# "Snowmageddon" to hit British Isles - 2-4 inches expected! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 2, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648 "2015-02-02T23:23:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/1 "2015-02-02T23:23:14Z")
[It’s Snowmageddon time in the UK](http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/27/uk-weather-is-snowmaggedon-about-to-hit-the-british-isles-5037757/) is anarchy far behind? > [@](#): > > Parts of the UK are preparing for a ‘Snowmageddon’, with several inches of snow and frost expected across the country. > > Cold weather will sweep across the country throughout Wednesday, with temperatures expected to plunge by as much as 10C to below zero by Thursday morning. > [@](#): > > A blanket of snow will cover the north of England, with up to 4ins expected at lower levels and over 4ins expected in high ground in Scotland and Northern Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/2 "2015-02-03T00:03:57Z")
Is a British inch the same as an American inch? ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/3 "2015-02-03T00:11:59Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Is a British inch the same as an American inch? No. We revolted against that sometime in the mid-1700’s. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/4 "2015-02-03T00:23:54Z")
An Imperial inch is 4.5 cm, while a US Customary inch is 3.8 cm. Or is that gallons and litres? ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/5 "2015-02-03T00:43:00Z")
4" a -mageddon? Pshaw, I say. Pip pip cheerio, and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/6 "2015-02-03T01:07:02Z")
The Blitz was just one of those things you dealt with but a little snow has you all in a panic. Ya’ll gotten soft in your old age? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/7 "2015-02-03T01:10:38Z")
my snow-tire-shod 4x4 Ranger laughs at a foot of snow. Nevermind 2-4 inches. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/8 "2015-02-03T02:47:04Z")
Its up North. People up there are just wannabe jocks. If it ain’t the sarf east it don’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/9 "2015-02-03T02:55:58Z")
Meh, 4" is a flurry, here’s what we have in New England (Maine) [this was the day after the Feb. 2013 storm](http://i1319.photobucket.com/albums/t663/Kadargo/ee5817e6cc55cb18f3496357915e9995_zpsd289a6b9.jpg) [this was this morning](http://i1319.photobucket.com/albums/t663/Kadargo/14f46d78e666b3db6aab46973fd2581b_zpsd9f2bc23.jpg) [a view out the sunroom](http://i1319.photobucket.com/albums/t663/Kadargo/d2d93e7e91df96a72d82bd5499230349_zps993f2587.jpg) That’s 3-4… FEET of snow, some drifts are topping 6+ feet Inches…Feh… ---
**Author:** ![fierra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58956e/32.png) [@fierra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fierra)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/10 "2015-02-03T03:33:58Z")
But in England, the whole country grinds to a halt if a single snowflake drifts down anywhere south of Derbyshire… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/11 "2015-02-03T03:39:06Z")
What the fuck is wrong with those people? [QUOTE=[Deaths from cold 'to hit 2,500' | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-204541/Deaths-cold-hit-2-500.html)] More than 2,500 people in England and Wales are likely to perish from cold in the week leading up to Christmas, experts said today. The forecast from the Faculty of Public Health and Met Office comes amid renewed concern over the plight of the poor and vulnerable during cold snaps. Each winter, a larger proportion of Britons die because of unseasonable cold weather than in either Finland or Russia. … Professor Sian Griffiths, president of the Faculty of Public Health, which sets and maintains professional standards in public health, said: "A high proportion of preventable illness and deaths in the UK is caused by people living in damp and cold housing. "If we see much more of the cold weather of recent days, it is likely that as many as 50,000 people will die unnecessarily over this winter. This is a tragedy in terms of human life and also creates a huge - and preventable - strain on the NHS. “The UK remains one of the worst countries in the world at coping with unseasonable low temperatures. Although the Government has shown commitment to tacking the problem, it has not given sufficient priority to such an important public health issue and its approach remains far too uncoordinated.” [/quote] In the US, totaling the cold fatalities in both 2012 and 2013, [only 36 people died.](http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats/resources/weather_fatalities.pdf) Eighteen a year, not 30,000. > [@http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/02/uk-weather-get-ready-for-the-beast-from-the-east-as-temperatures-set-to-drop-to-15c-5046820/](#): > > UK Weather: Get ready for the ‘Beast from the East’ as temperatures set to drop to -15C That’s a measly +5F–I don’t even button my coat for five lousy degrees! That article got me researching this because when I saw “Hospitals are expected to be flooded with people suffering from the cold, and the Office for National Statistics has predicted 3,000 deaths due to the cold in this week alone,” I thought it was a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/12 "2015-02-03T03:56:13Z")
They aren’t prepared for it, and people don’t heat their damn houses. I visited my college roomie in Kent one year before Thanksgiving, and I could literally see my breath in their kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/13 "2015-02-03T04:44:57Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > They aren’t prepared for it, and people don’t heat their damn houses. I visited my college roomie in Kent one year before Thanksgiving, and I could literally see my breath in their kitchen. Yeah, while I’m a bit of an Anglophile, it does seem that the UK is very narrowly adapted for temperature and weather extremes, and craps out if the weather doesn’t stay in those boundaries. I mean, the temps got into the lower 90s for about 2 weeks the summer I spent there, and you’d have thought the place was on the surface of the sun by the way people were acting. Then, in 2010, they got a moderate to small amount of snow, and Heathrow completely shut down. This is in weather that O’Hare or Logan or Minneapolis would likely have powered through without cancelling many flights, yet Heathrow was entirely off-line for like a week for 4" of snow. And this is at an airport that if it’s not the most traveled airport in the world, it’s in the top 2-3. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/14 "2015-02-03T10:27:25Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > They aren’t prepared for it, and people don’t heat their damn houses. I visited my college roomie in Kent one year before Thanksgiving, and I could literally see my breath in their kitchen. What you have to grasp about the UK is that we are pretty much unique amongst major first world nations in not being at risk from major weather event or natural disasters. It so rarely happens that the slightest uptick or downturn in temperature norms causes problems that, for other countries at more risk, would be unthinkable. We don’t air-condition our homes because there is no real need outside of the very hottest months of the very hottest years. Similarly our winter preparation is not so good because snow is rare enough (and minor enough) in most places to make it not worth while in keeping major infrastructure in place for snow clearing etc. For example, in my \>25 years of adult life in the UK I have had to shovel my pathways of snow exactly 3 times. (that’s three times total not three winters) and I have lived in both the North-east and South-east during that time. I have had snow tyres for my car only for the last 4 years and that is only because it is a legal requirement when I drive through Germany and Austria in winter. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/15 "2015-02-03T10:51:10Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > What the fuck is wrong with those people? They’re poor, elderly, maybe living rough, mentally or physically ill-equipped or otherwise vulnerable. It’s likely not so much what’s wrong with them, as what’s wrong with whatever the systems are that should be caring for them. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/16 "2015-02-03T12:10:52Z")
I’ve just watched the BBC weather. Apparently, it’s only the south of England that’s going to be affected. We in Scotland, even on the East coast, are going to benefit from air warmed by the Atlantic. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/17 "2015-02-03T12:15:24Z")
South London had about 2mm, with drifts of up to 5mm in mountainous areas 50cm or more above sea-level. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/18 "2015-02-03T12:19:04Z")
Snowpocalypse! Snowvalanche! Snownado! Snownami! Save yourselves! Run! Run for your very lives! ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/19 "2015-02-03T12:20:37Z")
I am just going outside and may be some time. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648/20 "2015-02-03T12:23:23Z")
Something else to point out. In the mornings, the temperature is hovering around zero. That makes for treacherous conditions, because some places will be icy and others will not and there will be random transitions. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snowmageddon-to-hit-british-isles-2-4-inches-expected/711648.md?page=2)