Honestly, conditions early this morning in Surrey were very difficult - if you strayed from the ruts made by previous vehicles, you would get stuck unless you were in a proper off-road vehicle. And a lot of people did get stuck, which is what caused the chaos. It took me two and a half hours to drive 12 miles to work. Most of the time sitting there waiting for one blockage or another to be cleared. I couldn’t turn around because I was either on the motorway or had gone so far that getting home would have taken longer. I didn’t even venture into the company car park, because I could see that I wouldn’t be able to get back up its sloping entrance.
Sure - I didn’t mean to belittle the problems others were having in other parts of the country with genuinely severe conditions - it’s just that locally here, everyone was calling it severe weather when really, it was just a bit of a cold, snowy day.
<cough> Chinook <cough>
Shhh - we need those to stay sane. 
Ah the gnomes 
Well yesterday, Monday, they were covered in a blanket of snow but today the snow’s melted and the little bastards have once more resumed their 24 hour watch on my humble abode
The snow is a blessing for you–now they’ll leave tracks when they move…
I think it’s interesting that in England in the bad weather, from the video you would think that everybody is at a dead stop, and just trying to creep.
When you watch similar videos taking in America, taken in the deep south where it rarely snows, you see people crusing along at 50, and they only stop then they hit each other, or trees, or light posts, etc. It’s like bumper cars, with real cars.
I once had the surreal experience of being in Washington DC when–gasp!–an entire inch of snow fell. The two main reactions were to either ignore it or total paralysis. So some twits just sailed along at their usual speeds while others panicked and froze into inert metal lumps in the middle of the streets. Never seen so much skidding, sliding and crashing in my life. Bumper cars is exactly the right comparison.
Snow, even a few inches, can be a bitch without proper removal equipment but at least the slow-and-cautious types show common sense. No sudden moves–steering, braking or acceleration–slow and steady get it done.
I couldn’t get off the roads fast enough. Not because of the snow: hey, I was living near Cleveland at the time and a foot or so of lake effect snow was the norm. But the skid/slide/bash approach was pretty scary. I gratefully retreated to my hideously overpriced hotel’s excellent bar and just watched the chaos, comfortably warm and lubricated.
Have fun, you guys.
People in my newsroom have been quite reasonably pointing out that it doesn’t make much economic sense to keep snowplows etc. around for something that only happens once every few decades.
I wonder when, assuming this is the result of climate change, it will become economically reasonable to do so?
Either way, this blog post by a London Underground driver on Why London closes when there is snow is informative and interesting.
Last time it seriously snowed in Hampshire (UK, not US) about 5 years back, I was heading home from work in Fleet. I got off the M3, and worked my way towards home (A303/A34). I was a few miles from home, and turned to head up a hill to take a back way for the last bit. I could see lights about half-way up the hill, and realised that the cars there had lost traction, and were sliding backwards/sideways/anyways down the hill. I did a quick U-turn before they arrived, and spent another hour going a slower, safer but more congested way home through Winchester. I spent 3-ish hours taking a 45 minute journey.
I have to drive home from Reading tonight, and the M3 southbound is apparently crap. So I am looking for alternative routes (M4/A34 is probably the safest, but could be pretty slow).
Si
A couple of years ago I came across two girls that had stuck their Pontiac. They where on the road to my house.
Now this road is snow packed, and we did just get about 4” of snow. It’s also hard to turn around on. They had no business being on it. But they where from Iowa in a rental car.
They where about 3/4 mile from a well traveled 2 lane highway. And only one turn off the main road. And 100 yards from my house.
They called 911. 911 sent volunteer fire to look for them.
I pulled up in my Pathfinder. They where blocking the road to my house. I was dressed in a t-shirt, a fleece vest and jeans and running shoes. They asked if I was the fire department.
I said that I was not part of the fire department, but would be happy to pull them out, turn them around and send them on their way. It took maybe 5 minutes.
The one girl was so scared that they where going to die in the ‘wilderness’ that she threw up (she was not drunk).
It’s funny, I suspect their version of the story is that they where rescued from certain death. My version is a bit less glamorous.
[Nitpick for enipla]It’s “were”, not “where.” [/Nitpick]
Heh - in London drivers aren’t used to being able to hit 50 even in clear weather at 2am. 
I’m with you! Regular all-season tires are generally all that’s needed in the Omaha area as well.
I would normally be laughing, but much of my state (Kentucky - United States) was just crippled by 1/2-1" (1.27cm - 2.54cm) of freezing rain and the subsequent power, water, fallen branch, and transportation issues. I’ll attest to the fact that these things aren’t quite as humorous when you’re directly affected and your region doesn’t have the infrastructure to deal with it. Best wishes to anybody in England being burdoned by this storm - try to have fun with it and make the best of a slippery situation.
This winter here in Michigan has been long, suffering and pretty much just like any other winter of past.
So, I always chuckle when some yahoo in a Mustang cannot get any traction going up a moderate, paved hill.
/says the yob who got her ford tractor wedge in a drift of snow the other night whilst taking a handful of 8-9-10 year old girls out for a pull on the sled. The minute I got stuck, they left me there, hung me out to dry and I actually had to dig myself out of the fookin’ drift and still had to be pulled out by my bff.
Well this is turning into quite the cold snap over here.
Last night in my area there was forecast to be rain, or possibly snow and sleet turning quickly to rain.
About 11pm I noticed it was snowing and starting to settle again on the 2-3 inches that was still lying in shaded spots. Then, as forecast, it soon turned to frozen sleety pellets and finally slightly icy rain and rapidly started melting the lying snow. “That’s that,” then, I thought, and went to bed.
At 6am today my wife woke me up: “It’s snowed again” - yep, another 4 inches of the stuff had appeared overnight, really wet snow this time and with drizzle falling turning the roads to a slush fest.
And tonight and most of the day tomorrow we have a forecast for yet more snow, with up to 8 inches possible in the London suburbs!
I love snow, but it seems like the weather is making up for our run of mild winters by giving us all of our past decade’s worth of snow at once!
Nice and sunny here… [sub]and -15C.[/sub]