Us poor Northerners.

piggieminder said:
I've been watching storm chasers in Buffalo, New York. That lake effect snow is beautiful. I'm getting my snow fix as we won't be getting any.
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Pretty sure we aren't here either.I do like snow but I remember last year was horrendous getting to work with all the snow.I waited for the work taxi for over an hour one particular day as the conditions were so bad.
 
A few years ago when I worked in a nursing home, I was a designated driver to get others to and from work in very bad weather as the home was in a village and I had a jeep that always got through everything.
 
Although it's chilly, it's not the coldest I've experienced. It dropped to -11 last year, it dropped to -19 in Carlisle in 2010, and dropped to a bone chilling -31 in Germany on military exercise in 1988! 🥶🥶🥶
 
BossHogg said:
Although it's chilly, it's not the coldest I've experienced. It dropped to -11 last year, it dropped to -19 in Carlisle in 2010, and dropped to a bone chilling -31 in Germany on military exercise in 1988! 🥶🥶🥶
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We had -23 C in innercity Basel (usually one of the warmest Swiss areas north of the Alps) once back in the 80ies. Even the inside of the trams was frozen solid despite the heating being on full. You didn't dare touch the metal bars and handles with bare hands even shortly. It was a completely different level of cold that I have otherwise never experienced outside of skiing in the Alps in bad weather.
When you have a prolonged frost period of a week or two where even day temperatures remain below zero, the first time temperatures reach zero degrees it feels positively balmy! :D

Still, I am not happy about the increased sub-zero frost periods here in the UK courtesy of climate change. It is getting more difficult to get my pelargoniums by the front door through the winter. My oldest one has survived a dozen winters outside with some careful wrapping. We have been promised -6 C for tonight, so some of my smaller pots may struggle... :(
 
Wiebke said:
We had -23 C in innercity Basel (usually one of the warmest Swiss areas north of the Alps) once back in the 80ies. Even the inside of the trams was frozen solid despite the heating being on full. You didn't dare touch the metal bars and handles with bare hands even shortly. It was a completely different level of cold that I have otherwise never experienced outside of skiing in the Alps in bad weather.
When you have a prolonged frost period of a week or two where even day temperatures remain below zero, the first time temperatures reach zero degrees it feels positively balmy! :D

Still, I am not happy about the increased sub-zero frost periods here in the UK courtesy of climate change. It is getting more difficult to get my pelargoniums by the front door through the winter. My oldest one has survived a dozen winters outside with some careful wrapping. We have been promised -6 C for tonight, so some of my smaller pots may struggle... :(
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Out west in Manitoba and Alberta were getting nailed by this polar vortex thing and were at -50 C. We're lucky we have the infrastructure to cope with winter weather but that was really bad.
 
WinstonPatrick said:
Out west in Manitoba and Alberta were getting nailed by this polar vortex thing and were at -50 C. We're lucky we have the infrastructure to cope with winter weather but that was really bad.
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Ouch - that is properly Antarctic! :yikes::yikes::yikes:

The problem is that while the infrastructure in Switzerland is laid out for deep frosts and hotter summers as well this is not the case here in the UK where the climate has been traditionally very moderate even though we are as far as north as Canada. Where I live is on a latitude roughly halfway between Calgary and Edmonton but we have a maximal temperature span of nearly 50 C (used to be about 40 C) whereas you have one of 90 C.

But unlike Canada, the UK islands have been protected by the warmth of the Gulf Stream, which is now weakening quickly due to the Arctic melting so we have to get used to larger temperature swings as well. Traditionall a temperature jump of 5 C from one day to the next would have been about as massive as it would go and 30 C would make national news as a hot day because it wouldn't happen every year. Houses in the UK are built to keep out the rain but they are not built to cope with temperature extremes and insulation is a major problem. We used to have weather but not a climate as daytime temperatures would generally swing between 5-25 C. :(
 
Wiebke said:
Ouch - that is properly Antarctic! :yikes::yikes::yikes:

The problem is that while the infrastructure in Switzerland is laid out for deep frosts and hotter summers as well this is not the case here in the UK where the climate has been traditionally very moderate even though we are as far as north as Canada. Where I live is on a latitude roughly halfway between Calgary and Edmonton but we have a maximal temperature span of nearly 50 C (used to be about 40 C) whereas you have one of 90 C.

But unlike Canada, the UK islands have been protected by the warmth of the Gulf Stream, which is now weakening quickly due to the Arctic melting so we have to get used to larger temperature swings as well. Traditionall a temperature jump of 5 C from one day to the next would have been about as massive as it would go and 30 C would make national news as a hot day because it wouldn't happen every year. Houses in the UK are built to keep out the rain but they are not built to cope with temperature extremes and insulation is a major problem. We used to have weather but not a climate as daytime temperatures would generally swing between 5-25 C. :(
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That's very true. I have a cousin in Scotland and I looked at the latitude of where he lives and it puts his house the same point as Hudsons Bay. It is a good thing the Gulf stream flows up to the UK to give you somewhat moderate weather.

Sorry it's typically Canadian to talk about the weather for long periods. My dad and I can do it for an hour and a half daily. Drives my stepmother crazy. I'll stop. Lol
 
WinstonPatrick said:
That's very true. I have a cousin in Scotland and I looked at the latitude of where he lives and it puts his house the same point as Hudsons Bay. It is a good thing the Gulf stream flows up to the UK to give you somewhat moderate weather.

Sorry it's typically Canadian to talk about the weather for long periods. My dad and I can do it for an hour and a half daily. Drives my stepmother crazy. I'll stop. Lol
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You are not alone - the weather is always the no 1 topic in the UK 😂
 
WinstonPatrick said:
That's very true. I have a cousin in Scotland and I looked at the latitude of where he lives and it puts his house the same point as Hudsons Bay. It is a good thing the Gulf stream flows up to the UK to give you somewhat moderate weather.

Sorry it's typically Canadian to talk about the weather for long periods. My dad and I can do it for an hour and a half daily. Drives my stepmother crazy. I'll stop. Lol
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You'd make a perfect Brit, too! If you don't know what to say, you can always safely talk about the weather. There is always something to complain about! :D
 
BossHogg said:
I know all about the storms, I dealt with 17 wagons blown over in 30 minutes. 😱😱😱
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BIG OUCH! :yikes::yikes::yikes:

Not the kind of records you want to set. I hope that the situation is calming down again slowly?
 
The wind has been horrendous honestly. There's what looks like the remains of an umbrella (shredded canvas mostly) in a nearby tree. The tree is in the grounds of a two storey church and the umbrella is caught in branches taller than the pitched roof. It's almost serene tonight in comparison.
 
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