Annual weather panic!!!!!

One could be forgiven for thinking we live in the middle of the Sahara desert. ::)
Right folks, ‘watch my lips’ we live in the United Kingdom. London lies at a latitude of approximately 52 degrees. A nautical mile is approximately one minute of latitude so London is 3060 Nautical miles from the equator, which equates to about 3521 statute miles. It is winter and we usually get snow between the months of January to February. The white stuff falling from the sky is called “SNOW” I repeat, “SNOW.” :-?
Get over it! :) ;D

Not aimed at anyone on here just a general :P observation.

Not much, but the kids were hoping for a day off, me too ;D

"Where are you going?" says one snowflake to another.

"Greenland. I can live there for a long, long time. What about you?"

"I'm going to the UK, I love stirring up a bit of blind f**king panic." :-/

If we lived in the middle of the Sahara we would know what the weather was going to do day on day. Here in the UK it's let's say...variable? and it's the variableness of it that makes it difficult to predict and react!

Not aimed at anyone on here just a general observation. ;)

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing."

Sir Rannulph Fiennes

I remember the times when we used to get proper snow, feet and feet of it. Now all we get is the odd snowflake which brings the country to a halt. That's because we've forgotten how to deal with it including driving on it.

Its global warming I tell you! ;D ;D

I remember the time when we had seasons
Now it just rains all year round, only the temperature of the rain changes.


Pesky global warming
I wish it would hurry up and warm us up ;)

I have driven cars in 4 foot of snow without any insurmountable problems.
It also helps that I come from north of the M4 and I am an advanced car driver (company insurance
requirement)
Key elements of driving in snow & ice
* Slow down (allow more time / space for yourself & other drivers)
* Use 2nd gear to move off - gives more control
* Use your gearbox to slow down (try to avoid using your brakes - except for small control dabbs)
* Try maintain steady speeds (so that you can keep going when it going gets tougher - hills e.t.c.
* If you have a front wheel drive car you can "tack" up hills quite easily
* Control your clutch more delicately - it pays dividends
* Do things slowly - every movement will be exaggerated by snow & ice
I hope the above helps less experienced snow & ice drivers

Bring on the snow....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jon_W

Bring on the snow....

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Snow chains at the ready....
Bring it on!

That is good common sense advice. Surprising how many people dont know that. I do and I am originally from SA where snow is only a dream. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Snow, Snow I wish ::) ::)

For the 4 wheel drivers amongst us I would recommend going on a skid pan course. I did mine at Thruxton - a days course about £150. You start the day off by spinning the wheels everywhere and getting nowhere but by the end of the day you can control, brake and steer safely. I did mine years ago but still make use of what I learnt.

We never get snow worth talking about in Trogtown :(
I remember the last time, it was 1983

We had some more recently than that - I can recall walking to work in the damn stuff within the last few years :)

BB

Yea but in 83 it was really deep proper snow and the roads in town were full of stuck cars, I had a little mini and was wizzing around past all the old rear wheel drive cars :)
That was the best year I remember for snow

I can remember not being able to get to school in the big freeze back in the sixties! Now that was proper snow!

Ain't nostalgia a wonderful thing! ;) ;D ;D

BB

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Conehead

That is good common sense advice. Surprising how many people dont know that. I do and I am originally from SA where snow is only a dream. ;D ;D ;D ;D

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You'd be surprised how "Common Sense" is not that common these days!
They don't teach how to use your gears to slow down (or add control) the premise being that brake parts are cheaper to replace than gearboxes. However I have driven off road 4X4 on snow and in 4ft deep mud without getting bogged down. (This was in a "Forestry environment on a commercial basis) I have also done a skidpan course a few years ago as I used to do 50000 miles a year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Blackbonnie

I can remember not being able to get to school in the big freeze back in the sixties! Now that was proper snow!

Ain't nostalgia a wonderful thing! ;) ;D ;D

BB

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1963 ;) :D ;D :o 8-) :-[ :-X :-*

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BMWGraeme

[quote author=Blackbonnie link=1358187608/16#16 date=1358320987]I can remember not being able to get to school in the big freeze back in the sixties! Now that was proper snow!

Ain't nostalgia a wonderful thing! ;) ;D ;D

BB

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1963 ;) :D ;D :o 8-) :-[ :-X :-*[/quote]

I think you forgot a few smiley's there. ;D ;D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BMWGraeme

For the 4 wheel drivers amongst us I would recommend going on a skid pan course. I did mine at Thruxton - a days course about £150. You start the day off by spinning the wheels everywhere and getting nowhere but by the end of the day you can control, brake and steer safely. I did mine years ago but still make use of what I learnt.

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For those amongst us I recommend going on a frying pan course, put on enough blubber and it doesn't matter if you fall over in the snow, it doesn't hurt. Also saves on heating the house so me being fat means less greenhouse gases. Ultimate eco warrior ;D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kevinb

[quote author=BMWGraeme link=1358187608/12#12 date=1358261590]For the 4 wheel drivers amongst us I would recommend going on a skid pan course. I did mine at Thruxton - a days course about £150. You start the day off by spinning the wheels everywhere and getting nowhere but by the end of the day you can control, brake and steer safely. I did mine years ago but still make use of what I learnt.

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For those amongst us I recommend going on a frying pan course, put on enough blubber and it doesn't matter if you fall over in the snow, it doesn't hurt. Also saves on heating the house so me being fat means less greenhouse gases. Ultimate eco warrior ;D [/quote]

Wouldn't do anything good for the NHS budget though ;D ;)