Last night brought the coldest September air and grass minima in Coulsdon
record back to 1979. The min was just 0.6C and surfaces froze.My road echoed
to the sound of unusual September scraping of ice from car windscreens by
early commuters. I am now off to the Chipstead Valley where the air
temperature will have dropped way below freezing. In spite of Monday's rain
yesterday's breeze and sunny conditions will have dried the ground and with
very dry sub soil this will have aided radiation last night. My max on
Tuesday was only 13.4C, quite a shock after the 25.7C on Sunday.

Ian Currie--Coulsdon and Chipstead Valley
See www.Frostedearth.com for Weather eye magazine.

Minimum here in Warlingham also 0.6°C, a new record for September
(starting 1983). Grass min was -3.0°C. I peeped out of the window at 7 a.m.
but there was little or no frost on the grass, due probably to the dryness of
the air.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, NE Surrey, 556 ft AMSL.

On 24 Sep 2003 12:35:19 GMT, (TudorHgh) wrote:

Minimum here in Warlingham also 0.6°C, a new record for September
(starting 1983). Grass min was -3.0°C. I peeped out of the window at 7 a.m.
but there was little or no frost on the grass, due probably to the dryness of
the air.

A quick check of early morning METARS reveals an air frost at
Bournmouth A/P (-1C) and probably at Southampton A/P too (0C).
http://tinyurl.com/oho9

My own minimum here in suburbia was 4 deg C, I must get a wooden
screen and a more open exposure if I am to compete with the rest of
you!

--
Dave
Fareham (West) Hampshire

Hi,

Overnight min -.9 and grassmin -2.3. The first air frost recorded here in
September since 1995, when I started automatic data collection.

Colin

My temp here was 1.6c last night, I came home at 4am and it was a lovely
stary night, with a frost on top of the cars. reminds me of what's to come
(I hope) :-)

Dave (Yate-Bristol)

I haven't scraped this year yet.
Temperature does not depend on only latitude (I'm 15 km north of
Helsinki).
Most mornings I take the commuter train anyways. But I have heard the
electricity post timers buzzing so I guess the block heater season is
coming - oops where is the cable again...

Can I ask some winter car questions ?
- What do you use for scraping ? Where did you get it ? I never found
one in Birmingham, and our neighbours used spray.
- Do you have block heaters ? I just read that in Finland 90% of
passenger cars have a block heater which electrically warms up the
engine block and coolant. In addition 1.3 % of cars have a fuel-fired
heater. I never saw plugs for these in the UK.

Elena

"Elena" wrote in message
m...
I haven't scraped this year yet.
Temperature does not depend on only latitude (I'm 15 km north of
Helsinki).
Most mornings I take the commuter train anyways. But I have heard the
electricity post timers buzzing so I guess the block heater season is
coming - oops where is the cable again...

Can I ask some winter car questions ?
- What do you use for scraping ? Where did you get it ? I never found
one in Birmingham, and our neighbours used spray.
- Do you have block heaters ? I just read that in Finland 90% of
passenger cars have a block heater which electrically warms up the
engine block and coolant. In addition 1.3 % of cars have a fuel-fired
heater. I never saw plugs for these in the UK.

Elena

I find a credit card does make for a great emergency scraper should you not
have one to hand......

Dave (Yate-Bristol)

On 24 Sep 2003 13:07:33 -0700, Elena wrote:

- What do you use for scraping ?

An old credit card.

Where did you get it ?

My wallet.

I never found one in Birmingham, and our neighbours used spray.

You can buy scrapers any decent petrol station will stock them and
spray. I also use spray but only with a light frost. It's not much
good when it gets really (for the UK) cold, approx -10C, it freezes
onto the windscreen, normally when the evaporation kicks in just after
driving off. But of the glass is really cold that will freeze it as
well.

If the frost is to hard to scrape, maybe a frozen partial thaw of snow
leaving 1/2" of ice everywhere. I start the engine and let the
windscreen blower melt it.

- Do you have block heaters ?

AFAIK no cars in the UK have block heaters, it doesn't get that cold.
Of course all cars run with anti-freeze which should prevent the
radiator freezing down to -15 or there abouts.

--
Cheers Dave.
Nr Garrigill, Cumbria. 421m ASL. pam is missing e-mail

"david jordan" wrote in message ...
"Elena" wrote in message
m...

- What do you use for scraping ? Where did you get it ? I never found
one in Birmingham, and our neighbours used spray.

It's a little early for most shops to sell it. You can make a mixture
from antifreeze screenwash and water. Put it in a squeezy bottle or a
garden spray one. A scraper is unecessary most of the time if you let
the stuff work for a few minutes. Spray along the top of the screen
and by the time it has worked down you are clear to switch the wipers
on. On occassion when the ice is quite thick (by UK standards) you may
need to do it twice. If so spray the bonnet as well to stop
condensation re-freezing when you start off.

Supermarkets sell it seasonally as do car shops, market stalls and diy
places. Buy it before Sickmess because it goes out of style like
turkey and trimmings.

- Do you have block heaters ? I just read that in Finland 90% of
passenger cars have a block heater which electrically warms up the
engine block and coolant. In addition 1.3 % of cars have a fuel-fired
heater. I never saw plugs for these in the UK.

I think that block heaters are only needed in countries that
experience cold winters. Temperatures that freeze oil are never
reached in Britain.

I find a credit card does make for a great emergency scraper should you not
have one to hand......

Not recommended for those with cards that are also slot machine users.
Mind you the number of spam ones there are these days..... and the
free biros that come with them should be replaced with handles that
turn those ones to scrapers.

I just pour very warm\hot water over my car .. never bother scraping, what a
waste of time!

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 22:00:31 +0100, danny wrote:

I just pour very warm\hot water over my car ...

When it's really cold up here (grass min of -10C or lower) that will
freeze onto the winscreen. I like a couple of inches of powder snow
the best, don't do anything just switch on the wipers and drive off it
simply blows away. B-)

--
Cheers Dave.
Nr Garrigill, Cumbria. 421m ASL. pam is missing e-mail