To think there is a complete over reaction to a bit of snow?

[MycatsaPirate]

Firstly I'm on the south coast of England but I lived in Scotland for 23 years where they get proper snow. It wasn't unusual to have months of icy pavements and roads and it was regularly below zero.

The amount of snow that has fallen in England (particularly the south) is pitiful and the BBC have devoted their entire morning to it. Reporting live from Canterbury is some poor reporter who has to pan the camera round to the grass where it looks like they may have had a heavy frost.

I have already seen two threads about ice and snow and how they can't possibly leave the house today.

Every single time there is snow in England, the whole place seems to grind to a halt. It's actually embarrassing.

1cm of snow is not dramatic, nor will it stop you going about your daily life. Just wrap up warm and leave earlier than usual.

Scotland, I apologise for the BBC this morning. You must all have been cringing into your cornflakes.

I think it depends where you live - I grew up in rural Scotland and people were prepared for snow and power cuts. I now live in Edinburgh and some people are pathetic about snow - because it doesn't generally snow enough to lie here. When I was growing up our primary tended to close if there were blizzards (because there came a point where they wouldn't be able to get the children home) or the heating broke down. When we last had sustained snow in Edinburgh the schools were closing because the teachers couldn't get in.

We have friends in Kent and their local council was totally caught on the hop last time there was bad snow, because it was such a rare occurrence that they just didn't have the ploughs, salt etc to cope with it. It would be hard to justify spending limited council money on preparing for snow if it is rarely a problem.

When I lived in Glasgow I just got pissed off that they never gritted the pavements, consequently I couldn't get the buggy out. I don't know what I'd have done if I'd had an older DC to get to school. Doing the shopping was impossible.

Every single time there is snow in England, the whole place seems to grind to a halt

I wouldn't exactly agree with this, I would however agree with "in the south of England"

We laugh every year here in Yorkshire about the major news when London gets sleet. It's really very irritating that the north of the UK that gets heavy snowfalls regularly but barely get a 2 minute news slot.

I agree there seems to be a lot of hype about a tiny bit of snow. We are in the Midlands and have a smidgen. Last year we had one day with a tiny bit of snow and the year before there was one day of snow, but we missed it because we went away that weekend.

But perhaps it's not fair to compare the south of England to other countries that get more snow. If you have snow for several months every winter, you'll be geared up for it. It causes a lot of disruption here because we don't have the infrastructure to cope with it. There's not much point investing a huge amount in stuff like snowploughs and snow chains when you might get a couple of days of snow every winter, and deep snow only once every few years.

I lived in countries with proper snow. I laughed this morning at the reporter on BBC breakfast. Poor sod

We've had a few inches of snow here in SE but it is mainly ice and people are getting about more slowly as a precaution. In Scotland, Canada etc money is spent on snow equipment amd the infrastructure is set up for snow. The last time it snowed here was 4 years ago so its not worth spending millions for it. People aren't used to snow here so it does cause a certain amount of disruption to the daily routine.

I agree with an earlier poster that high street shoes aren't fit for iced-up pavements. It's something that really annoys me.

I doubt that London and the South grinds to a halt anymore than the North or England. It's just that a large proportion of journalist live there so it gets on the news. They're generally less interested in anything that is happening in the rest of the country.

Countries with "proper snow" have invested in equipment to deal with it. It's not worth the cost in the UK.

YANBU

I'm another who grew up in the highlands and baffled by the reaction to light snow in much of the UK, especially in the South of England where one or two flakes seems to cause widespread panic.

It's not hard to cope with and driving conditions needn't be "treacherous" if you drive at an appropriate speed and leave enough time (winter tyres can help, but accept may not be viable/practical if you don't live somewhere with particularly cold or snowy winters). Councils could do better with gritting etc, but if it's a light dusting this shouldn't be needed.

Agree with a PP who said UK generally is not well set up for heavier snow, unlike Canada etc who are very used to heavy snow fall. I can excuse problems with very heavy snow, as it's not something widely experienced in much of the country, but really we ought to be able to cope with a few inches without the pallava and dramatics we get at the moment. It's ridiculous. And a bit embarrassing.

Agree Mary, the last we ground to a halt was years ago. Since then we are disappointed about the lack of snow

Just because the news is saying those things, it doesn't mean the people living in the south east actually think that way. Most people just carry on with their lives believe it or not

The infrastructure in Scotland isn't set up for snow either though - i don't know where this idea comes from. Scotland is as woefully underprepared as England. There are a few local schools closed this morning - i really don't know why as looking out my window right now there is not a single snowflake to be seen. Suggesting Scotland gets snow comparable to Canada or is as prepared is just ridiculously untrue.

I've passed numerous cars off the road this morning - people driving badly for the conditions - not seen a single gritter, and have had conversations including nothing but "snow" when there is currently none to be seen.

And i'm in the North of Scotland.

As a side note, to those that complain about lack of gritting when it does actually snow - it's a waste of time. Grit won't help on actual snow - only on ice.

Murder snow .

Didn't notice anyone panicking on the way to school this morning. I'm in S Kent and we have anything from a sprinkling (us) up to 3-4cm (school) and everyone was just normal really. Slow, but normal. Nobody moaned or didn't make it in.

IME the general public do just get on, us southerners get a bad press when we're all just carrying on as normal. it's the media who overdo it. Nobody would think twice about getting on with their day if the BBC et al didn't hype everything up into something it's clearly not.

Genuine question why don't drivers here have snow chains? It's not like the white stuff is a rarity and only happens once every 70 years

Because they are expensive and wouldn't be needing for virtually all of the year. The last time we had any snow worth mentioning it was in 2009. The car I had then is completely different to the one we have now-they probably wouldn't even fit!

I think it's because people in the media are so excited about a tiny bit of SNOW LOOK WE CAN BUILD A SNOWMAN HAVE A SNOWBALL FIGHT but they're well aware that as serious journalists they can't show any form of enjoyment in anything so have to go completely the other way and pretend that it's an utter disaster and the country has ground to a halt.

Whereas actually, most people are either getting on with it or skiving off work to build an igloo.

You know though, my friend lives in Dubai and told me that most of the streets don't have drains, so the news reacts similarly whenever there is rain there as they don't have the means to deal with such adverse weather.

It's the media that make it out to be so 'awful'. We live in South East London and had a few centimetres of the stuff. However it is also very icy when it snows at night and while I have years of experiences of driving in snow it is better not to drive in it if you can, which I chose to do as I'm 6 months pregnant. The less snow there is can sometimes mean it is more dangerous with falling temperatures as it turns to ice....like it has this morning.

On the flip side of this post....there's always those who know 'real' snow who criticise the rest of the country. At the end of the day it happens and makes a difference to safety whether it's 3 feet or 3 cm, so try not to be so narrow minded eh?

I promise you us southerners in most part just get on with it and enjoy the prettiness while it lasts.

I'm in the peak district. I set off this morning at 6am... at 9am I parked my car up in a layby and walked home because there's 4 inches of snow all across the roads and nothing has been gritted.

The snow itself isnt that bad, it's the fact it rained, froze and then snowed on top so there's a layer of ice on the tarmac under the snow which makes going up any kind of an incline really really tricky.

I'm off to pick my car up later today when it's thawed out a bit.

Im north essex. It's snowing but barely and certainly not enough to fuck anything up.

don't even get me started on this subject!! all I have heard people rambling on about is oh it snowed last night.. snow snow snow, ffs it was sleet (well where I live anyway) and it lasted less than an hour the weather reporter make out like the whole country is going to be snowed in for days!! I cannot understand why people can't just get on with it when it does snow which is once in a blue moon, the last significant snow where I live was in 2009/2010, when it was proper snow it was deep and lasted for ages, and even then there were people stupid enough to try and drive in it only to have the car just slide and then be abandoned in the middle of the road!! anyway back to my original point it doesn't snow where I am so don't ever believe the weather

We could be out sledging or building a snowman but no the school had to open so she is there instead.

In SE Scotland it there was snow on the ground this morning but not much and all starting to melt pretty quickly. (Kids were guted there wasnt more)

I remember when we regularly had proper snow in the winter and schools were closed then but now they have a 'plan' and teachers just go to their nearest school for the days there is 'proper' snow and kids have to go in to their school if its safe for them to do so. Feel sorry for them

An inch of snow isnt a crisis, its really embarassing to see it on the news when other countries get so much more and just get on with it. Course there are people who have no idea how to drive in bad weather and carry on as normal, no consideration for ice, stopping distances, visibility etc they are the people who cause chaos on the roads.

I live in Scotland and I hate snow. Mainly because we have a long steep drive which is a pain to clear, but if we don't clear it it is impossible to get up it. Especially for dh's hopeless BMW, a car which seems to have been expressly designed to be crap in snow.
Much of the road chaos here is caused by a few people who refuse to be sensible. I drove from west of Glasgow back to Edinburgh in heavy snow on Wednesday night. It was snowing for about 25 miles of the journey, lying on the motorway for about 10 miles. 95% of more of the traffic sat in the left hand lane at a steady 50 to 55 mph, well spaced out. In the 10 mile stretch where the right hand lane was completely covered in snow two vehicles overtook me. One was a lorry which had been tailgating me very close for a couple of miles, the other was a car doing probably around 70 mph. If I had had to brake while the lorry was right behind me he would have hit me, there is no way He could have stopped. After he passed me he pulled back in a couple of cars further forward, then pulled out right in front of the car that overtook me, the only car in that lane for that part of the journey. I really thought the car would hit him, the driver must have had to change his underwear. My point is that the motorway was reasonably busy but the vast majority of drivers' behaviour was minimising the risk to themselves and everyone else, a couple of people chose to behave in a way that made it dangerous for everyone. It's better if people who don't have a clue about how to manage snow stay at home.

I'm another who grew up in the highlands and baffled by the reaction to light snow in much of the UK, especially in the South of England where one or two flakes seems to cause widespread panic.

Sorry to dampen your feelings of superiority but just because the media are talking about it, it doesn't mean there is actually panic, you know. If anything some people are quite elated at the idea that it may get bad enough to not travel to work or (in the case of children) for schools to shut down. For most people it's business as usual.

As to schools closing the school I went to was massively cautious because back in the 60's a child died walking home in snow. They were cutting across a field (very rural area) and probably got disoriented and died of hypothermia. We were often sent home at the first fall of snow.