Freezing weather on the way

[al78]

Remember this period well. Pretty sure we had 2-3 periods of heavy snowfall even in Greater London. One in early December, one exactly a week before Christmas on the Saturday morning. On both occasions it hung around for a good week or so. And pretty sure we had bit in late January too. There were all kinds of talk in the press about this becoming the new normal but it was little more than scaremongering.

I see its predicted to go up to 13c early next week. That's a hell of a swing temperature wise.

Arctic to tropical maritime airmass in one day. Freezing rain in parts of northern England as the mild air and rain falls onto frozen ground.

Out of interest, are they road legal in the UK ? I know it is normally stated that studded tyres are illegal, but that might be in motor vehicle regulations.

I think they are for motor vehicles but not for bicycles which weigh two orders of magnitude less than cars so do not damage the road surface.

These are the tyres I have which are excellent for the typical light snow that gets compacted into ice the lowland regions of the UK typically experience during a cold snap. They are less good in heavy snow (e.g. December 2010) as the snow sticks to the tyre covering the tread and studs so the bike ends up squirming around.

 

[birchesgreen]

It started snowing about 9:30 here but by 10 it became rain, and it hasn't really stopped since!

 

[al78]

Remember this period well. Pretty sure we had 2-3 periods of heavy snowfall even in Greater London. One in early December, one exactly a week before Christmas on the Saturday morning. On both occasions it hung around for a good week or so. And pretty sure we had bit in late January too. There were all kinds of talk in the press about this becoming the new normal but it was little more than scaremongering.

I see its predicted to go up to 13c early next week. That's a hell of a swing temperature wise.

Yes I remember here in Horsham the first snow arrived at the end of November and largely hung around for a week before another dumping of snow. This was followed by a thaw and rain which quickly melted the snow, before more freezing conditions arrived in the run up to Christmas.

I don't remember the press-sensationalism but I recall the cluster of cold winters around that time resulted in some questioning anthropogenic climate change, when all it was was a temporary switch of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation into a negative phase. This has happened many times in the past (e.g the 1960's), the positive phase is associated with mild, wet, stormy winters (e.g. the 1990's).

Climate Prediction Center - NAO: Plotted Historical Time Series

www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov

 

[Bikeman78]

This is hilarious. One inch of snow and the SE grinds to a halt; cars are abandoned, people are 'snowed in', it's described as 'treacherous'. . . You can tell what their winters are usually like!

I cycled to work in March 2018 when the beast from the east dumped several inches. It took twice as long as normal but I got there. Many hundreds of people were walking along Newport Road. I think the problem is that far fewer people live within walking or cycling distance of work compared with 30 years ago. There is no way I would have contemplated driving in March 2018. A few people tried and it didn't end well. Several stuck in drifts whilst others slipped to a stand on uphill gradients.