car back into line. Of course I’d have been an idiot to see whether the system actually worked in the snowy conditions!
