Snow/Wintry conditions

[whole diary]

[Bob_Blakey]

Credit (to FGW^▸ (First Great Western)) when it is due...since the 17th December I have had to abandon my daily 5-mile cycle commute and use a combination of WFH^▸ (Working From Home) and the Avocet^▸ (Branch line from Exeter to Exmouth) Line between DIG & EXC; in that time I have completed 8 return journeys using the 0703 / 0733 ex-DIG and 1654 ex-EXC and the maximum delay has been 5 minutes. To provide such a reasonable service when many of the local roads were unusable is I think pretty good.
On one particularly icy morning the FGW white van man was at Digby & Sowton station very early in the morning treating the platform and approaches with de-icer.

[Phil]

On one particularly icy morning the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) white van man was at Digby & Sowton station very early in the morning treating the platform and approaches with de-icer.

Oh THAT'S where he was! Explains why Melksham station didn't get treated then. 

[willc]

And the Network Rail 4x4 white pick-up men were out in force in the Cotswolds today, replacing the gas bottles for the point heaters and tackling some problem at Ascott-under-Wychwood - described as signalling-related, points or axle counter? - which caused 45-minute delays to several services, including the 09.29 Moreton-London and 08.22 London-Hereford. The 8.58 from Malvern was terminated at Oxford, also 45 late, and I think a Malvern-bound working was stopped there too, to avoid further single-line knock-on problems.

[TheLastMinute]

Thought it was worth putting a weather update on here...

West Country Snow: it's time for Round 2
UPDATE: 10:20hrs TUESDAY 12 JANUARY 2010:

Our new high-resolution modelling from the Met Office remains keen on the notion of bringing fairly widespread snowfall across the West Country through this evening and tonight.  Latest suggested accumulations propose 2-5cm for lowland Devon and Dorset away from the south coast, with spot values around 10cm on higher ground; a fresh 10-15cm snow on Dartmoor above 200m; 2-5cm snow by the end of tonight (and locally higher on upland areas) across parts of (I stress 'parts of') Somerset, Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, inland Hampshire and also Herefordshire.

Wales could well see the highest snowfall totals and disruptive impacts: with the topography playing a key role in modulating how much snow falls, we could see 15-20cm snow on the high ground rising north of Cardiff and - away from the immediate coast - even 5cm or so in some of the districts actually around Cardiff itself.

The rates will lessen as the night continues, much as per earlier forecast expectations.

TLM

[devon_metro]

Brilliant!

Our snow is forecast around 1400/1500 and I have to drive at this time. Might be interesting what with the bitter easterly wind.

[The SprinterMeister]

Brilliant!

Our snow is forecast around 1400/1500 and I have to drive at this time. Might be interesting what with the bitter easterly wind.

Indeed. I am on this afternoon (trundling round the Brizzle - Westbury area) and don't finish until 01:00 tomorrow morning. Might get to use the 'extra' gear lever on the Fourtrak later on for getting home then....

Perhaps Network Rail might find a use for 37706 (mini snow plough fitted) they have hired in from WCRC and stabled at BK then.

[devon_metro]

Typically its falling as rain! (In torbay at least - no doubt its hellish on Dartmoor)

[ChrisB]

The forecast was always for rain on the coast....

[Chris from Nailsea]

Light snow falling in Nailsea now - outside temperature is 0^oC.

[Brucey]

Light snow falling in Nailsea now - outside temperature is 0^oC.

Light dusting of snow here in Redland too - about half a centimetre but it is still snowing lightly.

[devon_metro]

Just spoken to somebody who is trapped in their car on the A380 between Torbay & Exeter, and are likely to have to stay their all night. Fun.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

we came back from bridgewater, heavy rain some sleat, exeter and east devon apart from honiton are heavy rain,honiton up the a30 towards chard and yeovil heavy snow,as you now telegraph hill closed, diversion via dawlish gridlocked with heavy rain and flooding predicted,if it freezes its looking bad!

[devon_metro]

Torquay seafront closed due to the large waves. I couldn't even see the sea today due to the density of the rain/sleet

[old original]

Torquay seafront closed due to the large waves. I couldn't even see the sea today due to the density of the rain/sleet

14.06 pad - pnz got a salty rinse at dawlish this afternoon

[Chris from Nailsea]

Just spoken to somebody who is trapped in their car on the A380 between Torbay & Exeter, and are likely to have to stay their all night. Fun.

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Thousands of Devon motorists trapped by snow

Blizzards have led to thousands of motorists being stranded in parts of Devon as wintry weather continues to cause chaos across the county.

Telegraph Hill on the A380 and the A38 at Haldon Hill were both closed, leading to miles of queues.

Police have urged motorists stuck on the two hills to stay in their vehicles until officers can get to them.

A number of emergency rest centres, including one at Exeter Racecourse, have been set up for stranded drivers.

The snow also affected air travel and led to a number of flights in and out of Plymouth Airport being cancelled.

The Met Office earlier issued a severe weather warning for the south west with predictions that a band of snow and wintry showers would sweep across the region.

Between 3cm (1in) and 10cm (4in) of snow was predicted for parts of Devon, with strong winds expected to cause drifts of up to 15cm (6in) on Dartmoor.

As a result gritting lorries were dispatched in the early hours to salt all major road surfaces across the county.