Scotland/Alba weather discussion - Jan 2021 onwards

[SW Saltire]

58 minutes ago, Northern Strath said:

Aye I’ve got a 4x4 pick-up for work which makes things easier in the snow. Tbh though, a good set of winter or all weather tyres (few aficionados on here) will convert a lot of vehicles in to performers in the snow. Some cars surprise you though, partner’s wee Renault is rarely stuck, correct driving goes a long way. When conditions are dicey I often take the back roads as a fair few people on the a9 seem to sh*t themselves and drive too slow, you need a steady pace in the stuff

Appreciate the reply, yes winter tyres could well be an alternative. Luckily got access to a landrover defender for planned trips.

Nothing worse than the car in front heavy braking/panicking.

I just ask as this car with bigger engine and higher gearing (ie stalls if you put it in second below 10 mph, 80mph is below 2000 rpm) is garbage in the snow. I’m technically a ‘professional’ driver and could not keep up with my pal who’s a teacher driving his wee renault Clio. Car was bambi on ice, Winter tyres it is

[Ravelin]

0.2/-0.1C, snowing and lying, but not to any depth. Quite a lot still to come though by the looks of the radar. 

[Northernlights]

Fabulous sunny frosty morning but clouded over in the afternoon and period of heavy sleet turning to snow started about 4.30pm and lasted  about an hour settling quickly on the very cold ground.Currently  1.5c with  snow falling.

Edited January 7, 2021 by Northernlights

[TinyTim]

Nice to see others, including Mair Snaw getting the white stuff

Don't expect to see it here... again... but you never know!

Tim

[Benvironment]

1 hour ago, Northern Strath said:

Aye I’ve got a 4x4 pick-up for work which makes things easier in the snow. Tbh though, a good set of winter or all weather tyres (few aficionados on here) will convert a lot of vehicles in to performers in the snow. Some cars surprise you though, partner’s wee Renault is rarely stuck, correct driving goes a long way. When conditions are dicey I often take the back roads as a fair few people on the a9 seem to sh*t themselves and drive too slow, you need a steady pace in the stuff

On snow I'd trust my wee Fiesta with winter tyres on more than I'd trust the 4x4 we have at work...which has pretty rubbish summer tyres on it. It's certainly never failed me getting up and down the hill here. But at the end of the day it's the clearance underneath that brings me to a halt rather than the actual snow surface. The winter tyres are great but there's just not enough clearance underneath the car between the tyre tracks, and so I end up ploughing instead. 

EDIT - not that we ever get so much snow that ploughing occurs, mind

Edited January 7, 2021 by Benvironment

[Sceptical]

Snows on.

 

[Hairy Celt]

Most common winter car I've seen is aged Panda 4x4, jacked up (probably just extended struts) and with knobbly winter tyres. Not common here but in the Alps.  Big jeeps like we see in the UK aren't as common partly cos they're so damned expensive to keep on the road and I don't think mountain folk out there feel like lining the pockets of dealers as much as Brits seem willing to do.

[AFC Snow]

Moderate snow on and all surfaces covered 

[Quinach]

Finally, some gorgeous heavy snow.  Temperature hovering around 0c and settling well.

[snowlessayr]

well after this mornings rain, at 4pm it was already frozen over. Now got some freezing fog developing, pretty rare we get fog here as we are low lying. One of the reasons Prestwick airport is usually used for emergencies. going to be another cold one tonight 

Edited January 7, 2021 by snowlessayr

[BurntFishTrousers]

Here we have tonight's latest sat image overhead. Large 10Mb file displaying fine detail. Second pic is zoomed more over Scotland. 

Wee bonus seeing the snow over Alps too. 

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by BurntFishTrousers
wrong pic

[Eastern Scotland WX]

very very light snow falling at 40m approx 6 miles SE of Perth

Temp: 0.4C

Dew: -0.1C 
This confirms that its unlikely to be crap falling at 0C

[Northern Strath]

46 minutes ago, SW Saltire said:

Appreciate the reply, yes winter tyres could well be an alternative. Luckily got access to a landrover defender for planned trips.

Nothing worse than the car in front heavy braking/panicking.

I just ask as this car with bigger engine and higher gearing (ie stalls if you put it in second below 10 mph, 80mph is below 2000 rpm) is garbage in the snow. I’m technically a ‘professional’ driver and could not keep up with my pal who’s a teacher driving his wee renault Clio. Car was bambi on ice, Winter tyres it is

No worries, happy hunting (be it tyre or 4x4!) Nice to have access to a Defender, not a lot of places they won’t go. Aye those wee clio’s can be mean too

 

43 minutes ago, Benvironment said:

On snow I'd trust my wee Fiesta with winter tyres on more than I'd trust the 4x4 we have at work...which has pretty rubbish summer tyres on it. It's certainly never failed me getting up and down the hill here. But at the end of the day it's the clearance underneath that brings me to a halt rather than the actual snow surface. The winter tyres are great but there's just not enough clearance underneath the car between the tyre tracks, and so I end up ploughing instead. 

EDIT - not that we ever get so much snow that ploughing occurs, mind

Great stuff. Aye some of the wee cars are perfect until it’s too much and they essentially end up burrowing  We used to have an old vw beetle around when I was growing up, tweaked with pretty high clearance, the engine in the boot made it near unstoppable in the snow (without snow tyres). Bags of fun

Snow still going here

[Eastern Scotland WX]

Juicy stuff... 

[TinyTim]

2 minutes ago, MAXcrazystorm said:

Juicy stuff... 

Oooh... that is juicy stuff I wonder if I'll get mega lucky and it will get here lol 

[Eastern Scotland WX]

8 minutes ago, TinyTim said:

Oooh... that is juicy stuff I wonder if I'll get mega lucky and it will get here lol 

Looks likely in Perth , good covering it looks like. 

[TinyTim]

Just now, MAXcrazystorm said:

Looks likely in Perth , good covering it looks like. 

Thank you my friend At least it's showing up before it's too late... if it does start I'll nip out and get a few pics

[Hairy Celt]

Absolutely lamp-posting it down for a while then.  Narnia-style in the garden now, fauns and wardrobes everywhere. 

[Gogoslo]

Just rain on the coast here unfortunately.  

[JamesM]

A trip over the hills to my office in Greenock today to pick some stuff up. Barely even a hint of snow even at the highest points of the road which surprised me. 
 

Everything frozen solid again. Definitely must be cold as our street had its first visit from a gritter in two years this afternoon. Normally more chance of a unicorn than a gritter down here. 
 

@SW Saltire I have run winter tyres on my cars for a number of years now and the difference is astounding. A front wheel drive on winter tyres is way better than a four wheel drive on summer tyres. They allow me to keep to snow covered backroads with no other traffic. The only time my previous Skoda Fabia got stuck was in deep snowdrifts. The current Focus ST has huge wide low profile tyres and even with winter tyres its not as good in the snow, but still 100 times better than running on summers. 

[doctormog]

2 minutes ago, Gogoslo said:

Just rain on the coast here unfortunately.  

The air is supposed to get a bit colder in coming hours so there may be a chance of something a bit more wintry later (providing you get any precipitation).

[AFC Snow]

2 minutes ago, doctormog said:

The air is supposed to get a bit colder in coming hours so there may be a chance of something a bit more wintry later (providing you get any precipitation).

Have you got anything in town Doc? A decent amount here but hard to tell without going outside.

[Hawesy]

Rain has just started here in Pittenweem. Air temp currently 1.6c

[Benvironment]

3 minutes ago, Hawesy said:

Rain has just started here in Pittenweem. 

Erm....when are you going to get tired of saying that?

[101_North]

Wee light snow shower there left a slight dusting.