Weather

[Craigyoung]

!!
I'm sure the Prof will be along soon to give you a detailed answer !!

 

[otherclive]

Scientific Question. Wind Chill means that to the human being, being out when the air temperature is -3 FEELS LIKE -10 ( or whatever). I understand that this is due to the homeostatic functions of the human body reacting to the evaporative and chilling effect of the wind.
What I want to know is, does this apply to inanimate objects. For example a pipe full of water will freeze to a certain extent ( depending on the diameter of the pipe etc) if the air temperature is -3. But if the wind chill means it feels like -10, to a human body; does the water in pipe exposed to the wind chill, freeze as if it is -10 or -3.
Ever curious
Mel

Exactly the question my son has just rang me with as his condensing boiler outflow has frozen and the boiler stopped working! I told him that if he does live in wild Wales it goes with the location!

The only effect wind chill has on inanimate objects, such as car radiators and water pipes, is to shorten the amount of time for the object to cool. The inanimate object will not cool below the actual air temperature.

 

[Perry525]

PaulIT
Went to shower just now - p waste frozen solid. Now is the time to fit Elektra FreezeTec Heating cable I've been meaning to fit for the past year. I bought a 5 meter length to wrap round both waste pipes. Problem ,its supposed to be covered with foam insulation - will have to improvise. Oh well, snows not too deep.

 

[otherclive]

PaulIT
Went to shower just now - p waste frozen solid. Now is the time to fit Elektra FreezeTec Heating cable I've been meaning to fit for the past year. I bought a 5 meter length to wrap round both waste pipes. Problem ,its supposed to be covered with foam insulation - will have to improvise. Oh well, snows not too deep.

i

Just make believe that you are Finnish. Grab some birch twigs and go and roll in that snow.

 

[Hutch]

Down here in Rural Milton Keynes, we have a hint of snow and thats it, it is minus 5c though.
Take care everyone though.

 

[Craigyoung]

.....So there trying to to get rid of diesels !!
I wonder how many people was stuck for hours overnight on the stranded motorways with the snow in electric vehicles ?? I wouldn't have been feeling very safe compared to having a full tank of diesel !

 

[ProfJohnL]

!!
I'm sure the Prof will be along soon to give you a detailed answer !!

No need to add anything more to Otherclives answer above. B)

 

[Raywood]

Glasgow is at a near standstill today with no public transport. Very little evidence of cars using the road outside and one footpath has no footsteps showing. Seems to have just stopped snowing so may be things will improve. No snow clearance here but cannot see the main roads but no audible motorway noise which we normally have and even worse the morning paper has not turned up..
Frankly unless things improve it is not worth the risk to travel.

 

[otherclive]

My son got his condensing boiler outlet defrosted and has taken his Freelander out get some additional insulation. He’s in the red awning area and first time in two years his Nokian Weatherproof tyres have seen snow. At -5 and some snow he’s chuffed with them. Now back to hunker down.

 

[jallin]

Unbelievable! Just seen a caravan being towed in the Peak District. Despite people wanting to use their vans surely it can't be safe? We were struggling in a Ford Ranger.....

 

[Buckman]

We are away in the caravan in Somerset which is supposed to be a red zone. A light smattering of snow this morning and that has been it. For the past couple of days the weather has been lovely and sunny and we were on the beach yesterday obviously not swimming. Strange seeing snow on the beach. We leave on Sunday for the West Midlands so hopefully by then, it has all blown over.

 

[Parksy]

Here in the West Midlands there are freezing gusty winds and approximately a quarter of an inch of powdery snow blowing about.
The main roads are reasonably clear but I wouldn't fancy towing the caravan in this weather.
Having driven since the late 1960s I'm used to driving in snow, but many younger drivers are unused to these conditions, so no matter how careful one may be there's always a good chance of being hit by another vehicle.
The news reports make me smile, there's always some hapless reporter speaking from the middle of a cold snowy field ramping up the sense of drama by describing ''10 centimetres of snow'' which in old money is about four inches.
When I was a kid four inches of snow meant that we had to put our home knitted balaclava on and wear our blue mackintosh in the classroom when the heating inevitably broke, the country didn't come to a standstill and school closures were unheard of. At least the BBC has stopped constantly beating us up about 'global warming' for a day or two so it can't be all bad.
No doubt the tv experts will soon be insisting that this 'freak weather' is somehow all our fault and the only way to save the entire planet from the middle of Wolverhampton will be to pay double the cost for everything. :evil:

 

[otherclive]

The double decker bus driver who avoided two vehicles can pick my lottery numbers anytime.

Following on from Parksy's view of our response to snow some may like to watch the Youtube video song on the link which can be searched using "S*** it's snow"

 

[Beehpee]

I could tell it was colder than usual today, my multi meter packed up because the cold killed the battery, my gas soldering iron wouldn’t ignite without warming it up on the dash of my car with the heater blowing full and insulation tape needed to be warmed to get it to stick, I can’t recall finding stripping back the outer insulation on wiring as difficult but I still managed to complete a days work outside on my knees on icy windswept driveways, all these people who can’t get to work because of a couple of inches or less of snow need to try being self employed and I think they might realise how easy it actually is, my heating at home went on the blink when I got home and as mentioned already the condensing outlet had frozen so I had to pour a couple of kettles of hot water over the outlet, global warming? bring it on the sooner the better!!!

 

[Grahamh]

Buckman,
I am just down the road from you (not in the caravan). Started snowing here at about 14:00 and is still snowing hard. the wind has picked up and snow is drifting. Local news says that it will keep snowing until some time tomorrow and the wind is forceast to get up to storm force. Plenty of pics of travellers stuck in snow on the main roads and only one lane open each way of the motorway. Doubt very much whether you will be travelling anywhere soon.

 

[Mel]

I could tell it was colder than usual today, my multi meter packed up because the cold killed the battery, my gas soldering iron wouldn’t ignite without warming it up on the dash of my car with the heater blowing full and insulation tape needed to be warmed to get it to stick, I can’t recall finding stripping back the outer insulation on wiring as difficult but I still managed to complete a days work outside on my knees on icy windswept driveways, all these people who can’t get to work because of a couple of inches or less of snow need to try being self employed and I think they might realise how easy it actually is, my heating at home went on the blink when I got home and as mentioned already the condensing outlet had frozen so I had to pour a couple of kettles of hot water over the outlet, global warming? bring it on the sooner the better!!!

The problem for many is not that the weather has stopped them getting to work; it is the closed schools and out of school clubs which means that they suddenly find themselves with no childcare!
Mel

 

[jallin]

With 45 staff living within a 30 mile radius of school in the Peak District I'm sorry but I couldn't safely open a school and potentially put 290 people at risk for the sake of providing parents with their childcare.....Damned if you do damned if you don't..... I do wonder if some people have been watching the news footage of the areas badly affected by snow?? Really!

 

[jallin]

Or sorry should that read providing children with their "education" rather than "childcare"......I rest my case

 

[Mel]

The point I was making was that suddenly not having children in school, means that working parents find themselves in a difficult situation, and it is not always the condition of the roads that prevents folks getting to work. You must make whatever risk decisions that fall within your remit, as you see appropriate.
Like Parksy I remember schools never closing, being taught in the hall by the Head, at least 3 classes of us, because staff hadn't turned in. Wearing my coat in the classroom, and the smell that was not quite like wet dog, but fairly close, as steaming children slowly dried out.
However we now live in a risk averse age, where someone falling over in the icy playground is no longer just tough luck.
BTW as I live in Derbyshire, I have seen the weather.
Mel

 

[jallin]

Those times were well before the suing culture people have created where children are so wrapped in cotton wool that they have become risk adverse. I would happily "TEACH"/babysit 100 children in the hall but I can guarantee you that the number of complaints I would receive would be immeasurable!! I was criticised today for not making the decision to close earlier - as I said you cannot win. But before people jump to conclusions about schools who close, people should consider the whole picture. Schools don't have to consider 1 person who can/cannot get to work but potentially 1000's!!

 

[Parksy]

Those times were well before the suing culture people have created where children are so wrapped in cotton wool that they have become risk adverse. I would happily "TEACH"/babysit 100 children in the hall but I can guarantee you that the number of complaints I would receive would be immeasurable!! I was criticised today for not making the decision to close earlier - as I said you cannot win. But before people jump to conclusions about schools who close, people should consider the whole picture. Schools don't have to consider 1 person who can/cannot get to work but potentially 1000's!!

A bit like hospitals then
I'm really glad that my six year old granddaughter attends a good school in which the staff don't consider themselves to be 'babysitting' when they're doing the job that they're paid to do, which is educating children

 

[jallin]

Thanks Parksy that's exactly my point - schools are for educating not for working families "childcare" as the thread stated earlier. Hence my use of the term in inverted commas!!! Just like hospitals schools are bound by many rules which are for the safety of our young people eg 1 teacher to 30 infant pupils etc which I am sure parents/grandparents will all support schools with. My response was to try and encourage people to see that schools do not close without having very good reason and decisions have to be made with the best information possessed at the time with the safety of pupils and staff as paramount. Less pressure on emergency services/hospitals if people don't ignore warnings and make unnecessary trips.

 

[Buckman]

Buckman,
I am just down the road from you (not in the caravan). Started snowing here at about 14:00 and is still snowing hard. the wind has picked up and snow is drifting. Local news says that it will keep snowing until some time tomorrow and the wind is forceast to get up to storm force. Plenty of pics of travellers stuck in snow on the main roads and only one lane open each way of the motorway. Doubt very much whether you will be travelling anywhere soon.

Came in with a vengeance not long after posting and a couple of inches. The roadway in the park is like a sheet of ice and safer to walk on the snow. Glad I went and got some extra milk yesterday. The windows on the wind side of the caravan are frozen over. Unfortunately the water barrels are that side. I brought in the pump but there is a possibility that the water in the barrels is frozen although one has an insulated cover over it and the other has the aquaroll cover over it. Have not been out to check. We are supposed to leave on Sunday, but if the roadway is frozen, we may not be able to move the caravan?

 

[Buckman]

I have just ventured outside to check on the water barrels and both are frozen. The one has the expensive supposedly insulated cover which was bought for in excess of £30 from a place that specialises in making these covers!
Can any one make a suggestion how to defrost the barrels as we probably cannot bring them into the caravan?

 

[Gabsgrandad]

I like my motor cycling, at the local bikers meet recently, quite deep!