Just back from Germany visiting my son -we met him at his work place (a research institute up a mountain) in driving snow. It had been like that for about six hours. Bus was prepared (winter tyres and when really icy it takes them about 20 minutes before they've all been fitted with snow chains) It managed easily enough until a snow flurry blocked the road. We were 3rd in line and resigned to a long wait. It was about 7 minutes in total before a snow plough arrived. Got back easily enough as Ryanair monopolises the flights to Stuttgart and we fly from Manchester. Snow what snow?
It’s like that in the States (or at least where I go, which is used to hard winters) unless it’s a polar vortex blizzard. Streets are being cleared as the snow is falling. Everybody is expected to clear their own drive. Mind you the flights are buggered endlessly. And the driving is appalling. Due to a cancelled flight from Chicago to Indianapolis I foolishly rented a car to drive through a snowstorm a few years ago. Usually 3-4 hour drive, this took six, but not too bad in a rented saloon, no heavy braking or sharp steering, nice and slow. Every 200 yards I drove past a big 4x4 which had slid off the road into a drift, precisely because the drivers felt invulnerable with their winter tyres and all wheel drive. Worst snow experience was on an alpine pass near Chatel trying to get to Geneva airport. I was putting the chains on the rental car in a stationary queue of traffic when a twat in a BMW trying to sneak past slid into the back of us in slow motion. He was very apologetic, especially as the locals were about to lynch him, but it took months to sort it with the rental company. After a couple of days it gets irritating here, but still no economic sense in having fleets of snow ploughs etc on stand by for such a rare event.
We had a couple of hours of wet snow yesterday but didn't settle as it had poured with rain for the previous 12 hours or so........ Drove into Waterford this morning and the Comeragh mountains in the distance were a picture, no snow in the City this morning, but bloody cold with a Northerly wind blowing.....
If you're looking at the tv of the explosion in NY this morning notice that after 4 to 6 inches of snow on Saturday not a bit in sight on the streets.
Yes and No. You and I probably don't need a fully responsive public service so to us it is simply an irritant but have little doubt that the Germans aren't the only nation on earth that doesn't get caught out by the occasional blizzard or rainstorm. They multi task, put their vehicles to many uses and build them to be reliable in extremes. They have also managed to strike a balance between national prosperity and having facilities/services available when needed. Government thinking over here for years (and that includes the last Labour governments) has been skewed in favour of the former at the expense of the latter. What do you do in Chicago? I had an uncle there until he died a few years ago and went over when my son was 2 to visit It was a couple of years after their only Superbowl success in the days when all they had to do was block the other side ever scoring and then give 'The Fridge' the chance to smash and ram his way though the defensive line from about 3 yards out.
I go to Indianapolis for work seven or eight times a year and when I can I tack on a couple of days in Chicago for fun. Next out in January, hoping to get to a Blackhawks ice hockey game. Though they are pretty average this season.
Was -9C on the Costa del Clyde last night, but no snow, except on the mountains over the water. Roads a bit hellish this morning, more down to the low sun than anything else, and the inability of my screenwash to defrost after nearly two hours of driving, need to invest in some -10C stuff.
You mean in NYC, the snow lies deep and crisp and even on a frozen December day...in autumn? When does winter begin with you?!
21st I think its the same for everyone in the North. Should get back above the freezing mark on Sunday.
By the meteorological calender, winter starts on 1st December. The astronomical winter begins on 21st December. Increasingly, the UK goes by the former, probably because as I say, a snowy winter's day in December doesn't seem very autumnal. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/886704/winter-start-date-when-is-solstice-2017-December
Had a passenger in at Heathrow yesterday morning from JFK and he had a three hour delay partially caused by being blocked in by other delayed flights causing his plane to be de-iced twice. Not a happy bunny...
5 centimetres of snow and complete collapse again. One jack knifed lorry results in a seven hour delay on the A14.
Nearly 6 feet of snow in Erie PA over 2 days and life goes on. Temperatures here in NY not expected to get above 32F a least for a week, life goes on. France is warm and sunny, best place in the world.
