Preparing for Winter V

Lucy5781

Just a strong and very cold wind here today. Saw a poor oldet gent get actually blown over. He was ok, and several people went to help him.

I felt bad not stopping but between being almost seven months pregnant and having the 16mth old in the buggy I might not have been much help.

westcoastscot

mardatha wrote: »

RV measured the snow, it's at 8 inches and still coming down. Lovely
power stayed on so far.

Snowing heavily here and wind rising - the road up the hill is no-go now, and expecting to get worse over the rest of the week. Fishing boat resting up until at least tomorrow night :-) cosy inside though!

zeupater

Hi

Today's summary of conditions here ....

Outside ... Cold with Wind, rain, wind, sunrise, sun, cloud, showers, cloud, rain, dull, hail, rain, breeze, sleet, brighter, rain, dark, miserable, cold ...

Inside ... Quite nice really, considering ...

HTH
Z

fuddle

We will need to check our guttering ASAP as snow has slid off the roof with a lot of force.

On our plan there needs to be some sort of canopy over the back door. Had anyone been anywhere near I dread to think what could have happened as it dropped.

Snow boots are needed for next year. Youngest DD has a lot of walking to do. Even with 2x socks and welly socks her feet are still cold when we get to journeys end.

We need to up our salt stocks to help DH get down the back lane in snow. We also need more snow shovels so we can all help shovel snow.

In typical form the men/women on the ground have done a stirling job trying to plough our roads but the council website buckled with the amount of hits trying to find out if schools are open. DD's school didn't have staff in school so didn't use the messaging system. The head put a message on Facebook at 7am. Social media is so valuable in these types of scenarios but I now make sure I select I want notifications for the schools as the message was originally lost in favour of activity from last night.

And finally there are some things I can't prep for. DD's secondary school is open today but the school busses aren't running. That's out of my control. She's having a snow day with her sister.

One thing I am bothered about is I share the front path with my neighbour. He has shovelled the snow from the path and cleared the public footpath adjacent. There is a bus stop by this cleared bit of pavement. I have seen a couple of people slip on this cleared part, both standing waiting for the bus and stepping off the bus. Is he laying himself liable to compensation claims and my greatest concern is will I be liable too as it's outside my property and I have no proof it wasn't me who cleared it?

Lucy5781

Dry here but the wind was insane 3-5am. Actually woke the toddler, which is a rare occurrence.

mardatha

Fuddle, if it's anything like here then it will just make things worse if you put something above the door, unless it's a really sturdy well built one on legs. When snow slides off the roof its usually a lot - and it's very heavy. The posh neighbour over the road had a wee metal canopy thing put up and when the snow slid off the roof it demolished the canopy as well. If anybody had been standing there they would have had it plus the snow on their head!

Primrose

fuddle wrote: »

One thing I am bothered about is I share the front path with my neighbour. He has shovelled the snow from the path and cleared the public footpath adjacent. There is a bus stop by this cleared bit of pavement. I have seen a couple of people slip on this cleared part, both standing waiting for the bus and stepping off the bus. Is he laying himself liable to compensation claims and my greatest concern is will I be liable too as it's outside my property and I have no proof it wasn't me who cleared it?

I found this advice online. Don’t know if it helps.

Snow Code - snow and ice clearing law and advice
Should homeowners clear snow and ice from their paths and driveways and could you be held liable if someone has an accident on your property.

There is much confusion in this area of law. However the confusion lies more with media misrepresentation than any legal constraints passed down by the courts.

The advice confirms that despite some media reports to the contrary, it is extremely unlikely that someone who has attempted to clear snow in a careful manner will be sued or held legally responsible if someone slips or falls on ice or snow at their property. People should not be deterred from performing a socially responsible act, such as clearing a path of snow, by the fear that someone may subsequently get injured slipping on the path.

Though the person clearing the snow does have responsibilities when doing the job, mainly to ensure that they are not making the area more dangerous by allowing it to refreeze, it is important to note that those walking on snow and ice have responsibilities themselves. A common sense approach is encouraged.

The government advice is to:

Try and move the snow and ice as early in the day as possible as it is easier to clear away fresh snow than that which has packed together and hardened through people walking on it. Also, by moving the snow away early it will enable the person to put salt or grit down on the path to stop it freezing again overnight.

Grit salt or sand should be used rather than water as that can refreeze and turn into black ice, therefore making the area more hazardous that it was before the snow and ice was cleared.

People moving the snow around should take care where they are moving it to as it should not block other people’s paths or drains. They should also try and clear from the middle of the area first and then move snow from the middle out to the sides.

If possible try and clear neighbours’ paths, especially if they are elderly or disabled.

zeupater

fuddle wrote: »

We will need to check our guttering ASAP as snow has slid off the roof with a lot of force ...

Hi

We had a good covering of snow a few weeks ago (~10") which created a massive bulbous overhang and twisted some of the guttering & brackets so that the guttering was effectively useless when it all melted ... we had a really decent waterfall though! ...

When everything had dried out I got the ladders out & twisted the gutter back to it's normal position, but the bent plastic brackets needed some re-shaping with the aid of a heat-gun, so all's well again now ...

Never had to do this before, but the weight/stress on the gutter must have been huge ... an overhang of 10" snow around 6' long, hanging down below the gutter by around 12" and being at least 12-15" proud of the wall ... probably well over 50kg, no wonder the brackets twisted!

Worst of it was that whilst it was bitterly cold & the snow was on the roof our solar panels generated nothing to help heat the house with ...

HTH
Z

Witless

I keep a set of these in the boot year round as part of my 'emergency kit'.

https://www.yaktrax.co.uk/

[Deleted User]

does anyone feel that this is one awfully long winter?