Yep that's snow

[Mortblanc]

CH may have a bit more snow than myself. I have 5cm on the ground with more on the way but the snow is not the issue.

What is putting us in danger over here, and it is a real danger, is the temperatures.

It is so cold that you simply can not warm the structures and if one is in a questionable situation it becomes impossible. Schools are closed due to inability to keep the buildings safely warm.

I am in a well insulated house and a thermometer by my chair might read 20C and one on the table across the room only 10c and you can feel the wind moving between the two pressure area inside the room!

I spent a good bit of time hunting down drafts I had never noticed before to find that there was no crack or gap leaking air. It was just cold air chasing the warm air about the room.

When my power went bad yesterday I fired up a propane heater and retreated to a room 4mx4m and kept it at 18c, the rest of the house dropped below 10c after 2 hours.

My refrigerator normally keeps food at a standard 4c, yesterday in the middle of the day I discovered all the liquids in the fridge were frozen solid. Makes for one he!! of a crispy salad!

Outside the wind chills are a danger due to the excessive wind that came with this system. We have had colder temps or just as cold, in the past, but this system carried 20-40mph winds that forced the wind chill down dramatically and they are using the mew system and not the old wind chill calculations.

That is another trick the forecasters use, they change the method of calculation and recording so temps appear warmer than they once did. Under the old system we would have been reading -40c-50c wind chill.

SS I know you have not had anything yet but it does appear there is something on the way. These big systems usually become very predictable in the last few hours before they strike. The south has advisory for 3-10cm and Scotland already has more than that on the ground.

But do not fear. In common with drivers all over the world your people will forget how to drive on snow and bash each other senseless, slipping and sliding like morons on cheap ice skates. It's not just you, drivers are like that everywhere.

They do say the Finns have a knack for driving on the snow but I don't believe it! I have seen the films of them and they are slipping and sliding just like everyone else. The difference is that instead of having a look of terror on their faces they have a big grin!