British weather

[Big Boy]

Just heard a good one. Talking to a friend in Bristol, and he had to hang up the call because it was too cold to hold his phone

He could have simply said he didn't want to speak to me.

[pharvey]

It's a tad cool - a couple of Brass Monkeys went scuttling past a little while ago crying their eyes out.

The "damp" and wind chill makes things feel a lot worse though. Things looking up for next week - "slightly warmer", so we'll move away from ice and snow to flooding!

DM is reportedly keeping back the empty whisky bottles to use as part of his "flood defenses" .....

[HHTel]

My mother lives in Yorkshire and is 99 years old. What a great time for a 15 hour power cut which went through the night. She only has electric so spent the time wrapped up in blankets with a small battery lamp.

Well done Yorkshire Electric!

[Lost]

Is frickin' chilly in London. Had some snow recently. Looking forward to some of this 'global warming' later in the year. Fingers crossed

[Lost]

DM is reportedly keeping back the empty whisky bottles to use as part of his "flood defenses" .....

Gotta respect that. Old school.

[STEVE G]

Is frickin' chilly in London. Had some snow recently. Looking forward to some of this 'global warming' later in the year. Fingers crossed

You won't have to wait long!:

Deep freeze Britain will be as mild as the French Riviera by early next week with highs of 14C in south east
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -week.html

[Lost]

Is frickin' chilly in London. Had some snow recently. Looking forward to some of this 'global warming' later in the year. Fingers crossed

You won't have to wait long!:

Deep freeze Britain will be as mild as the French Riviera by early next week with highs of 14C in south east
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -week.html

Superb!

Was considering burning tyres out the front to try speed things up.

[PeteC]

Live Coverage

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-68036507

Summary

Strong winds and heavy rain from Storm Isha have brought travel disruption, and left tens of thousands of homes without electricity

Gusts of wind of up to 99mph (159km/h) were recorded in Northumberland

About 45,000 people in Northern Ireland were without power overnight, as well as 8,000 in north-west England, and 3,000 in Wales

The Sellafield nuclear site suspended operations. The government said in a staff update there were no safety issues

All Scottish trains after 19:00GMT on Sunday were cancelled, and many services in England are being cancelled too

Amber weather warnings for wind expired for much of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland at 06:00 on Monday. Yellow rain warnings remain in place

Storm Isha is the ninth named storm since September, and follows on from Storm Henk earlier this month

[pharvey]

Well, any flight diversion can be a pain in the backside, but spare a thought for these guys. A supposedly easy, quick hop - begs the question why it even took off.....

"Passengers have been forced to sleep on floors after their Bristol Airport flight was diverted 400 miles away to Paris. The easyJet flight, which took off from Edinburgh yesterday afternoon, circled Bristol for 'some time' before the pilot was forced to change route amid Storm Isha's strong gusts.

Tom Shepard said once they landed in the French capital they had to wait on the tarmac for around three hours while staff debated whether it was worth flying back to Bristol to see if the winds had dropped. It was then decided for everyone to stay in Paris.

Dozens of people on the flight did not have a passport, so they were forced to stay in the airport. They were offered water and food but some, including elderly passengers, had to sleep on the floor."

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bris ... ne-9049115

[HHTel]

British Weather.jpg (78.32 KiB) Viewed 872 times

[Big Boy]

Well, any flight diversion can be a pain in the backside, but spare a thought for these guys. A supposedly easy, quick hop - begs the question why it even took off.....

Reminds me of a flight in the other direction, Heathrow to Glasgow on BA. I always caught the last flight of the day, due to get in to Glasgow at 21:30. It was pretty cold.

Got to Glasgow, and it was buried in freezing fog. We circled, and we circled and we circled during which time we had numerous aborted landings. Eventually the pilot came on the tannoy advising we didn't have enough fuel to circle any longer. We were being diverted to Edinburgh.

BA took no responsibility for this, and we were basically being left to our own devices. Due to the extreme circumstances, we were all given permission to phone friends/relatives to make our own arrangements. 10 minutes flying time is a bloody long way at midnight(ish) in freezing fog, if you actually had transport.

I made 2 phone calls on our way to Edinburgh, just 10 minutes away:

• Call 1 was to the hire car company transferring my hire car from Glasgow to Edinburgh. I actually got their last vehicle - a Ford Focus, which was normally too small for me to drive.

• Call 2 was to our hotel - doors were normally locked at 11. Of course, if checked in, we could come and go at any time with our key, but we hadn't actually checked in.

We landed at Edinburgh, and it was if we'd been hijacked and moved to the most distant, most deserted part of the airport. Eventually they arrived with a ladder for disembarkation, but still we were kept waiting - the ladder was too icy, so declared unsafe. After what seemed like an eternity, it was suddenly declared safe, if everybody disembarked with extreme caution.

In the airport terminal, it was absolute mayhem, a Boeing 757 full of passengers dumped at the wrong airport. I made my way to the car hire desk, picked up the keys and I was out of there - no idea what happened to the other 100+ passengers.

The journey to Faslane (about 25 miles West of Glasgow Airport) was no fun either. Icy roads, snow, etc. One of the features of the new Ford Focus was a heated front windscreen - I don't know what temperature it was effective in, but we had to stop several times to de-ice the windscreen.

The owner of the hotel wasn't too pleased when we arrived about 2:30am, but I'm sure she'd have rather waited than lose our money.

Going back to pharvey's post, do you know if Easy Jet took care of their passengers, or were they just dumped in Paris as we were dumped in Edinburgh by BA?

[pharvey]

Going back to pharvey's post, do you know if Easy Jet took care of their passengers, or were they just dumped in Paris as we were dumped in Edinburgh by BA?

I don't believe Easy Jet did anything - and of course, without passports, a hotel or hire car was not an option for many. Sounds like it was water, a Tuna Sandwich and the floor for the vast majority.

[STEVE G]

Today was the hottest January day EVER: Met Office reveals temperatures hit 19.6C in the Scottish Highlands - beating past records set in 2003, 1971 and 1958
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -1958.html

[HHTel]

Considering how hot it is here and the prospect of getting even hotter, I do smile at some weather headlines back in the UK.

Here's one from this morning:

UK hot weather: Full list of towns and cities set for scorcher as mercury soars to 20C

20C here is 'under the duvet' temperature!

[pharvey]

Considering how hot it is here and the prospect of getting even hotter, I do smile at some weather headlines back in the UK.

Here's one from this morning:

UK hot weather: Full list of towns and cities set for scorcher as mercury soars to 20C

20C here is 'under the duvet' temperature!

Well, let's be fair - when was the last time you had issues getting out of the MV car park due to ice on the "up ramp"?