Snow watch until Sunday 24th (N,W,SW most at risk)

Pops_20

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Snow in London too it seems.

Why do people find it so hard to leave it in first gear and don't touch the brakes

redsteveireland

m17 wrote: »

Clifden co galway 23/01/21
https://i.imgur.com/5RCRquM.jpg

Out of curiosity, because you can't be travelling to all these places, where do your pictures come from?

Akrasia

Pops_20 wrote: »

Why do people find it so hard to leave it in first gear and don't touch the brakes

You're actually better off in 2nd gear if your car can handle it at 5kph as it would reduce wheelspin.

Generally, in icy/snowy conditions, keep the torque as low as you can by driving at lower revs in a higher gear. Try to avoid any sudden movements, either speeding up or slowing down, or changing direction if you do not have the proper tyres for the conditions

Not a good idea to go down that street with that hill and so many on street parked cars in any gear without chains or proper snow tyres though

Stick to main roads that would be gritted/salted as much as you can and learn how to counter steer just in case you need to.

Driving in ice is all about planning ahead
Break in a straight line before you get to a ben, and go around that bend at a constant speed. Braking or accelerating both use up some of the limited grip available to your tyres, and in icy conditions, that grip is very much reduced



Avoid spinning your wheels because all that will do is prevent your tyres from being able to evacuate meltwater away from your contact surface and you'll reduce your available grip down to almost zero

Pops_20

Akrasia wrote: »

You're actually better off in 2nd gear if your car can handle it at 5kph as it would reduce wheelspin.

Generally, in icy/snowy conditions, keep the torque as low as you can by driving at lower revs in a higher gear. Try to avoid any sudden movements, either speeding up or slowing down, or changing direction if you do not have the proper tyres for the conditions

Not a good idea to go down that street with that hill and so many on street parked cars in any gear without chains or proper snow tyres though

Stick to main roads that would be gritted/salted as much as you can and learn how to counter steer just in case you need to.

Yeah I agree completely, but for that hill in particular, even 2nd gear will allow the car to run away from you to the point that you will have to press the brakes. Even with ABS the wheels will lock up to some extent.

In first gear the driver could most likely have made it down that hill without touching the accelerator or the brake, and the engine would do all the braking, keeping the car under 10 kmph.

Akrasia

Pops_20 wrote: »

Yeah I agree completely, but for that hill in particular, even 2nd gear will allow the car to run away from you to the point that you will have to press the brakes. Even with ABS the wheels will lock up to some extent.

In first gear the driver could most likely have made it down that hill without touching the accelerator or the brake, and the engine would do all the braking, keeps the car until 10 kmph.

Yeah you're right, going down hills, it's sometimes best to use engine braking in a lower gear, but the main thing is to never allow the wheels to either lock or spin, cause when that happens, doesn't really matter what you do with the steering wheel, that car becomes a pinball. Most modern cars have ABS, so you're actually better off braking (gently) than allowing engine braking as this this reduces your control over wheelspin

Once the wheels are locked or spinning, your primary task is to figure out a way to prevent that, by either taking your foot off the brake, (extremely counter intuitive) or by taking your foot off the accelerator or holding in the clutch until the wheels regain some traction. (for manual transmission cars, not really sure what you would do in an auto cause I rarely drive them)

Whatever happened to that car, they were already going far too fast before they were picked up on film. That car definitely would have had ABS and traction control. They might have been over confident because they thought the car's safety features could break the laws of physics.

Looks like it wasn't long into its journey by the amount of snow still covering it. I'd say they just drove too fast and panicked when they realised they couldn't stop and had to enter the other lane,by which time they had locked their wheels and became passengers.

For that Merc Driver, by the time the video picks them up, they're pretty much already screwed. The poor decisions they made before cost them heavily. Luckily nobody was hurt physically.

Chris_5339762

Not one single, solitary flake of snow in Cobh anyway. Bitterly disappointed!

Slashermcguirk

Great to look out there and still plenty of snow on the ground. Will be a nice stroll this evening

Wine Goddess

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Not one single, solitary flake of snow in Cobh anyway. Bitterly disappointed!

I feel your pain.

But man, you live in a gorgeous place!

DanielL18

West Cork today.

ffarrell7

Pops_20 wrote: »

Why do people find it so hard to leave it in first gear and don't touch the brakes

Snow in London?? +

I think London got as much snow as South Kerry..... Not even 1 cm...

In fact Dublin gets a lot more white stuff than London in general.... Which wouldn't be hard....

Nqp15hhu

No most of the time it is about 8c in London, even frosts aren’t that common there.

Paso Fino

Beautiful morning in north coastal Dublin

Slashermcguirk

Yes London is always milder, snow is rare. South of England gets very little snow, tends to be further north.

Absolutely Baltic out now. Was just out for a walk and the snow is so icy now and the footpaths are lethal with snow and ice mix. It’s -2 but feels colder

ffarrell7 wrote: »

Snow in London?? +

I think London got as much snow as South Kerry..... Not even 1 cm...

In fact Dublin gets a lot more white stuff than London in general.... Which wouldn't be hard....

Dazler97

Very cold here in mohill - 3c place like an ice rink

sryanbruen

Posted a couple of phone shots earlier but here's some from the camera taken at Donaghmede, Baldoyle and Sutton on my long walk.

What a morning that was, easily best snow day since 2018 although not much competition there. Also first proper Jan snow in just over a decade - 2010.

Slashermcguirk

Great pics, that is very much what I experienced in D5 today, it was like that for hours! One for the archive and defo best since 2018

sryanbruen wrote: »

Posted a couple of phone shots earlier but here's some from the camera taken at Donaghmede, Baldoyle and Sutton on my long walk.

What a morning that was, easily best snow day since 2018 although not much competition there. Also first proper Jan snow in just over a decade - 2010.

Artane2002

sryanbruen wrote: »

Posted a couple of phone shots earlier but here's some from the camera taken at Donaghmede, Baldoyle and Sutton on my long walk.

What a morning that was, easily best snow day since 2018 although not much competition there. Also first proper Jan snow in just over a decade - 2010.

excellent shots sryan, I can't believe I missed something that exciting . the second one is particularly heartbreaking!

Nqp15hhu

Nqp15hhu wrote: »

No most of the time it is about 8c in London, even frosts aren’t that common there.

There were 13 frost days in London Heathrow in 2020 according to weatheronline's archive
Belfast Aldergrove had 14 frost days in 2020

circadian

Great shots. Amazing the difference a couple of km makes. We got a decent covering in Beaumont but nowhere near as good as the coast it seems. Great wee day altogether though.

snowstreams

Already down to -5c here in athenry.
All the melt puddles and slush patches have turned solid.
At least my snowmen will get solidly frozen and have a chance at surviving a few days!

redsteveireland

snowstreams wrote: »

Already down to -5c here in athenry.
All the melt puddles and slush patches have turned solid.
At least my snowmen will get solidly frozen and have a chance at surviving a few days!

Very slippy out there, I thought about spraying mine with water to give him a casing of ice.
Roads not gritted, surely the council should be put on a Sunday when conditions are like this.

Oneiric 3

redsteveireland wrote: »

Very slippy out there, I thought about spraying mine with water to give him a casing of ice.
Roads not gritted, surely the council should be put on a Sunday when conditions are like this.

Main roads seem okish here - at least around this part of town, but residential areas are unwalkable/undrivable.

JanuarySnowstor

I see Athenry is now -6 at 10pm

Oscar Bravo

10pm

Athenry -6
Mt Dillon -4
Markree -3
Gurteen -3
Claremorris -3

snowstreams

redsteveireland wrote: »

Very slippy out there, I thought about spraying mine with water to give him a casing of ice.
Roads not gritted, surely the council should be put on a Sunday when conditions are like this.

Yeah they should but I'd say they won't with covid etc.
Its one way to keep us at home!
-6 c now in athenry.
How low can it go tonight?
I thought the snow had gone quite thin and patchy due to the sun but it must still be thick enough to bring these very cold temperatures.

Oneiric 3

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

10pm

Athenry -6
Mt Dillon -4
Markree -3
Gurteen -3
Claremorris -3

Claremorris is usually a couple of degrees colder than Athenry, but this winter has turned that on its head. I don't think Claremorris has gotten below -3.0c up to this point of the winter.

Oscar Bravo

Was out there for a look up, so many stars and very clear. Jeez i love this weather. back to cloud and rain from Tuesday

Nqp15hhu

Looks like we had a tiny flurry here.

DellyBelly

sryanbruen wrote: »

Posted a couple of phone shots earlier but here's some from the camera taken at Donaghmede, Baldoyle and Sutton on my long walk.

What a morning that was, easily best snow day since 2018 although not much competition there. Also first proper Jan snow in just over a decade - 2010.

Very nice photos. We were extremely lucky in Dublin 8 to miss out on the snow today. Very cold tonight all the same

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvU6j-CCJ6E

Found this video of today's snow in east Dublin. Very different scene from that for most. If I lived 5 minutes west of my area probably would have no snow at all today.