Top tip

[Zirax]

This could be handy for someone on the icy pavements. Just sacrificed a pair of old sports socks and put them over my shoes. They work brilliantly on the ice! We have about 3/4" solid ice on the road here. Even I am able to stand up and walk about. Previously I couldn't stand due to the sheet ice!

If you don't mind looking like a bit of a nutter then they really work :)

[vix]

Sounds good to me. Rather look a fool in socks, standing up, than a fool on my arse on the ice ;)

[Del Lardo]

As a side tip you can get snow socks for your car tyres. Could be useful for people who have to drive in the new few weeks with the weather predicted to say bad.

Google Snow Socks or have a look at http://www.roofbox.co.uk/car-snow-socks/

[Knipples]

Wheres this bloody global warming hey!?!? ;)

[Kitten]

I could answer that but I won't!

[Del Lardo]

Wheres this bloody global warming hey!?!? ;)

2009 was one of the hottest years in recent history. Anyway it's climate change these days so it includes cold weather as well ;)

[Knipples]

I was being flippant honest! :p

I know it means extremes of weather hence the coldest winter for 15 years as they said on the news earlier.

[Greenlizard0]

I'm tempted to try that. I wear trainers which are more fashionable than being part of sport's kit.

[Goose]

I'm going to nail socks to my bike tires, thanks for the tip.

[Grandad]

As a side tip you can get snow socks for your car tyres. Could be useful for people who have to drive in the new few weeks with the weather predicted to say bad.

Google Snow Socks or have a look at http://www.roofbox.co.uk/car-snow-socks/

they look good but they don't do them in my tyre size and decent snow chains cost a fortune :(

[Greenlizard0]

Blimey. Just popped outside to lock the gate and there's a thick blanket of snow here.

[Fayshun]

I'm wearing my German Para boots in the ice, they're like 4x4 for feet. Not even slipped once.

And I've bought a big furry Russian hat. Mmm, toasty head. Lom says I look like a prat, but at least I'm a warm prat!

[Admiral Huddy]

I have glued a dozen or so old socks to my cycle tyres.. Let's see how that goes.

[Matblack]

I've made Aitch take a pair to work, it was really icey this morning, again. Getting bored of this now. I suspect that even if we get an even heavier snow fall than last time they will be less forgiving about people getting in.

After the few days before Christmas I saw lots and lots of cars with fresh dents, particularly in side panels. I really don't want to take the car out if it gets bad again :/

MB

[Zirax]

Yep and there was the usual dick in a 4x4 went zooming past as I went back to the flat. It's all well and good that 4wd could get him moving..... just how is he going to stop ::/:

My work seem alright about the snow so far. When the weather has said worst winter for x years they shouldn't argue too much.

[Jonny69]

I learned a new tip for old cars too :)

Tie rope round the tyres through the wheel spokes and hey presto, temporary snow chains!

[Darrin]

Or in my case ratcheting tie down straps. They don't last too long with the amount of miles I drive, but if I'm up to the pumpkins in snow and not moving (even in 4WD with LT255/75R15's), then it's all out to get moving again.

[Rich_L]

Yup top tip :)

We handed out half a dozen pairs (live at the bottom of a hill) when in Cornwall on Christmas Eve as people abandoned their cars by the side and were struggling to walk up the hill to get home :p

[Garp]

Wheres this bloody global warming hey!?!? ;)

I was reading the other day that what we're dealing with is an Arctic Ossilation, or something like that. It tends to happen every 20 years or so for a few years on the trot. Whilst it's happening places that are usually warm suffer cold years with lots more snow, and at the same time places like Newfoundland that should be -30 degrees go through unseasonable warm spells (currently sitting in the -10s instead)

http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/patterns/arctic_oscillation.html

Strange, but apparently true.

[sara]

There's a simplified explanation from the BBC too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/01/arctic_conditions_arctic_cause.html

There's a bigger version of the graph over the years: http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/daily_ao_index/month.ao.gif

- the mostly-cold stretch from 1984 to 1988 explains why I remember so much snow from childhood in Sweden, and I remember the 2001 cold snap very well as I was learning to drive then, and my instructor took me out on compacted snow to learn how skids and wheelspins happened, and how to get out of them... practical lesson too, great fun :D