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Ice And Snow Dangers


J10

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Most of the people on here love the snow and cold weather, however there are obvious dangers at this time of year.

If you have any vulnerable relatives and / or neighbours, it may be worth checking out on them on a regular basis, to ensure that they are OK, and perhaps more important safe and warm.

Take care in cars, it can be very difficult to drive on snow/ice, as many people are not used to it, and even if you are, others around you may not be as careful, and you really do not want to start the new year, with an expensive car repair bill, or even losing no claim bonuses.

Be careful on pavements, as they can be very slippery, and there are far more fractures at this time of year compared to normal.

Possibly the most important of all, do not get tempted to play on frozen rivers or lakes, or allow any of your friends to do so, every year there are tragedies as ice as often not as thick as you may think it is.

Of course enjoy the snow, be please be safe when doing so.

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Posted
  • Location: Solihull, Midlands. (Formerly DRL)
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, thunder, hail & heavy snow
  • Location: Solihull, Midlands. (Formerly DRL)

Thanks for the great tips. I sometimes end up walking too quickly over thin layers of snow, where splodges of ice have formed, particularly when temperatures have reached - 2 degrees or below.

As much as I love snow and ice, I do admit that it does have its dangers.

Edited by Rainbow Snow
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Posted
  • Location: Larbert
  • Location: Larbert

As one who works outside daily in all weathers, I can assure you now isn't the best of times, even though it's great to see such a cold spell! Granted, many other outside workers will have same weather conditions, but they will generally head off to a depot or back to their workplace as soon as a flake or two falls. ( I still think this is why "Great" Britain of today falls apart big style when snow appears - everyone is too keen to down tools which adds to the problem of getting home ? )

Anyway, I agree with the sentiments of the post. Being a postman, ice is especially a 'nightmare' - compacted snow isn't much better. Put both of them together and you have real dangerous situation...Most of Scotland's pavements and roads have been like this for the last two weeks, probably longer.

Do be careful and call on that lonely neighbour as things do not look like improving anytime soon.

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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield
  • Weather Preferences: Any Extreme
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield

Actually Jackone is pointing out one or two sensiable points.

Too many people lack common sense these days.

If your dog goes out on ice and falls through don't follow it will get out you won't.

Going running on the moors. Shorts and trainers and nothing much else may not be the best idea.

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Posted
  • Location: Larbert
  • Location: Larbert

In all seriousness, should people be stocking up on food etc?

This is the type of thing many non-weather people will be thinking, and soon doing - because the media will pick up on it and ramp away about possible upcoming food shortages, particularly down south. It's a Catch 22 on this one. You wanna be safe & sound with adequate provisions, but do we need scare stories from the meedja which morph into something OTT ? :D

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Posted
  • Location: Reigate, Surrey 78m asl
  • Location: Reigate, Surrey 78m asl

Absolutely Mondy... I'm not convinced at the moment we will have anything as bad you have up in Scotland... a few inches perhaps but I should still be able to get to the shops... I do wonder about power outages though...

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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield
  • Weather Preferences: Any Extreme
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield

This is the type of thing many non-weather people will be thinking, and soon doing - because the media will pick up on it and ramp away about possible upcoming food shortages, particularly down south. It's a Catch 22 on this one. You wanna be safe & sound with adequate provisions, but do we need scare stories from the meedja which morph into something OTT ? :D

what a load of rubbish.

Although cold we haven't had much in the way of snow. Jeez if you were around in dec 81 you would have thought the world had ended. Temps arent even that either.

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Posted
  • Location: Glasgow, Scotland (Charing Cross, 40m asl)
  • Weather Preferences: cold and snowy in winter, a good mix of weather the rest of the time
  • Location: Glasgow, Scotland (Charing Cross, 40m asl)

what a load of rubbish.

Although cold we haven't had much in the way of snow. Jeez if you were around in dec 81 you would have thought the world had ended. Temps arent even that either.

8 inches in my garden today, 2 inches lying every day since the 17th, snow falling on all but 3 of the last 15 days, pavements a mess, all the wee roads around here are stuck with about 2 inches of pack ice, minima below -8C 3 times here, with it below -10C at times in Edinburgh and maxima of -9C one day in Perth, a town with over 50,000 people. Not to mention the 50cm seen across parts of the Inverness area, or the 100cm on the slopes of Cairngorm, or the minima of -16C in the highlands for about 15 days in a row. Snowy enough yet?

Absolutely Mondy... I'm not convinced at the moment we will have anything as bad you have up in Scotland... a few inches perhaps but I should still be able to get to the shops... I do wonder about power outages though...

Surely if the winds aren't gale force and the snow isn't accumulating at ridiculous rates we should be ok.

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Posted
  • Location: Reigate, Surrey 78m asl
  • Location: Reigate, Surrey 78m asl

Well as someone with an 8 month old son, I think it's better to be careful... Due to the amount of ice we had last month (we only had about 3 - 4 inches of snow but it stuck around for 6 days) it was hard to get him out and about...

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Posted
  • Location: Nr Wisbech, Cambs
  • Location: Nr Wisbech, Cambs

I love the look of snow as much as the next person but since having my youngest child who is in a wheelchair (now 6) going out in the snow has taken on a completely new and more dangerous complexion. I have always had a pretty bad sense of balance and could fall over my own shadow at a moments notice. Getting her in and out of the car to get to school can be very challenging to say the least. Lifting on a slippery surface is not a pleasant experience and do tend to carry my own supply of salt so I can clear a small area for a firm grip on the ground. Pushing a wheelchair on frozen slush can at times be near impossible so am usually very pleased when schools do close when there is a few cm of snow. Yes I may sound like a right wimp but as a carer I have to think about my safety as me breaking something will result in my child not being cared for in the way she needs.

I did in the past post when someone was suggesting that people should not go out when they know it is going to snow and in some ways I do agree with what they say. Unfortunately if every person with an who is frail or with a disability stayed in every time there was a weather warning then they would not get out much during the winter. Not everyone has a support network who can run around for someone who cannot get out. Im not looking forward to the next lot of snow that is being forecast. having had to remove my child from the school she was in as her needs are not being met the journey to school is even further but again this is another issue I will just have to deal with.

I am not looking for sympathy as I am a perfectly able bodies person but would like people to think about those who are less able bodied. who still have doctors and hospital appointments and have a life the same as the rest of us.

Sorry its long winded

Janet

Edited by janetmh71
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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield
  • Weather Preferences: Any Extreme
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield

Well as someone with an 8 month old son, I think it's better to be careful... Due to the amount of ice we had last month (we only had about 3 - 4 inches of snow but it stuck around for 6 days) it was hard to get him out and about...

One of my nephrews was taken home on a sledge due to snow. 1979 don't we love it.

Well as someone with an 8 month old son, I think it's better to be careful... Due to the amount of ice we had last month (we only had about 3 - 4 inches of snow but it stuck around for 6 days) it was hard to get him out and about...

Doh double post.

Edited by The PIT
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Posted
  • Location: Reigate, Surrey 78m asl
  • Location: Reigate, Surrey 78m asl

Actually I have been looking for a sledge for the same reason but they are all sold out around here!

Gosh Janet, I don't envy you... it must be very difficult in the snow

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Posted
  • Location: Sale (Cheshire)
  • Weather Preferences: Dry and cold...
  • Location: Sale (Cheshire)

Lots of work for Mountain Rescue Teams at the moment due to people going up the mountains and hills totally unprepared. The two muppets in tracksuits and trainers that were lifted up Snowdon last week being the worse examples.

The conditions on the major peaks in the Yorkshire Dales at the moment are "alpine", you need some seriously good kit, stamina and experience to make it up and down safely. With the colder conditions, a mistake could have pretty fatal consequences...

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Posted
  • Location: Nr Wisbech, Cambs
  • Location: Nr Wisbech, Cambs

Actually I have been looking for a sledge for the same reason but they are all sold out around here!

Gosh Janet, I don't envy you... it must be very difficult in the snow

Yes it can be plum but I am just one of thousands of parents with disabled children, parents or relatives who still need to be taken places. Parents may get away with saying conditions are too bad to take their children to school for a few days but once the roads are clear everyone is expected back. Pavements and car parks are not seen as a priority and in the last bout of snow we had everywhere sold out of salt. Believe it or not where I live roads with schools on them are not seen as a priority for gritting either.

Oh well the snow cant last forever (I hope)

Janet

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Posted
  • Location: Cheddar Valley, 20mtrs asl
  • Weather Preferences: Snow and lots of it or warm and sunny, no mediocre dross
  • Location: Cheddar Valley, 20mtrs asl

Here's a picture from my local graveyard, please stay off frozen ponds and if you see any kids on them, get them off asap.

post-6280-12624778812713_thumb.jpg

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Here's a picture from my local graveyard, please stay off frozen ponds and if you see any kids on them, get them off asap.

Indeed people do die from this, and have done in recent cold spells in the UK.

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

There are two sides to every coin- and unfortunately cold/snow is emphatically no exception, it has very big upsides but also very big downsides as well. From my experiences in Cleadon, you need to be particularly careful in situations where snow has thawed due to sleet or rain falling on it, and then refrozen- this leads to very dangerous icy conditions, more slippery than compacted snow.

When people say "think of those who cannot cope easily with prolonged cold/snow" and the like, I agree in most possible interpretations of that, but not all. We should certainly keep an eye on those who cannot cope easily- particularly the fragile and the elderly- and bear in mind that some may struggle to afford heating bills, get out and about and the like.

However, those of us enjoying the prolonged cold and snow should not be made to feel guilty for doing so, or for wishing for more of it- this particularly in view of the fact that we can't control the weather- I have always resented the idea that one should feel miserable as a mark of "respect" for the less well-off- this is martyrdom, it's constructive action, help and support that is respectful. The best of all worlds- those of us enjoying it should make the most of it, those of us not enjoying it should focus on the bright side, and where feasible we should all support those who are struggling. And don't listen to the media too much- they love to whip up scare stories, encouraging panic buying when it should really be a last resort, and focus only on the disruption and inconvenience side of the weather, encouraging the masses to make an enemy of the snow.

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Posted
  • Location: Nr Wisbech, Cambs
  • Location: Nr Wisbech, Cambs

There are two sides to every coin- and unfortunately cold/snow is emphatically no exception, it has very big upsides but also very big downsides as well. From my experiences in Cleadon, you need to be particularly careful in situations where snow has thawed due to sleet or rain falling on it, and then refrozen- this leads to very dangerous icy conditions, more slippery than compacted snow.

When people say "think of those who cannot cope easily with prolonged cold/snow" and the like, I agree in most possible interpretations of that, but not all. We should certainly keep an eye on those who cannot cope easily- particularly the fragile and the elderly- and bear in mind that some may struggle to afford heating bills, get out and about and the like.

However, those of us enjoying the prolonged cold and snow should not be made to feel guilty for doing so, or for wishing for more of it- this particularly in view of the fact that we can't control the weather- I have always resented the idea that one should feel miserable as a mark of "respect" for the less well-off- this is martyrdom, it's constructive action, help and support that is respectful. The best of all worlds- those of us enjoying it should make the most of it, those of us not enjoying it should focus on the bright side, and where feasible we should all support those who are struggling. And don't listen to the media too much- they love to whip up scare stories, encouraging panic buying when it should really be a last resort, and focus only on the disruption and inconvenience side of the weather, encouraging the masses to make an enemy of the snow.

I agree with what you are saying. Snow is great and many people enjoy it, luckily it doesnt happen every day so those who enjoy it should make the best of it. I think this post is more about enjoying the cold weather but remembering the dangers that may lurk. If you enjoy the weather and are out and about enjoy yourself but safely. If you have a neighbour who you think may struggle in the conditions then knock on the door if you are heading towards the shop and ask if there is anything that they need. There are people who worry about this type of weather but I dont think any of those people would want to stop others from enjoying it . . . just try not to break too many windows . . they sort of stop the cold wind getting into the house!!

Janet

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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield
  • Weather Preferences: Any Extreme
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield

Well yesterdays early sleet and wet snow left things as I expected very dangerous. Another snow shower approaching so pointless clearing the drive. All this is bad news as it means my mother can't go to the day centre and could well be stuck inside for a while yet.

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Posted
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.
  • Weather Preferences: Varied and not extreme.
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.

Yes it can be plum but I am just one of thousands of parents with disabled children, parents or relatives who still need to be taken places. Parents may get away with saying conditions are too bad to take their children to school for a few days but once the roads are clear everyone is expected back. Pavements and car parks are not seen as a priority and in the last bout of snow we had everywhere sold out of salt. Believe it or not where I live roads with schools on them are not seen as a priority for gritting either.

Oh well the snow cant last forever (I hope)

Janet

I'm a wheelchair user and my parents will agree wholeheartedly I'm sure. I do sometimes get fed up hearing able-bodied people saying they can't cope in the snow - my mum got me to school, college and Uni in snow for years.

As for pushing weheelchairs in snow and getting a disabled child out of the car, your salt approach is a very good one. Perhaps because of my situation, I'm very aware of (and interested in) the subject of winter footwear. What sort of footwear do you opt for in this weather? I'm afraid I'm one of those men who shakes my head when I see trendy young things teetering through the snow in heels.

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