Snow Chaos

Hi

Well the first of the winter snow is forecast.

Can anyone explain why a smattering of snow here in the UK leads to travel chaos and school closures whilst the rest of Europe copes with far greater amounts of snow without the chaos we have here?

Re: Snow Chaos

I've always wondered this too . When you look how other countries cope. But I did hear that it's to do with the sort of snow we get here , it seems ours is a different type of snow . I'm sure someone will explain ......

Or maybe I dreamt it !

Re: Snow Chaos

It is because we don't know if we are going to get snow or not, and if we do how much. Scandinavian countries etc know they are going to get snow every year so they can equip themselves better.

It is all to do with where we are in the world (49th parallel), right on the edge of the cold area in winter and the hot area in summer which is why our weather is so unpredictable. Also the gulf air stream does not go the same route every time that can affect or climate as well.

Re: Snow Chaos

Because in the modern PC world it takes but the slightest excuse to stop people doing anything and this is seized upon by anyone at first opportunity

Re: Snow Chaos

It always makes me smile that the first bit of snow we have how much chaos it causes.

Buses stop working or they take them off early, boilers in schools break down, as you say it happens each year so why are we not able to cope by now.

Re: Snow Chaos

They don't make hardy folk like we were these days. We just got on with what needed to be done.

Re: Snow Chaos

Kids can't even play snowballs or make snow'people' lol

Re: Snow Chaos

That's right, Alien, we'll probably have 'health & safety' saying snowballs are dangerous soon, like they did with playing conkers.

Re: Snow Chaos

It does seem ridiculous that everything grinds to a halt at the first flake of snow.

Having grown up in the peak district where snow was the norm every winter I can't remember the world around me stopping . We children still walked to school, snow or not it never closed.

I think one reason things kept going better then was most people worked locally and few had cars, it was legs and public transport.

I can remember gangs of council workers who built houses in the good weather teaming up with the quarrymen to keep the main roads open and the buses running with the help of shovels.

There were also grit bunkers strategically placed along small as well as main roads and all the local folk in the villages pitched in to keep the village roads passable.

Most people shopped locally/daily/on foot so were able to keep supplied with food and the milk still arrived by horse and cart

Re: Snow Chaos

Omg how dare you mention conkers or other pastimes from our barbaric past, I remember the days of my childhood , children dying in their hundreds if not thousands in the playground as they didn't have the protection of hi viz jackets, the casualty ward full of kids suffering from conker shrapnel still haunts my dreams today... I remember kids had a skipping rope too so who knows how many children died partaking in this dangerous sport .. Like the big killer 'hopscotch' it involved jumping ( an activity were both feet leave the earths surface) ... I remember receiving my medal for surviving school and still wear it with pride