Smiffish Winter Weather Watch

[Holy Joe]

There were plenty of warnings last week that there could be problems on Monday morning. Everyone had plenty of notice to prepare for problems of delays / no service and could have taken home laptops / remote working stuff on Friday. Clearly you don't have to be awake at 4am to listen to a decision being made - you just check radio/websites etc when you wake up - afterall you know that there might be a problem.

Why wait until 100% certain - because decisions like these cost the country millions of pounds in lost production etc. It would have looked a pretty daft decision had there been no/minimal damage.

 

[Neil_F]

Whilst I agree with the early decision, it would have been helpful to have engineers checking the track at the earliest opportunity. For example, the London Overground was suspended until 9am. On arrival at 9am we were told that there would be no service because engineers were not checking the track until 10am.

There were no extra buses to get those people to work and I ended up walking 2.5 miles to get to get the DLR from Bank.

It was not a glorious day for the organisational capability of TfL.

 

[londonblue]

Whilst I agree with the early decision, it would have been helpful to have engineers checking the track at the earliest opportunity. For example, the London Overground was suspended until 9am. On arrival at 9am we were told that there would be no service because engineers were not checking the track until 10am.

There were no extra buses to get those people to work and I ended up walking 2.5 miles to get to get the DLR from Bank.

It was not a glorious day for the organisational capability of TfL.

In fairness, given how bad the wind was even at 9.00 this morning I don't blame the engineers for not going out until later.

Buses couldn't run for the same reason.

 

[Neil_F]

In fairness, given how bad the wind was even at 9.00 this morning I don't blame the engineers for not going out until later.

Buses couldn't run for the same reason.

Regular buses were running, yet no rail replacement buses were. I don't understand why this wasn't possible.

I was out at 9 trying to get to work. Even so, if TfL didn't know what time engineers could be deployed they shouldn't have said that the service resumes at 9am.

 

[OldBlueLady]

The announcement about trains could easily have been made in the evening news rather than when it was. Most people, if they have any common sense, would have been checking by listening to local radio or even using such technology as the internet to find out what was and wasn't running! It didn't need to be announced as early as it was.

 

[londonblue]

Regular buses were running, yet no rail replacement buses were. I don't understand why this wasn't possible.

I was out at 9 trying to get to work. Even so, if TfL didn't know what time engineers could be deployed they shouldn't have said that the service resumes at 9am.

Interesting. No buses round our way, even though they're only single deckers...

 

[MK Shrimper]

From the NR Intranet:

“In such treacherous weather conditions, the roads were likely to be unsafe and we didn't want situations where people could be left hanging around a station or stuck on a train with the route blocked by something on the line or damaged overhead wires. We also didn't want to drop people off at their destination this morning, only for them to not be able to get home again later.

"In advance, there were some concerns that maybe we were being over-cautious. But we didn't want another scenario like the hurricane of 1987, and if you look at what's happened, and how everything's panned out, I think we made exactly the right call.

 

[Shrimper]

A few trees down on my way to work, but only blocking one lane, so traffic was getting through slowly but surely.

The fatality reported in Watford was actually pretty close to where I'd normally drive in through; poor sod.

On the general point of early cancellation of trains, that seemed a prudent move to me. Better safe and all that, plus people on the radio this morning complaining that they hadn't heard about it - listen to the news you ****ing morons.

There were people on the radio the other night who had heard about the cancellations but still decided to go to the platform and wait in the morning despite there being no trains until at earliest, 10:00. :dim:

 

[Crawliano]

One day out of your life where pretty much everyone is in the same boat is hardly going to cause a massive issue. OK - if you've got to get a plane etc you'd do something like plan in advance, get to the airport the day before etc. But ****ing and moaning because a company is in a catch 22 situation is hardly fair. If they let the trains run (which on c2c they wouldn't have gotten far anyway) and there was a derailment there would've been uproar, they don't let the trains run, there's uproar.

I despair.

I took the opportunity to ride it out in my pants with both hands.

 

[OldBlueLady]

So, with warnings of another harsh (for England) Winter ahead, what says our resident expert on the matter?

 

[Benfleet A1]

If you have read that in the daily express then I would be more inclined to go out and buy some suntan lotion.

 

[OldBlueLady]

If you have read that in the daily express then I would be more inclined to go out and buy some suntan lotion.

Can't remember which paper it was, saw a link somewhere...

 

[Bielzibubz]

It was indeed the Daily Express. If you believe the hyperbole in their pages we're in for something akin to 'The Day After Tomorrow' to hit us and stay withg us for the next three months.

 

[MK Shrimper]

And here's the Met Office response to it's scare mongering.

Once again it is the season for speculation and big headlines regarding what the weather will do over the winter period. The front page of the Daily Express (Saturday 12th October) claims: ‘Worst winter for decades: Record-breaking snow predicted for November’.

We saw similar headlines last year and instead winter 12/13 ended up being only the 43rd coldest on record with an average temperature of 3.3C and flooding until the turn of the year.

What the Daily Express has failed to explain to it’s readers is that there is absolutely no certainty about what weather the UK will see over the winter period. The science simply does not exist to make detailed, long-term forecasts for temperature and snowfall even for the end of November, let alone for the winter period, which does not officially start until 1 December.

While we have seen a return to more normal, cooler temperatures for this time of year, this is no indication of what we can expect over the next four months with regards to temperatures and when we might see snow. It is far too early to tell.

Ultimately, we’re heading into winter and it is perfectly possible that we will see the whole range of weather that we get in winter at some point over the coming months, including snow and freezing temperatures, but also heavy rain, windy weather and mild conditions too.

Our five day forecasts and warnings will provide you with the best possible guidance on any periods of cold weather, frost or the likelihood of snow, giving detailed local information across the UK to help you make the most of the weather over the coming months.

 

[bucket&spade.f.c]

Smiffy, When are we expecting this "real bad" weather and could you tell me when you bring out the fluro pop ups :winking:

 

[A Century United]

Latest 30-Day forecast (Guestimate!) from the Met Office:

[h=3]UK Outlook for Sunday 24 Nov 2013 to Tuesday 3 Dec 2013:[/h]Sunday and Monday will see a good deal of dry weather with variable amounts of cloud and sunny spells by day, particularly across western areas. Eastern areas are more likely to be cloudy at times with scattered light showers, possibly wintry over higher ground. It will stay cold, particularly so in the south east with brisk winds, and overnight frosts are likely to be widespread. Western areas in particular are likely to see localised fog or freezing fog patches. The generally settled but cold weather continues thereafter with persistent fog patches possible in places, especially in the south and west. There are signs that more unsettled, milder and windy weather may affect more northwestern parts later in the period, but confidence of this is currently low.
[h=3]UK Outlook for Wednesday 4 Dec 2013 to Wednesday 18 Dec 2013:[/h]Current indications are that high pressure is likely to continue to dominate the weather over this period, with generally settled and dry conditions for many. Despite this, there is an increased risk of fog or freezing fog patches that may be slow to clear in places through the day. In terms of temperatures, it is likely to remain on the colder side of normal but there are signs of a slight recovery nearer to normal by the middle of December. During the latter part of the period, there is a greater chance of the weather turning more unsettled, mainly across northern and western parts. This would bring wetter, windier and milder conditions here.
Issued at: 1600 on Tue 19 Nov 2013

 

[Benfleet A1]

Looks like it could be a soggy night in Essex tonight. 2700 homes evacuated in Jaywick and my company's Water Rescue Team are on stand-by for pretty much the entire coastline. Glad I'm off shift.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Looks like it could be a soggy night in Essex tonight. 2700 homes evacuated in Jaywick and my company's Water Rescue Team are on stand-by for pretty much the entire coastline. Glad I'm off shift.

Surprised all leave hasn't been cancelled and you're all on standby! Really hope everyone is ok tonight, some really awful conditions out there.

 

[Benfleet A1]

Surprised all leave hasn't been cancelled and you're all on standby! Really hope everyone is ok tonight, some really awful conditions out there.

I'm not water trained [yet] so wouldn't be apart of it anyway. The Environmental Agency are predicting the tidal surge to be worse or at least on a par with 1953. That's not good but at least the flood defence's are vastly improved compared to back then.

 

[Gt Yarmouth Shrimper]

Had a call at 7.30 tonight advising both bridges in GY will be shut so we closed down at work and got the hell out of town. Both GY and Gorleston beaches are under water and high tide not for another hour yet.