Hot is NOT The Word!

[AussieDave]

While most of you guys & girls are freezing, it hit 45.7C (114.2F) today.

Train lines buckled, bitumen roads softened and power grids failed under demand.

The outlook for the next 7 days is 100F+. So unless it's absolutely imperative that I go out, I'm staying here in my cave with the air-con on high and ample supply of beer.

Cheers
T

[anniemac]

Fell for ya, Trezz. Here in Texas temps don't get quite that high but almost. Makes you feel like your brain is boiling.

Stay cool.

[zuga]

i cant say im freezing my a$$ ,but today was 3°C (37.4F ) and its getting colder as the night falls. cant wait for summer

[AussieDave]

cant wait for summer

Spend a summer out here and you'll be wishing for chilly nights back home

Least when it is cold you can always warm up. When it's hot you can't always cool down.

Cheers
T

[zuga]

Spend a summer out here and you'll be wishing for chilly nights back home

We have hot summers here too , but we also have cold winters and i hate winter and snow. So my vote goes to air conditioning at 40°C+ , short bermudas, cold beer and topless girls

[kauphy]

it gets hot hot hot here in az one year we broke all the records when it hit 120f. my little girls eyes swelled shut caz she stayed out in it to long. but most the time it only gets to 112 to 114. so glad to have a pool.

[vinylweatherman]

Well, the southern half of the UK is now under a rare RED "weather warning" in a strip between the Thames estuary and the isle of wight, pretty much going through where I live. The warning is for one of those "classic" snowstorms that I remember from childhood, with heavy and drifting snow. This is all too common in the north and Scotland, but is unusual in the south much beyond the eastern coastal fringes. Temperatures are around freezing, and it will no doubt end up being "the wrong kind of snow" when it comes to getting the trains running. It has already been the coldest winter for a decade, and it clearly isn't done yet.

As I write, the first of the snow has reached me.

[GGW Laurie]

the weather is weird here....yesterday, i was bundled up for winter, today i have short sleeves and sandals on, 65 degrees and sunny here now, cant wait for summer.........laurie

[kmay87]

Whereabouts are you Vinyl? It's been snowing here on and off since early afternoon, laid straightaway up to an inch or so, and what does the council decide to do?...grit the road now, as I speak Apparently in early January some parts hit -10, as fate would have it I was in Miami Beach, but seems the cold weather has returned once more, yet worse.

[vinylweatherman]

Whereabouts are you Vinyl? It's been snowing here on and off since early afternoon, laid straightaway up to an inch or so, and what does the council decide to do?...grit the road now, as I speak Apparently in early January some parts hit -10, as fate would have it I was in Miami Beach, but seems the cold weather has returned once more, yet worse.

Too late - they neednt bother now, they will need snowploughs tomorrow

I am further inland, east Berkshire, and there is a decent dusting of snow. The serious stuff is set for tomorrow, starting with a trough stagnating over the middle of southern Britain, whilst low pressure rolls up from France and up the eastern side of the country. The scene is set for some areas to receive copious amounts of snow, including areas that normally miss it, as these events normally just involve cold air from the east, without complications brought about by other weather systems.

On the meteorological office website, there is a swathe of RED warning, which means "take action, lives are at risk", last seen when 100Mph+ gales ripped through northern Scotland last month. This covers from Hampshire eastwards to the Thames estuary, and indicates drifting of the heavy snow. I am not too convinced of the accuracy of the demarkation, all areas are at equivalent risk, and travelling tomorrow is going to be near impossible, especially when you have an unprepared council like yours.

Remember a while back, when a mere 2 INCHES from heavy snow showers brought the M11 to a standstill, with what turned out to be a situation where if anyone needed emergency assistance, there was no way they could have been reached until well into the next day. Lack of GRITTING early on was a major contributing factor, as was a lack of coordination between the various services. Now, some years later, they have the chance to show they have learned the lessons from the various enquiries and dissections of the event, and your council seems to have failed their exams.

Here, I will see significant snow only when a weather feature or two adds to the showery run from the north sea, as normally much of the snow falls within a few miles of the east coast.

Often in these situations, forecasts and actual events change considerably, as only small differences in position and intensity of weather systems can change the situation from a disaster to a near miss, or even a complete non-event.

I remember one such non event in 1977, when the south west was hit by massive snowdrifts, and we were due for a massive blizzard right along the south coast. Next day - complete non-event. This happened more than once, but in the intervening years, the forecasts are more accurate, and the event is pretty much guaranteed this time.

Snow here is now heavier, after clearing for a while earlier. There is probably up to an inch at most, but 6 inches is expected in places overnight, and this is just the warm up for tomorrow, where there is more uncertainty of just how the complications will play out.