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“Thundersnow” Hits Edinburgh

14 points by kisamoto 6y ago

hprotagonist 6y ago
thundersnow is wonderful. we get it every few years. long ago lewis black had a standup bit about thunder snow and winter in new england that was pretty spot on.
sandworm101 6y ago
I'm sure this was a big deal in Scotland, but I do get a kick out of how the UK reacts to "winter" weather. It is a few inches of snow, most all of which will melt within a few hours. Come to north america. In the last month, temperatures where I am standing have fluctuated between +7c and -23c. There is currently snow/ice on every street and we will almost certainly not see grass again until summer. But we survive. Our airports don't close. We still get to work on time. Thundersnow is cool, but not exactly newsworthy. Thunder loud enough to set off car alarms isn't special in the prairies. Drive a few hours west of me, into the mountains, and "winter" gets properly serious. I bet the vast majority of people in Scotland have never even seen tire chains. Are block heaters even sold in the UK?
- AndrewDucker 6y ago
  That's the thing. Because it's so rare in (most of) Scotland to get winters that bad, the infrastructure isn't there to deal with it. There's a nice thread here on the expense of treating winters the way that Canada does: https://twitter.com/JudithFlanders/status/958072934396039168 https://twitter.com/JudithFlanders/status/958072934396039168
- orev 6y ago
  Places that don’t get snow often also don’t have the equipment or expertise to deal with it. In the South (US), the plan is literally to shut everything down and wait a few days for it to melt. There are no stockpiles of salt or sand to use on the roads, and even Northerners who “know how to handle themselves in the snow” can’t navigate it as easily as they think. Also, this is the story of climate change. It doesn’t really matter if something is common in another part of the planet— if it’s a new thing somewhere else, then it actually is news. Droughts, fires, flooding, and tornadoes are all going to start showing up in places they didn’t used to before.
quaffapint 6y ago
Im jealous of any snow. The past couple of years we've gotten barely a flake. I plan to travel north just to see some snow this winter.

14 points by kisamoto 6y ago

thundersnow is wonderful. we get it every few years. long ago lewis black had a standup bit about thunder snow and winter in new england that was pretty spot on.

sandworm101 6y ago

I'm sure this was a big deal in Scotland, but I do get a kick out of how the UK reacts to "winter" weather. It is a few inches of snow, most all of which will melt within a few hours. Come to north america. In the last month, temperatures where I am standing have fluctuated between +7c and -23c. There is currently snow/ice on every street and we will almost certainly not see grass again until summer. But we survive. Our airports don't close. We still get to work on time. Thundersnow is cool, but not exactly newsworthy. Thunder loud enough to set off car alarms isn't special in the prairies. Drive a few hours west of me, into the mountains, and "winter" gets properly serious. I bet the vast majority of people in Scotland have never even seen tire chains. Are block heaters even sold in the UK?

AndrewDucker 6y ago
That's the thing. Because it's so rare in (most of) Scotland to get winters that bad, the infrastructure isn't there to deal with it. There's a nice thread here on the expense of treating winters the way that Canada does: https://twitter.com/JudithFlanders/status/958072934396039168 https://twitter.com/JudithFlanders/status/958072934396039168
orev 6y ago
Places that don’t get snow often also don’t have the equipment or expertise to deal with it. In the South (US), the plan is literally to shut everything down and wait a few days for it to melt. There are no stockpiles of salt or sand to use on the roads, and even Northerners who “know how to handle themselves in the snow” can’t navigate it as easily as they think. Also, this is the story of climate change. It doesn’t really matter if something is common in another part of the planet— if it’s a new thing somewhere else, then it actually is news. Droughts, fires, flooding, and tornadoes are all going to start showing up in places they didn’t used to before.

quaffapint 6y ago

Im jealous of any snow. The past couple of years we've gotten barely a flake. I plan to travel north just to see some snow this winter.