Snow Time


It's rare for us here in south western England to get plentiful snow, but last night the perfect conditions happened for it - the cold continental block (i.e. high pressure from northern Europe) we've had over England for the past few days clashed with a moisture laden south-westerly stream of air coming up from the Atlantic. The result? A good few inches of snow - the most for 25 years - enough to have a really good scrunch around in today, build lots of snowmen with snowpets and have giggly snowball fights. As for our cats, they did go out in it first thing this morning but didn't even bother to complete their usual circuit of our house before returning to central heating duty.

NAH was out with his trusty snow shovel to clear the road, then he and I had a good old tramp through our newly muffled world. I also ventured up the hill this afternoon for coffee with Threadspider and returned with lots of pictures to put into today's slideshow. Whilst there I heard Wiltshire is running out of salt and so only major roads will be treated for the forseeable future. The most bizarre thing I heard today though was the cricket test match commentators in Jamaica talking about snowmen and snowploughs whilst they're experiencing tropical temperatures.

We have a similar amount of snow forecast again for tonight, then -10 Celcius temperatures for tomorrow night - brrrrrr!

Comments

  1. Sol5 February 2009 at 21:03

    lots of snow here, people pulling children along on bits of plastic and sledges.

    Didnt go to work today, but hope to get out of our street tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anna5 February 2009 at 22:23

    Cool slideshow VP. Were Jess and Skimble eyeing up the snowpets from afar ? It looks as if you are in for a lot more of the white stuff tonight. Here although it snowed for a few hours it has now all but melted :( Dash that Mersey estuary !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5 February 2009 at 22:37

    And we have no snow. Not fair at all. I want at least one good snow. Waaaaaa! I bet everyone there is excited and cold.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gail6 February 2009 at 02:31

    Dear VP,
    It's a beautiful world that snow creates...I am over wanting it to snow here...Bring on the greenery and blooming bulbs. Speaking of bulbs and spring~~I loved the snowdrop blooming away in the snow. Keep warm and safe.
    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hermes6 February 2009 at 08:39

    Love the pictures. We have a real blanket here today and I need to get some bread / milk etc. And it's just started snowing again - oh joy!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nutty Gnome6 February 2009 at 09:39

    Great slide show VP - I love the snow pets! I'm inspired to make one with Last-Born when she gets home from school - it's certainly be outside longer than Ceefer cat at the moment.
    We've still got lots of snow up Northish and I'm still loving it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. VP6 February 2009 at 09:53

    SOL & Hermes - even more snow here today. I'll probably put a few pictures up on my other blog.

    Anna - no, they were fast asleep on the bed! We usually have the Severn estuary effect down here, but not this year!

    Anna - well I'm excited for sure. It's great how snow brings out the inner child :)

    Gail - it's snowing again here and I'm still enjoying it. However, I may have just had my first plant casualty as I've just spotted there's a small tree keeled over.

    Nutty Gnome - gasp! You have a child at school today? The snow pets are just great - have fun later!

    ReplyDelete
  8. this is my patch6 February 2009 at 10:50

    Great snow shots. I must try and find space in my garden for Winter Beauty, I have always loved it. I had to rely on my OH to take photos of our garden, lucky for him he already had the day off. x

    ReplyDelete
  9. VP6 February 2009 at 12:01

    Louise - I look forward to seeing what he came up with! Just one thing to note with winter flowering honeysuckle - it does ranble and flop a bit. I cut main back to the fence and use my Rosa 'Ranbling Rector' to act as a trellis for it.

    Have a great weekend! xx

    ReplyDelete
  10. VP6 February 2009 at 12:02

    Oops ranble for read ramble!

    ReplyDelete
  11. VP6 February 2009 at 12:03

    Gaaah my brain's been addled by too much of the white stuff!

    For ranble read ramble!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nutty Gnome6 February 2009 at 12:58

    Hi VP, yes, she's at secondary school. They were all shut yesterday but,whilst we've still got several inches of snow, the roads are clear today and all the schools are back. Two snow days in one week is unheard of nowadays! more snow is forcast for tonight (yeah!!) but for now we've got beautiful clear blue skies ......in fact, I might not wait for her to come home - I can hear a potential snowpet calling me....!

    ReplyDelete
  13. VP6 February 2009 at 18:20

    Hope you had fun Nutty Gnome - dare you show us the results? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mr. McGregor's Daughter6 February 2009 at 19:22

    Fun slideshow. I love the snowpets!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous6 February 2009 at 19:24

    We are getting very slushy here (the unromantic side of snow). I doubt we will see anymore but it was good while it lasted.
    My cats are in shock and have retired to various warm places around the house.

    ReplyDelete
  16. VP6 February 2009 at 20:02

    MMD - they're my favourite too. I've been told there's a Loch Ness Monster in Bath - must see if I can find a pic online and provide a link.

    EG - we're in a big freeze here, so not much will be shifting until Sunday. Our cats are currently confined to bed ;)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous13 March 2009 at 16:15

    Hello.
    My name is Jim and I,ve stumbled across your great blog.

    I'm currently living in Norway but have a house in Chippenham. Anyway, the main reason I'm interested in your site is because im studying Environmental Studies at the Open University, and have to do a project on flooding.

    I want to do mine on Chippenham, as I know it floods there. My question to you is... do you know any controversial planning applications that are going heard in the area?, such as houses on flood plains.

    Again, a brilliant blog.

    Thanks
    Jim
    jdunn10@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. VP24 March 2009 at 19:49

    Hi Jim - thanks for the compliments! There's always controversial planning applications for houses on flood plains over here. There's a couple in the pipeline, but they're on hold at the moment because our local government structure is about to change next week. Your best bet is to have a look at the Wiltshire County Council website - particularly the planning part. Also the local paper has articles on some of the latest proposals too - including a map of the area affected.

    Good luck with your project!

    ReplyDelete

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