Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

Morning all, wild, wet and windy here in the deep south so I am planning a trip into the city to go to Ikea this morning for a couple of things for DD1.

I have only been out in -20deg once when we were in Berlin just before christmas a couple of years ago. We knew it was cold but not just how cold until we tried to talk and our faces weren't working properly. We couldn't make our muscles work to speak properly and it was quite painful. Woke up to what was wrong as we saw a temperature readout in a shop window. I can only say we were glad to get back to the Hostle and have a hot Lemon Tea but it took quite a while for everything to come back up to temperature. It wasn't as bad as I had thought low temperatures would be but a little scary that we hadn't picked up the temperature drop as it happened gradually over the late afternoon and we were out in it all the time. I guess what I'm trying to say is make sure you are properly dressed before you go out in the coldest weather because you probably won't realise just how cold you are getting. Could lead to all sorts of problems as we just aren't used to it in the UK.

Have a good day everyone, Cheers Lyn xxx.

mardatha

Coldest I think in UK was -21 at Altnaharra? It's been down to -19 here and yes you need to cover your face lol

2tonsils

The latest weather forecasts say the wind will increase tonight and you will get similar to last night, but if its blowing hard it could last all night.

The signs for Friday for the UK show a quick drop in temperatures. The next storm will hit Scotland and there could be hurricane force winds that will bring wintry showers. Next week you will be moving into the very cold weather which at the moment looks coldest around 13th February. It could last for a couple of weeks and most of Europe will be in the same cold mass (including us).

Just been for a couple of bags of logs to put us on till ours is delivered on Friday...there is none that I can find at the wood yards and people will not be able to cope if the cold comes and there is no wood available at all...they don't have the money for central heating even if they have it! I am now very worried about the people here in the cold spell we are going to have ......

Yes, layers of clothes, plenty of warm nourishing soup to keep you warm, keep one room warm if you struggle to warm the whole house, try to stay dry and keep out of the wind as its the chill factor/humidity that get to you and make you feel cold. I find if my feet and hands are warm I can cope with it being colder.

Hope you all stay safe and warm tonight, its going to be rough again in some areas....

Confuzzled

sb44 wrote: »

How the hell do you prep for minus 24 in the UK, I assume that is unheard of here.

it hit -23C in scotland in 2010


i've seen worse but that was growing up in the continental US, you will always get colder temps deep within a continental mass vs and island even on the same lattitude

i think the coldest i've ever experience was -40C (which is also -40F, i believe it's the only point they meet at) i'd not care to repeat that though especially as we were without power because the ice on the lines had pulled so many of them down

wondercollie probably knows all about the devestation of ice storms!

sb44

wondercollie wrote: »

Pha, that's not too bad. Multiple layers is the key. Scarves over face job. Keep as much skin covered to reduce risk of frostbite.

You'll know if it's -20 or colder. That's when you can feel the hair in your nostrils stand up.

My anti-freeze is good to -45 and it's never let me down. Tonight is supposed to be -23 before windchill (and windchill is the killer), so I'll just get the Collie to sleep on the bed for a while to warm it up.

Yep, the wrapping up and wearing extra layers would be easy to do but I was thinking more of the infrastructure of the UK, would it affect electricity lines and central heating systems, roads, railway lines, workforce in general.

We all know that workers aren't allowed to work if the temp drops below a certain temp, would schools be closed etc.

RAS

In 2010 a lot of the UK was between minus 19 and minus 23 at night for weeks with day time temps getting up to about minus 15.

We coped although it was harder sometimes.

tina_malteser

mardatha wrote: »

Coldest I think in UK was -21 at Altnaharra? It's been down to -19 here and yes you need to cover your face lol

it was - 27.2c:eek: in 1982 and 1995 Braemar and Altnaharra

pineapple

RAS wrote: »

In 2010 a lot of the UK was between minus 19 and minus 23 at night for weeks with day time temps getting up to about minus 15.

We coped although it was harder sometimes.

We couldn't drive down our lane for 3 weeks - partly because there was a stream running down it which froze. It was bad enough trying to walk. That was the year most of us invested in grips for shoes. I even bought a sledge to bring the shopping down! Eventually we organised a 'work detail' to break up the ice.
There were cases of people dying of hypothermia after falling in their gardens so I stopped walking the dog late at night because there wasn't much chance of being found in time if I had a mishap. :eek:

missrlr

Yes multiple layers and not letting temperatures drop if you can avoid it. Also checking the temperature before you go out - when you look outside the difference between -10, -20 and -40 is not at all obvious!

thriftwizard

OK, I give in - I've finally ordered some Y*ktr*x! Though I was fine in the snow in my walking boots, it didn't hang around that long down here. If we're really likely to have a couple of weeks of the arctic stuff, I'd like to be able to get about even if I don't strictly speaking NEED to. Will also make a note to lay some extra stocks of fresh stuff in at the market on the weekend before it's expected to start; it'll all get used one way or another, even if it ends up in my dehydrator.