To love all the snow hysteria?

[crackerjacket]

Just that really.

I should have added 'lighthearted' to the title and not used the word 'hysteria'.

What would have been the point of positing then?

People died, Janet

@PickAChew Just seen photos of that- it's terrible! Have a friend who lives in Peterlee and she says they're diverting the traffic through but the roads aren't much better.

Worried for my parents- the snow plough got stuck this morning trying to clear the only road into the village. They brought a tractor and that got stuck for a bit too. I'm really wishing that I'd stayed at home this week!

Maybe I missed the point, but I thought the OP was more like 'that's it a spot of snow hits and some.people act like snowageddon'.

My area is on a red alert. I walked to the shop and bought milk. Nobody is panic buying. Schools and businesses and the council are being sensible. Someone got stuck on the street delivering to the local shop so people grabbed shovels and sacks and pushed them out on their way. All very common sense.

Friends in another county are stocking up because there's been a little bit of snow. Their local supermarket has empty shelves because some snow might hit tonight and are already talking about cancelling plans they've made for next week because 'obviously we are going yo get snowed in'. Like really?! Calm down. It's just snow.

But I'm always amused when a spot of snow hits London and it's on the news. In the North and Scotland we get aome every year and it's just life.

In some parts of the country it's totally justified.

Where I am, we have half an inch of snow at best, but the trains and roads are still borked for absolutely no good reason - it won't even get icy until what there is of the snow shifts a bit! So round here the fuss is just daft.

But my uncle and aunt, who live at the top of a hill in Yorkshire, haven't been able to get outside for 3 days; my other uncle can't get his car up the road - god help them if they need any medical care, as they're 80, 75 and 70 respectively :(

I'm 8.5 month pregnant so very aware of slipping; really hope the neighbour of the PP who fell and her baby are ok

Mocking people who stock up as "hysterical panic buying" is another one I keep hearing..... And then you get the people who dont take any notice and expect their neighbours to risk life and limb driving in treacherous conditions for them

There is currently only one road open over the Pennines - the M62 and that is struggling to stay open. A snow plough has gone over in Leek.

I'm not hysterical, just being sensible and staying at home today. Fitness classes, Brownies, other meetings etc have all been cancelled round here.

But I'm always amused when a spot of snow hits London and it's on the news. In the North and Scotland we get aome every year and it's just life

First red alert ever, it's not like other years.

I'm on high ground rural. The snow is so deep here all I can see of my car is the roof and the top of my windows, we haven't had post delivered since Saturday.
Thank god for Skype so I can work.

No hysteria here just common sense. Schools are closed till monday as weather atrocious on top of the snow and hail we have already had for 2 days now.
Not seen one hysterical person so far despite village street and roads out not being cleared since this all began.
If op had meant to say "why are people going crazy stockpiling when our area has only had one dusting of snow all week?" then i could see the point. But her post was a sweeping statement.

I'm in Sweden and watching the news from the UK with bewilderment. We have snow halfway up the windows and it's -25 with a windchill of -31. And the schools are all open and the kids are playing out at playtime. People are out driving and shopping and going to work like normal. Get a grip people.

I've never seen anything like it, @QuestionableMouse. The drifting snow is pretty scary stuff.

And yes, @MsisyPops we are used to snow and this is our 4th (5th?) Load of it this winter and in past winters we have had it on the ground for a good solid 2-3 months but it has never accumulated this quickly or been so dangerous.

Well that went well OP.

I needed milk so i put my walking boots on, walked round the corner and bought 4 pints of milk and some bread. Others were doing the same. Our county has almost shut down (and understandably. There is a tree close to being blown into my house at the moment) and the icicles off the houses are 10 to 15 inches.

Where my friend is people are buying multiple bottles of milk and stockpiling. They don't have more than icing sugar snow on the ground. People who go to small village/estate shops, empty shelves and stockpile are selfish jackasses in my opinion.

I'm in Sweden and watching the news from the UK with bewilderment. We have snow halfway up the windows and it's -25 with a windchill of -31. And the schools are all open and the kids are playing out at playtime. People are out driving and shopping and going to work like normal. Get a grip people.

The USA has similar conditions to Sweden, business as normal here.

Mimpi - but you have the infrastructure and the kit (like special tyres) and the experience to cope with it. This is really unusual for the U.K., where it hasn't really snowed at all for the last few years, and not like this when it did. Not saying we shouldn't be able to cope with it, but that's why we can't and that's why it's news. Plus the media loves to make snow mountains out of snow molehills.

Imagine if Sweden suddenly had to cope with a massive drought or plagues of locusts eating all the crops or something alien to you - it's like that for us!

Mimpi ffs get over yourself. This weather is incredibly unusual here. It would be a very weird decision to invest billions of pounds to guard against the two times a decade we have this weather. Where should we divert that money from?

So go and grab a fucking grip yourself. You've given me the rage.

I do hope elderly people, pregnant women and any one likely to be stuck did "Panic buy" and doesn't have to leave their house until they are reopened and the ice melts one way or another!

It's all very funny to mock people who can easily walk 3 minutes to the supermarket and wont' be left stranded, but it's for many it's more than sensible to plan not to get out if they don't have to.

We haven't had that much snow around here, but it's sheer ice now. With all the warnings, I really hope most people are safely home and can share a with you.

I may be an adult but I am never as happy as when it snows I have pretty much skipped everywhere since it started! I am however fortunate that I work from home but I do still understand that we are not built to cope with this weather as a nation

You love that people have died and others have been stuck in their cars for hours. Nice.

Use your imagination @MimpiDreams. We are not a snowy country. Our county is prepared for winter weather but not this sort. Other counties never get snow. Consequently we have an infrastructure that makes us about as prepared for this sort of weather event as you would be for an Aussie style 40 degree heatwave.

I'm in Scotland. A red alert area. I've seen no hysteria despite the local shop running out of milk and supplies.
Where to begin with the list of justified hysteria though?

• Elderly left with no care
• Hospitals stretched to limits
• People stuck in their cars with little ones
• Pregnant women stranded
• People unable to get to appointments for vital treatment
• Transport grinded to a halt
• Gas running out

Absolutely fucking hysterical. What an over reaction.

Can we stop the thread now?

Depends really. The high alert areas with shit loads of snow doesn't equal hysteria, i'd say it's justified.

However a friend sent me a photo out her window & there's a pretty icing sugar dusting of snow...yet the buses have stopped, schools have closed etc. That's a bit hysterical.

Where we are the snow is coming over DD's wellies (she's 5) & the wind is utterly biting. The roads are crap (lots of hills, no sign of gritters). Out of five schools, two opened...the senior one sent their kids home before lunch. DD's primary school hung it out doing late registration & we collected at normal time...they apparently had almost full attendance. We have decided DD's school is hardcore 😆 That said, people deciding not to travel through villages because of the road conditions is far from hysteria & actually ranks as 'bloody sensible' in my eyes. It's the idiots who decide to ignore all warnings (probably assuming it's mass hysteria) who cause the problems; other people having to risk themselves to dig them out is bloody selfish!!

Unfortunately we no longer have the infrastructure to cope with extreme snow, as councils have been cutting back on equipment and staff - and let's face it we can go a few years between extreme snow conditions so I get why they think it's too expensive to stockpile grit and keep fleets of snowploughs lying around idle.

But it does mean that when we get a real dumping we just don't cope very well, and it's undoubtedly the case that life is at risk in many places - dangerous roads, people snowed in, unable to access services etc etc.

There IS always some hysteria somewhere whenever there's a light sprinkling - but the current situation is hardly hysterical, in any sense of the word.