Been four hours stuck in snow in kent

[Stuckinsnowinkent]

We have been stuck in Chatham now for four hours. Got about 7 miles maybe? Think we will be stuck in the car overnight now.

It snowed about 3-4 inches in one hour.

Same here. No mention of snow until about an hour before. And then the app was saying that it was snowing heavily when it wasn’t.

I hope you made it to somewhere warm OP.

Also in The SE. The BBC app is not to be trusted! They always tend to downplay extremes of weather.

The met office app showed a warning for snow and ice in Kent since Friday; it was forecast.

My question is though, who is changing these tyres? I might be able to do it myself, but my 70 year old mum couldn’t. Also, what happens to the summer tyres? Do I have to keep them somewhere?

Hope you all got home ok last night.

My sister is in Kent and the snow was definitely forecast, we were doing snow watch since yesterday morning. You could tell from the temperature that if rain fell it would fall as snow, quite apart from the news reports.

The Met Office weather app is generally very accurate. I live in the area that was hit by snow last night and it was forecast!

I live on a mountain, happens every year... as we are on a mountain cars slide too.

Reason everything stops is people will have abandoned ship for safety (either from being stuck, from risk of beeing hit by other sliding cars or by needing to seak real shelter) which will then block any other cars.

Advice for anyone in future in this situation:

If your too far from home/friends/family then google hotels (if they try to price gauge due to situation you can book it and sue later as that illegal), do NOT sleep in your car... freezing and gassing often happen from people trying to sleep in snowed in cars, it can easily be fatal.

To answer your last question, really fucking difficult. It's a massive global system where a change half way round the world can affect the weather at home. Getting the weather right over a small local area is tremendously difficult, especially with weather conditions out of the norm

The garage does it for those who can't do it themselves. You do get all-weather tyres that are much better than ordinary British tyres.
You store your winter tyres in the garage or an outhouse. Most apartments have at least a small storage unit of some kind.

That’s the problem. No one is going to pay for the one day of snow we get. Also, I don’t know anyone with a garage or outhouse to store tyres in.

@PriamFarrl I agree it is not worth it financially in Britain. But most people have sheds or space even if all they have is a tiny backyard. It is people in flats where it is an issue. But houses always have somewhere you could put a storage container of some kind.
But it is for financial reasons we don't spend money on snow preparation. In countries with lots of snow it makes sense to spend for snow.

Winter tyres start to benefit whenever temperatures drop below 7C, so they are not just better for snow, but for the cold weather in general.

They really do work much much better in cold conditions.

Ooh you are awful...but I like you 😂

Some tyre dealers will store your summer tyres, if you buy your winter tyres from them. Tyres are not heavy so you could put them in the boot and take them home. A wheel with a tyre on it can be very heavy if it is a large, wide size

I live in the South where cold weather is quite rare. I actually have a spare set of wheels (they are not expensive from scrapyards) in the garage. Most practical people can change a wheel at home, but you'd have to pay a fitter to get tyres swapped.

The ones in the garage last surprisingly well as they are kept in the dark and not exposed to sunlight.

Summer tyres are made of a rubber that goes very hard in the cold, and Winter tyres go very soft when warm.

"All Season" tyres are now available and may be suitable, depending where you live, but they are not as good as Winter tyres in snow, nor as good as Summer tyres in warm weather.

I understand you are not allowed on Alpine roads in winter unless you have proper snow tyres marked with a snowflake. I haven't used chains or socks.

But houses always have somewhere you could put a storage container of some kind.

Not always. I do now but my last house was a terrace. I had just enough space outside to store the bins.

Me too. Have an emergency stash of travel John/Jane still in the car from Covid.

@PriamFarrl Okay maybe not always. But every terraced house I have lived in has had at least a yard with a bit if space. Tyres/wheels do not take up much space. But its not really relevant anyway for Britain.

Eastereggs1 · Today 07:53

Grit doesn’t work in heavy snow or if it’s colder than -4c

Its - 10°, which is why the use salt in the UK, but not places like Scandinavia and Northern North America.

www.rochdale.gov.uk/gritting-salt-winter-services/salt-myths-facts#:~:text=Myth%3A%20salting%20a%20road%20prevents%20the%20formation%20of%20ice&text=The%20higher%20the%20concentration%20of,falls%20below%20minus%2010%20degrees.

When spread on top of ice or snow, each grain will begin to melt the surrounding ice working its way outwards. As it melts the ice, it forms a pool of salty water, which in turn helps to melt the surrounding ice and so on. Without any traffic to move the salt and salty water around and mix it into the thawing ice, the melting process can take some considerable time.

Apologies for the hefty URL!

winter tyres wouldn't have stopped this. You don't have the predictability/seasonality that lets somewhere like Finland schedule your winter tyre changeover (and even there it catches them out sometimes). And in a lot of the country they wouldn't be needed or would wear out prematurely in mild weather.

Honestly the best mitigation is to be on your toes for warnings of cold snaps/snow and be prepared not to travel unless absolutely necessary. And that 'absolutely' needs more emphasis. You're not bulletproof in a 4x4 as it'll likely have thin profile, wide summer tyres and be less good than a 2wd with better tyres.

The only winning move is not to play, to quote the great philosopher Joshua from the 80s

We were meant to go to in laws in Kent (maidstone) for early xmas yesterday but it was cancelled due to illness, thank goodness. We would definitely have got stuck. Definitely prepping the car next time we go anywhere.

OP can you update? Did you get back safely and how did you get on?

Because we are right on the edge of a temperate zone, usually have moderate winters with just a couple of days of snow, long standing ice every few years. Our snow doesn't land and stay. It lands, defrosts, freezes, rinse and repeats intermittently.

We don't have the kind of weather where winter tyres would make sense - mostly.

Same reason our airports get closed, trains etc etc. Not because we can't clear the snow. But because, unlike less temperate countries, that snow doesn't fall and remain. It defrosts, refreezes turns to ice.

Every time we get snow like this we get the same "Oooh look Iceland manages, why can't the UK" comments. The answer remains the same: investment in infrastructure is different in different climates!

This time we need to be asking councils what happened as so many roads and pavements were not gritted. Round here the M50 and roads leading to it seem to have been missed. Salt bins remain empty or locked. Lots of questions being raised.

@MrKlaw I agree. I find it strange how many British people seem to think 4x4 are better in icy weather. It is a triumph of marketing over reality. The issue is tyres. And a lower centre of gravity can make small cars far safer than a 4x4.

@SamphiretheTervosaurReturneth In Iceland they close roads for weeks and have crews rebuilding roads after every winter.

We were fairly newly married and had moved to Kent as we could not afford anywhere in London (both still worked in London).

We lived in Rainham and could not get out of our road. I phoned my boss and he just didn't believe me as there was no snow in London.

No one ever seems to believe me when I mention Sheppey being cut off and having to have supplies airlifted