On Tuesday night snow fell across the UK and most of it is still here. On Wednesday the whole country came to standstill, schools closed, many took the day off work, motorways and dual carriageway became blocked and shut down, I think they're even running out of salt and grit to put on the roads. The thing is England, especially the South, only gets a few days of snow a year, if any. So I wonder how people deal with it in places where you get a lot more snow during the winter months, like Scandanavia, Russia, Canada, and the Northern States of America.

In Oslo, car owners and pedestrians work around the clock to shovel away snow that lays in their way. Usually we have tractors equipped with ploughs that do half the job for us, but we still need to remove the snow from the driveways and such. Afterwards, a new batch of tractors arrive, this time scattering salt and gravel. To warm up cars, we use fans generating hot air in the cars' cabin over the night. Also, we use cans with hot water to melt away ice from the windows. Most of the snowfall is through for now, but that doesn't change the fact that it is -20 degrees every morning. And I don't even own a car...

It's just part of life, like rain or sunshine or clouds. I really don't understand why places not used to snow freak out and treat it like some alien substance that's going to devour and destory all humanity. Just shovel your walk, scrpae the ice off your car windows, and drive very slowly, that's all you need to do. It's not a big deal

Opening car doors can be a problem when it's REALLY cold (-15 C or below), so some good avice is not to pull on the door handle too hard if the door is stuck, because it will without doubt break right off in your hand. Instead pull on the crack at the top of the door where it meets the roof, to prevent destroying your door handle.

I'm just sitting here and are waiting for the -supposedly- big snow-storm, which shall come over Northwest-Germany, where I live in exactly one hour. The whole day there was nearly a hysteria in Germany, even with breaking news, etc. Let's see, what will happen. But I'm very relaxed. We have bought everything and this weekend we don't have to go anywhere - and next week I'll have vactions (go get rid of old days from last year).
Now (23:05) nothing happens, no snow, no wind.

I think, this story is blown up a bit. We had several winter-days over here, ad it was quite cold, too. So around the 19./20.December we had -17 to -18 degrees. In Bavaria it was colder. Last year we had also a quite long and cold winter, compared with the years before. For over 6 weeks it was always colder than 0 degrees. This is quite extreme here, close to the river Rhine and the Netherlands. We had several winters, where there was no snow at all, sometimes maximum 5 centimeters.

But I'm a bit distrustful about annother thing - that the electricity could collapsing. Yes, the big energy-companies are saying, that Germany had the best and reliable electricity-system of Europe, etc... - but 4 years ago there was a real scandal, when several dozens of high-voltage-pylons were collapsed due deep temperatures and heavy snow. It happend to old pylons from the 50ies, made from bad steel. The big oligopolistic energy-companies are making billions of profits -every year!- but it's not enough for good pylons. This is a real problem over here.

No kidding, today I've loaded up all our-accu-items, like mobile-phones and my shaver. And I've looked, that there is enough fire-wood. O.k., we just have a single fire-place, not enough for the big house, but a little bit is better than nothing.

But we had been lucky, when this drama happend - the "dead zone" started just two villages north of us, just 10 km away. And I personally had annother real fortune: one of these collapsing voltage-pylons fell on the Autobahn nearby, the A31. The people there have stucked in their cars for 18 hours, because noone was able to clear off the road. And just 24 hours before, I drove this highway, without a winter-coat and with a 95% empty tank, just for a short trip to Winterswijk, the next village in Holland, for filling up the cheaper Dutch Diesel. What a horrible imagination, to stuck a freezing night in the snow, just because the stupid idea for saving 6 or 7 Euro with the cheaper Diesel. :wow:

I grew up in the flat, mountain-less Northern Germany and noone of my family had interests in wintersports, so I'm not common with the winter-situations in the Alps and even medium hills. No, I cannot handle with snow-chains on cars. And for many years -and cars- I never had winter-tires. But this had helped to get driving-experience, to handle a car with worn out summer-tires in the snow.

I have childhood-memories of the winter 1978/79, which was the extremst in Norther Germany ever. More than 1 to 1,5 meter of snow, this happens in the Alps every wintr, but never in Northern Germany. This was a paradise for me. We had built snow-igloos on car-park behind the house.
O.k., I was 8 years ol then, and my school was on the other side of the street, so real a paradise time for me.
I had no problems, if it would happen again - I have a home-office. But my wife would have problems, she had to drive 65 km one was to work (me, too, until last March). But the last winter I could enjoy at home for annother reason: In January I felt on the steps in front of my mother-in-laws' house and have broken my hand and got a havy smashed back. So 6 weeks I've stayed at home - before I had the home office.

Let's wait, what this night will bring. Perhaps tomorry I'll have time enough for strolling around the www, because we cannot leave the house.


P.S. One thing makes me loving ugly winter-weather: the faboulous, georgeous Eberspächer-extra-heating, my Omega has. Never scratching the windows, just pressing a knob (or programming the time before). From all around you hear the "crotch-crotch" of the ice-scratching neighbours, in front of my house there is just a lovely "whoooo", which releases my car - and give me a warm butt, when I enter it.

@taxiguy: I had such problems with stuck doors several times at different cars (at one K 70, my Passat, the NSU and even the Omega, when the extra heating was broken). I could open the doors - but they didn't shut any more.

One trick was helpful: I took a cable and a hair-dryer.


P.S.: there is annother trick, when you don't have a hair-dryer and you are alone outside: a powerful pee on the key and the lock.

Annother weather-related question: is anyone around here, who never had seen and touched snow by his own? Some of the Aussies maybe?

I've met people in Namibia, for those it was an unforgettable experience, when they had been in the snow for their first time, when they had been in Germany. They really were freaking out. And the people around have thought, that they were totally nuts, because they were German Namibians and not identifyable as Africans.

This is not good. It's rather very stupid.

Well, no matter how stupid it sounds, it works, and very well too.

Snow, yes I have (and last year too). We only get it on the moutains (Buller, etc.) But I was on school camp, (Mt. Bogong) and we saw some, so we hiked (extra 1km, with packs ) over to it. So much fun, we had just enough for a snowball fight. We also played snow baseball with a large stick. Got covered in snow.

I find it really bizarre that other countries get by just fine in bad weather. Yet, in Britain everything falls apart and the news media hit absurd heights of hysteria about it. I suppose I'm kind of used to it because we seem to get one bad fall a winter and really apart from the ice I'm fine.

In Belgium the first days of snow are apocalyptic too
Usually we do not have several of these, but this winter it is already the third "wave" of snow, it seems to become a little better (except that they run out of salt so they plan to only salt the highways and not other roads anymore )

We seem to be having an ice problem and Ireland is running out of grit fast
its very trecherous especially in the provences of Leinster and Munster.
Even for pedestrians, But this clip made my day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZvCK2o6Zbo

We (those of us in NC and even farther down south) almost never see snow. The climate here is too warm (semi tropical) and conditions are never ideal to actually form snow. We do get to see cold winters, even if only for a brief time, but snow never accompanies it.

Every once in a blue moon, if that, we might see a freak attempt by mother nature to bring a small dash of snow here, but it either starts to melt as soon as it lands on something or within the next few hours. It never lasts.

The northern mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee do see snow every now and then.

I like snow for the "peaceful" atmosphere it creates. All is more quiet.
And it looks nice
Last year I made that photo which I found nice looking: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=234625&l=2fff780516&id=1257219791
But this year I could not make an "artistic" one

In southern Canada, dealing with snow is pretty straightforward: the snowplows are active round the clock, and there's often sidewalk clearing as well if there's a particularly heavy snowfall. Most homeowners have a snowblower, a variety of shovels and salt, so clearing snow is a 10-15 minute routine that you do before you get out in the morning or when you come back at night.

Interestingly, while it seems Europe has been pounded by winter weather this year, southern Ontario has been mostly unscathed. 2009 marked the first time that Toronto has not had any snow in November since 1937.

We got dumped with about 1ft (30cm) of snow a few weeks ago. Some of it is still around, but the temps have been going back up to the 40s. I hate driving in the snow. I already wrecked this car once because of it. But I've learned to brake before the turn, coast through the turn, then accelerate out of the turn to reduce understeer. Braking while turning on snow leads to disaster and ABS becomes useless.

Over here it's much less dramatical as expected. We got ca.5-8 cm of new snow, so not a big deal. It was windy, but not stormy. And it's getting warmer, around 0 degrees, so that it's even melting a bit.
This morning I've cleaned the place in front of our house, ca.80 square-meters with a shovel and a broomstick. Not a big deal, too. It's good for the fitness! So I've a good reason, not to drive no to the fitness-gym, and better sit in front of the PC, with some chocolade and red wine.


In the NortEast of Germany it's really dramatical, as the news are saying. The Baltic Sea-coast is over-covered with snow. Really bad it seems to be on the islands Fehmarn and Rügen.
There are three heavily pregant girls in trouble. They are stuck in little villages with blockaded streets.

Perhaps it will happens, like in the legendary snow-winter 1978/79 in Northern Germany. There were some children born somewhere outside, in stucked ambulances. I remember some articles about a girl, wich was born in a Bundeswehr-Panzer, a "Leopard"-recovery-tank.

It's cool, when in your passport is remarked at "place of birth" something like "Bundesstraße 199 between Gelting and Steinbergkirche" or so - yes, the people, born somwhere outside, does have this in the papers.

@marioman: so this was your last night?
http://www.spiegel.de/video/video-1040805.html

Today it's a bit warmer over here, around 0 degrees. The coldest day we had at the 19th December with -17/-18 degrees here in North Rhine-Westphalia. In Bavaria and somewhere in Eastern Germany it was close to -30 degrees then.

Pretty much-lucky I didn't have to use the train, and the AC held up. So hot though-and today it was colder (23ish) and windy... Weather, weather, weather.

And I know a kid who did that, so I gave him my ice scraper. What I didn't realize at the time was that it was the only one I had. So on my next trip up north I bought one for myself, and later bought two for my parents.

These are just one of the tales I can tell about Florida kids who never saw snow before, and New Yorkers who had no idea that anyone in Florida could ever have the need for any winter-related items.