Storm in a tea cup: The weather thread

[Pérou Flaquettes]

You need the whole url. You've just put the file name which the site won't know where to look for.

OK thanks, I'll try again later.

But how to you convert a pic on your desktop into an url and then into a jpeg to embed on here?

[Pérou Flaquettes]

So, in the next hour or so we need to decide whether to embark on the drive to Edinburgh for a wedding. Any inside info on how the M74 and M8/M80 are looking at the moment?

Do you live Carlisle way? Try the AA traffic news site: http://www.theaa.com/traffic-news/index.jsp

[Third rate Leszno]

[IMG]20180228_160409.png[/IMG]

I don't understand, the Insert Image function says that it accepts png formats from an url, which is what I've done (I think). I've used zamzar for the conversion, bet it's the wrong sort of site... I didn't want to register with a photo hosting site such as flickr, but is that the easiest way to embed a photo on here then? (to use a pic hosting website)

I use postimage.org, cos you don't need to register with them - just upload the pic, click the direct link code and then use the insert image thingy on here.

[blameless]

But how to you convert a pic on your desktop into an url and then into a jpeg to embed on here?

You have to put it on an image hosting website (imgur, postimage or similar) first, and then paste the resulting url into the image link on here.

edit: or, what TRLB says above.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

Just a bit of snow in England and whole swathes of the country grind to a halt with hundreds of roads closed or blocked, whole areas cut off, train passengers stranded for hours (15hrs on the London-Bournemouth last night!) etc.

It’s not so much pathetic as downright weird and I wonder how much of this ridiculous situation is purely down to this perma-austerity budget since 2010, the cuts really are biting in every area imaginable (and not just cuts in terms of staff shortages and equipment that councils use – gritters, snowploughs etc. – but also things like cuts in the Army for instance, they used to help a lot, they still do to a degree but there are far fewer of them now of course).

I don’t remember any of this chaos in November-December 2010 and it was so much worse, it lasted a full 5 weeks with freezing temperatures that turned roads into ice-rinks. I know health and safety rules get more draconian by the year so he authorities tend to massively err on the side of caution but still, there are some very strange things happening out there.

Where I live for instance, north of Newcastle (Northumberland), it’s hardly snowed in the coastal area in the last 48 hrs (one inch tops) yet many roads are either closed or "blocked", even today - no snow at all (outside of the hilly areas I mean, although the A696 between Newcastle and the Borders was still closed as of 10am today although most of it is flat-ish, looks like they've reopened it now according to the AA Traffic news site, up to Coldstream at least. So it’s been impossible for over 48 hrs to get to Scotland by road from the Eastern side, the A1 northbound past Alnwick has been closed for the best part of 2-3 days and so have parts of the other two Scotland-bound A roads, the A696-A68 and A697.

Ditto the A69 (Newcastle-Carlisle), most of it has was closed for two days and parts of it are still closed (towards Carlisle) making the access to the M6-A74 to Glasgow impossible from our side. Again today the A1068 near me is closed, and there’s hardly been any snow falling here for probably two days now.

No idea what the fuck is really going on as it stopped snowing a good while ago, all I can think of is a few vehicles/HGVs got stuck and caused all these closures in the first place and then with health and safety gone mad and all that, they over-reacted and closed huge chunks of the A1. That said, the snowdrifts in places (blizzard yesterday, up to 45 miles/hour gusts for hours) are impressive and must be a headache to sort out, but still I don’t understand why it's taking so long to clear these roads, must be due to a lack of equipment and manpower.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

I use postimage.org, cos you don't need to register with them - just upload the pic, click the direct link code and then use the insert image thingy on here.

But how to you convert a pic on your desktop into an url and then into a jpeg to embed on here?

You have to put it on an image hosting website (imgur, postimage or similar) first, and then paste the resulting url into the image link on here.

edit: or, what TRLB says above.

Brilliant, thanks you two for that.

[Moonlight Shadow]

The big change from 2010, which as Kev says was far worse in term of length and severity, is that a lot more blokes in Manchester have realised that hypothermia in order to achieve that "I'm plenty hard and don't feel the cold" look,wearing just a suit when waiting 45 mins for a tram in -8c temperatures is simply not worth it. The most popular look amongst men at the tram stop in Victoria early this morning was the hiker look...good on you fellas.

Snow almost all gone now in central Manchester and where I live, the wind however is horrible...

[Paul S]

England has always ground to a halt when snow has hit and always will do as we're simply not used to it. We don't need the huge fleets of snow ploughs as they would be sat there doing nothing for most of the year. Also, it's the intensity that causes problems. When roads and railways are full to capacity, then yes things really will grind to a halt whenever something goes wrong, they always have done and always will do.

[ad hoc]

But it will all be fine once you take back control and are allowed to go it alone

[Pérou Flaquettes]

On a walk with my dog two days ago (the golden labrador on the right) and another regular dog walker. Her 6-month old fox red lab is absolutely adorable, and so is her spaniel, they have so much fun together, diving in ponds etc.

Wish I had taken a photo of a nearby igloo that two Swedish boys (sons of a Swedish couple in the village) had spent all day building, my dog set about wrecking it... The lads also built a big luge run from an earth mound. I tell you, these Scandinavians are something else, no wonder they win so many medals in the winter Olympics, it was very windy and freezing cold for most of the day but they spent it outside messing with the snow, brilliant.

[Antepli Ejderha]

It's only gone and started snowing again, thought it was meant to have cleared from London.

[Gangster Octopus]

It's only gone and started snowing again

I was just about to say that. Looks like we're in for a fair bit...

[blameless]

Great photo Kev, always nice to see dogs charging about in the snow.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

So, in the next hour or so we need to decide whether to embark on the drive to Edinburgh for a wedding. Any inside info on how the M74 and M8/M80 are looking at the moment?

The M6 and M74 are showing as clear on the AA, and I've heard the M6 between Carlisle and Penrith is ok and everyone is being sensible. I'd be more concerned about anything involving leaving the motorways - the A701 and A702 are both closed in places. My next door neighbor is currently stranded in Edinburgh as the trains are cancelled, and his work are sending a 4x4 to go and collect him and his colleagues.

So, doable with care and careful route selection, but it's not going to be straightforward. Late advice, I know.

[Third rate Leszno]

I think one of the issues that has made the chaos worse in recent years is the number of HGVs on the roads. Quite a few of the reports I've read this week have mentioned that lorries have become stuck on quite gentle inclines, which means cars cannot get past and ploughs/gritters can't get through either.

[Gangster Octopus]

My little brother is about to set off to drive with his family from Penrith to the Alps to do some skiing. I've pointed out that he might just as well stay at home and ski down Blencathra...

[ursus arctos]

21 French departments are under Condition Orange due to the weather.

There are trains . . .

[Moonlight Shadow]

Geneva has been chaos the last two days due to snow tbf to UK not coping with snow...

[Moonlight Shadow]

Yesterday, my train was late by 30 mins because the guard was not there. She was stuck on another train that had broken down due I guess to weather related issues. Luckily she was not too far and could hop on a cab but a fair few cancellations are due to "personnel not available" situation (2 trains were cancelled because of that yesterday whilst I was waiting for mine)

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Yesterday, my train was late by 30 mins because the guard was not there. She was stuck on another train that had broken down due I guess to weather related issues. Luckily she was not too far and could hop on a cab but a fair few cancellations are due to "personnel not available" situation (2 trains were cancelled because of that yesterday whilst I was waiting for mine)

There's a lot of this going on and I mentioned it on the railways thread after an epic delay before Christmas, when Euston reached gridlock when trains couldn't get onto platforms because they were full of trains which couldn't leave the platforms because their crews were stuck on the trains which couldn't get onto platforms because.....

On the West Coast line the crews do Glasgow-Preston and Preston-London, so they'll do the southbound of the former then get off and do a northbound back to Glasgow, and so on. It's cheaper that way than having them do a full Glasgow-London stretch, then overnight in a hotel and back again next day - and it of course is much better for the crew to get back home at the end of the day's work. But it doesn't take much for the arrangement to break down completely.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

Pics sent by my sister-in-law a few hours ago, taken today in the northern Dark Peak area of the Peak District.

[ursus arctos]

The last hour has been bad here, but Boston and the New England coast are getting absolutely hammered.

New York to Boston rail service has been suspended and Reed’s old town of Newburyport has been evacuated

[Pérou Flaquettes]

My 18-months old lab frolicking in the snow with a young golden retriever we met this afternoon, love at first sight...

[Pérou Flaquettes]

... although it wasn't long before the golden retriever, a bit of a Lothario I'm told, was caught red-handed playing the field (seen here attempting to hump another bitch - ours is spayed).

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/onlyinbos/status/969610788129386497?s=21