To ask if you've made any plans ahead of the Storm tonight?

We have been snowed in all week. We got a bit of a break yesterday but it came back last night. Shops are pretty bare but I got a decent shop today to restock from the last week. Car got stuck when I got back home and needed to be dug out and pushed. It’s been horrendous. Never seen it this bad. Schools have been shut all week too. I’m hoping we get missed this time but it seems like another week of being stuck and cut off from civilisation

Wow. Some needlessly patronising posts on here 😳 when OP and others are just discussing perfectly sensible idea ahead of what’s predicted for some to be a pretty serious storm. It’s not supposed to hit us too badly (E Mids) but I’m intelligent enough to know other may not be so lucky and be stuck indoors a few days and have energy supplies affected. So it makes sense to get ready for this. Looking after animals, vulnerable relatives and neighbours.

Honestly - those posters feeling y ye need to be condescending … what exactly do you expect your comment to do? Or is it just to be a bit twatty?

The storm forecast is for high wind and rain, not snow.

It's a fab marketing technique, and most people 'obey'

2 cm of snow and our entire train network collapses. It's embarrassing.

We're only due rain now but i did get a few bits in a couple of days ago when they weren't as certain where the snow would hit.

What a daft post. There are likely to be 90mph wind gusts one some areas and significant rain or snow in others.

Well that might be true to an extent but certainly not on gritting, pretty much all bus routes would be done, now it's major roads only.

Many poorly people have carers in now a days, they wont risk driving if there is snow etc and then there is power for med equipment...

On the media, they are reporting what the Met Office and others tell them, it would be a bit odd of the media if they decided "oh those idiots in Exeter (met office hq) are scaremongering again, we wont report that..."

Nothing where I am other than rain and cold but that's pretty standard for Jan! Not all areas are affected.

Rural Aberdeenshire - We had four feet of snow over the weekend and more every day since. No high winds though so we have power and other than still no bread and milk, other supplies running out in the shops and no postal service most are managing. The farmers used the council tractor ploughs so the roads are mostly OK today. We haven’t needed to shop as we have emergency food to last up to a month.

With Storm Arwen in 2021 we were completely unprepared. The county was devastated and we were without power for eleven days and sometimes I feel like I still haven’t got over the effect that had on our lives. It was Early December and the cold was absolutely brutal. We now have a petrol generator and home battery packs that will run the freezer and heating system.

It seems the storm tonight will miss us but I think for those it will hit, why not be as prepared as you can? Its not cool to belittle or dismiss someone for paying attention and very sensibly having a few supplies in and altering a few arrangements just in case.

The people being dismissive on here are probably the same Muppets on Facebook who are currently expecting supermarkets to provide emergency assistance.

I am in Aberdeenshire and we have had more snow than anyone can remember in decades. Drifts in places are waist deep. People in rural areas and even the edge of some towns/villages haven't been able to get out for supplies for a week and it may be days more yet for some.

Many are panicking that they are running out of food. That is poor planning. We were all warned (as you are all being now). But so many people think the council/government should solve everything for them! The level of entitlement is appalling.

Yes I am well aware that some people are living hand to mouth. But if you choose to live in the countryside and/or can't walk to a shop in the event of roads being cut off then you should be adding an extra tin or packet of pasta/rice to your shop each week to store in case of emergency in winter!

We have had storms up here that have wiped out power for over a week. In rural Scotland no power also often means no water and it definitely means no heating. Those same storms have taken down so many trees that whole communities are cut off for days.

It is a red weather warning. There is a huge difference between panicking and making sensible preparations to be stuck/without power for upto a week.

The Great Toilet Roll Shortage of 2020 was nothing to do with the weather.

Who is assuming neck deep? Driving becomes unpleasant and deliveries a bit irregular if it’s enough to make roads a bit slippy - so a couple of inches can do it. Lots of places forecast more than that.
Why the exaggeration?

Nobody is whipping anyone into a frenzy! Why do some people think any report of anything is trying to cause panic? It’s weird.
They are reporting the weather, pretty much exactly as they have always done. Some of the terminology has changed as forecasting has developed. I’m 61 so have the same perspective as you but don’t recognise your reaction to it - or your assessment of what happens being much different from how it’s always been.

I have GMB on whilst I get ready for work but I dont have time to sit and watch it. Then phone app and Alexa give me updates when their are alerts.

Where are you that you are anticipating being neck deep in snow??

I assume @Netcurtainnelly lives up some steep twisty rural track in the arse end of nowhere, prone to deep snow drifts and off the usual gritting route.

I live 5 minutes from a Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons and M&S, and 10 minutes from a Waitrose (though the road up to their carpark IS steep). Even if someone has to walk there if we can't get to the main road, we'll be fine.

No idea why 'snow' has to be all in caps. Does snow usually cause you to shout OP?

And Penarth is just outside the warning area. It’s likely to be windy though. I live there. An excess of caution maybe. We were in the warning area for a while.

Tbh I'm sick of all these weather warnings. It's just winter FGS. Have we forgotten how to deal with the seasons in this country? The media are just whipping everyone up into a frenzy. I've lived on this planet for over 60 years. Been driving since I was 17. Prior to Social media we just dealt with whatever was thrown at us. If we were at work and it started snowing, then the boss would make the decision to let people go early, usually based on how far they had to travel. School buses just used to get recalled early if necessary. Now we cancel everything in anticipation of how bad it might be.
Nobody seems to be able to manage themselves anymore. People whinging on SM because every single bit of tarmac (roads and pavements) haven't been gritted by the Council. It's got nothing to do with Council cutbacks or wasting our Council tax. Minor roads and pavements have never been gritted in my lifetime. You put on sturdy walking boots, carried a shovel and a mat in your car in case you got stuck and cracked on with life.

Not really. The news is depressing and they are always wrong about the weather so no point

Did a big shop yesterday but the shelves were pretty empty, very little fresh veg after a week of black ice. DH hauled a load of logs in from the woodshed and now has the woodburner going, he's also charged all the torches, lanterns and battery packs. I've made a nice chicken stew and baked a loaf so we can munch away over the evening in front of the fire. Haven't really dented the stupid amount of wine I got in for Christmas so will get a bottle or two out for tonight as we will both be working from home tomorrow.

Really looking forward to a nice romantic evening.

Exactly. There are threads about what colour shoes to wear with a dress, there was one the other day where a poster was panicking because she was going away for the weekend and missing her usual hair wash day… I don’t think posting about a massive storm that is going to affect quite a lot of the country is particularly ‘out there’!

Keeping my fingers crossed.
I’m currently at Birmingham airport with just a t shirt and fleece, waiting for a coach to Heathrow. Then flight tomorrow which hopefully won’t be delayed.

Probably just stop in the house if its pissing down & windy.

If i need to go somewhere i'll go in the car.

so far we've managed to miss the snow to the north of us and looks like we should miss the snow to the south of us too! Forecast is for sleet overnight and throughout tomorrow but no high winds. It's sheet ice outside today and probably the worse conditions we've had since this cold snap started as it was colder but drier earlier in the week.

But you can appreciate that some people on MN might be? And that it’s on the south coast so your dismissive ‘I’ve seen worse’ is a bit out of place?