As I poked my head through the curtains my initial thought was "oh gawd its snowed". The radio was saying that there was snow on the M11 in Essex (hello its a big road a clue would help!!) but when I tiptoed out it looked as much like a very heavy frost, about 5mm of snow? Stop laughing OC.
I wasn't sure whether to go down the M11 to one office of backroads to the other. As it was I took the back roads and they all seemed to have been gritted.
Of course OC will be laughing her head off but we have had a rather cold last few weeks and temps of down to -10c are forecast.
We haven't had a bad winter for quite a while, indeed when I was a lad ('ark at 'im) snow was regular and took days to clear but now even a few weeks of sub zero temperatures has the writers at sensationalist tabloids reaching for headlines of coldest winter for decades.
Of course the cold snap will affect certain species of wildlife more than it does us. Some species of birds are at the edge of their range and hard winters can knock them back.
Dartford Warblers have done relatively well since the really hard winter of 1962/63 wiped them back to 10 pairs. Today there are over 3,200 pairs mostly in Southern Counties of Britain and East Anglia, but a hard winter could have a devastating impact.
5 comments:
It was quite good snow here, more than just a thin covering but not deep enough for shoes to disappear into.
At least this time it stayed like ice and not slush, last time I was clinging onto walls for dear life trying to get down the hill to the bus stop!
I hope the birdies are ok!
Ha, ha, ha, must have been frightful. I have to admit though that -10 is not nice at all.
You may have had frost but further south, it was snow - just a covering. And the odd flurry now and then throughout the day which didn't amount to much though.
Think you are in for a very chilly night tonight pete! drive carefully in the morning not been to bad here so far
It is interesting how the papers say it's the worst cold snap for decades.... it's cold, but not that cold.
In 1991 I was in Evesham for Christmas at the never to be in-laws, and the greenhouse min-max thermometer read minus 19 one day. That was the time when Scotland got to something like minus 25/27oC. Now that's cold. Coldest I've ever been myself is minus 21 and boy you know about that. Do not touch anything metal with bare hands...
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