Hot is NOT The Word!

AussieDave

Banned User
Joined
Dec 24, 2005
Location
Australia
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. :D

Cheers
T
 
Spend a summer out here and you'll be wishing for chilly nights back home :D

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 40C+ , short bermudas, cold beer and topless girls :D
 
az

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.:D
 
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.
 
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:)
 
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 :what: 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.
 
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 :what: 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:D

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

Hell, our council seldom bother to empty the bins on the side of the road, or clear up glass left on the path/road when something gets smashed. So I think the prospects of them hiring snowploughs is a no-no :D And even if they did, doubt they would bother to come visit me in the middle of nowhere. Living in a place with a population of only 10 or so people has its perks, but not at the moment....

I was meant to have a meeting in Reading tomorrow, which has just been called off, so I presume it must be getting worse. So it seems I'm going to be stuck at home: good job I have a nice bonus from 32Red to play :thumbsup:

I'm a wee bit young to remember 1977...I've seen plenty of floods, but I fail to remember a time when virtually the entire London public transport system was ground to a halt because of snow. Perhaps I'm a bit cynical, but you would have thought we'd have procedures, if not technology, in place to counter adverse weather. To think the south of England is coming to a standstill because of a bit of snow..we have it easy compared to other countries.

Not sure what I'd prefer - the 45 centigrade heat in Australia, or the constant below freezing temps here?!
 
Hell, our council seldom bother to empty the bins on the side of the road, or clear up glass left on the path/road when something gets smashed. So I think the prospects of them hiring snowploughs is a no-no :D And even if they did, doubt they would bother to come visit me in the middle of nowhere. Living in a place with a population of only 10 or so people has its perks, but not at the moment....

I was meant to have a meeting in Reading tomorrow, which has just been called off, so I presume it must be getting worse. So it seems I'm going to be stuck at home: good job I have a nice bonus from 32Red to play :thumbsup:

I'm a wee bit young to remember 1977...I've seen plenty of floods, but I fail to remember a time when virtually the entire London public transport system was ground to a halt because of snow. Perhaps I'm a bit cynical, but you would have thought we'd have procedures, if not technology, in place to counter adverse weather. To think the south of England is coming to a standstill because of a bit of snow..we have it easy compared to other countries.

Not sure what I'd prefer - the 45 centigrade heat in Australia, or the constant below freezing temps here?!

It's the worst since 1991. 1977 hit the south west hard, but London got off with virtually nothing. The capital itself is normally kept relatively clear by the urban heat island effect, but it was not enough to keep it clear last night. It takes relatively little snow to bring the south to a grinding halt, as most people only see this kind of thing a few times in their lives, so never learn how to drive in the conditions. Roads have been blocked by thousands of minor prangs, rather than the snow itself.
Parts of south London have 8 inches on the ground, and counting...........

I measured 3 inches here, not all that impressive really, but enough to close the schools (I saw some local kids playing around 9am, whereas they would normally be in school).

There has not been much more snow so far today, and it is now the North East that is in the firing line for tonight and tomorrow, and a big area of snow seems to be moving into the central spine of the country, and expanding.
 
The thousands of out-of-work bankers should be made to shovel the snow, so they can do something useful in their lives.
 
No snow here on the west coast of scotland. My son is hoping it will snow here tonight. Strong winds and big clouds in the sky look hopeful. We hardly ever get snow here. I think it is something to do with being on the gulf stream and the seasalt. If it does snow it is like a great magical event and people in the town get all excited by it, and try to make the most of it before it melts.
 
It's the worst since 1991. 1977 hit the south west hard, but London got off with virtually nothing. The capital itself is normally kept relatively clear by the urban heat island effect, but it was not enough to keep it clear last night. It takes relatively little snow to bring the south to a grinding halt, as most people only see this kind of thing a few times in their lives, so never learn how to drive in the conditions. Roads have been blocked by thousands of minor prangs, rather than the snow itself.
Parts of south London have 8 inches on the ground, and counting...........

I measured 3 inches here, not all that impressive really, but enough to close the schools (I saw some local kids playing around 9am, whereas they would normally be in school).

There has not been much more snow so far today, and it is now the North East that is in the firing line for tonight and tomorrow, and a big area of snow seems to be moving into the central spine of the country, and expanding.

You folks would never survive a Canadian winter, especially in Cape Breton, lol.
 
When I was a kid growing up in Northern BC (that's Canada for those of you that aren't up on your geography) we'd routinely get 18 feet or more of snow per year (that's about 4.5 meters if you speak metric). Your average snowfall was about a foot (25 cm) but 2+ feet wasn't unusual.

After a heavy snowfall it took maybe a day or so to get things cleaned up and running per normal again. A typical snowfall would be cleared away in a few hours.

Temperatures would occasionally drop as low as -30 or -40 C. I remember when it dropped to almost -50 one year: it was very quiet and still, felt like living on a moon of Saturn or something.

Summers could be quite humid and hot (30+ C wasn't too unusual). After a while it became obvious how the weather can turn mountains into gravel.

Now I've become a weather wimp and loath snow of any kind. -10 C is WAY too cold. Ah, memories.
 
After a heavy snowfall it took maybe a day or so to get things cleaned up and running per normal again. A typical snowfall would be cleared away in a few hours.

You should come over here then! Yesterday I think even the worst hit places only saw 8 inches at the most, yet we saw London come to a standstill, with all the train and bus services suspended all day, most of the airports were closed, most other train services suspended or not recommended, and general warnings not to travel unless it was urgent.

To think we are going to be hosting the Olympics, and hoping to get the World Cup, when we can't even deal with a little bit of adverse weather.
 
... we saw London come to a standstill, with all the train and bus services suspended all day ....

Vancouver, on Canada's West coast, is much the same. The weather is usually quite temperate, very pleasant. But mention the word "snow" and people would start driving their cars up on the sidewalk or plowing into each other.

It was pretty comical really: snow starts to fall, city panics, 1000+ car crashes before lunchtime guaranteed! I finally figured out that when the snow was coming down people seemed to think it was a great idea to drive faster in order to ... not have snow on them? That part escaped me but they certainly didn't make much of an allowance for the slippery conditions.
 
Exactly. It's difficult to know who's at fault. You have the government and local councils, who knew we were getting this bad weather yet did little about it, but on the other hand, you have the goons who have no need whatsoever to go anywhere, but do so anyway, and then cause pile-ups on the motorways which cause yet more problems.

Snow is a rarity here too, but you would have thought people would show some levels of common sense. Or would you :confused:

There was an interview on TV last night with some irate member of the public who described the situation as like 'a third world country'. Quite strong words to use in my opinion when the blame and responsibility clearly rests on those who ignored the warnings.
 
Exactly. It's difficult to know who's at fault. You have the government and local councils, who knew we were getting this bad weather yet did little about it, but on the other hand, you have the goons who have no need whatsoever to go anywhere, but do so anyway, and then cause pile-ups on the motorways which cause yet more problems.

Snow is a rarity here too, but you would have thought people would show some levels of common sense. Or would you :confused:

There was an interview on TV last night with some irate member of the public who described the situation as like 'a third world country'. Quite strong words to use in my opinion when the blame and responsibility clearly rests on those who ignored the warnings.

There has been heavy criticisms for those who HEEDED the warnings, and did NOT turn up for work. We cant have it both ways. Unfortunately, no-one in charge will tell us what they actually MEAN by "essential journey". My definition would be that only those who work in the emergency services, transport, and care (including similar occupations) should attempt to travel. Those who are just working on things that can wait for another day, such as admin, sales, most manufacturing jobs, and finance, should heed the wornigs and stay at home, or close to home, attempting to work from home if possible, and productive.

I am sure it would be a wake-up call for us to experience a Canadian or US style winter, and we may not cope well, but it could be fun trying:D (Of course, we would prepare beforehand, such as making sure we had independent means of heating, lighting, and cooking, as well as enough supplies to last out the winter - perhaps this comes as routine for Canadians and Americans each winter).

Here 3 inches was the peak, although further sleet & snow has fallen, including a clap of THUNDER to announce the arrival of sleet and snow at 6am this morning.

At the moment, there is a mix of rain and sleet, but a hard and penetrating frost is predicted tonight and tomorrow should skies clear. Ice will then be the danger.
 

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