I see that Dudley has closed their schools already.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6338423.stm

WTF is the country coming to? Surely that decision is best taken in the
morning when they know how much snow has fallen, if it doesn't just rain
that is...

The schools up here get closed but not mid afternoon the day before
*forecasted* snow. We get a phone call in the morning, normally about
0800, but already have pretty good idea if the school will be shut due to
having to, literally, dig the Land Rover out...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Its true Dave, i was surprised when i heard about it. Mid-Afternoon today
the LEA decided to close all dudley schools, apparently on advice from the
UK Met Office and their Emergency Planning Committee. I was also surprised
we had an Emergency Planning Committee myself lol. Another "apprently" is
that the West Mids looks set to have the worst conditions in the UK. Which
i'm sure we'll find out soon. Down to -0.6C at the mo, rising from -1.5 at
around 8pm tonight. Still clear, no snow as yet.

Mike
www.dudleyweather.co.uk

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
I see that Dudley has closed their schools already.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6338423.stm

WTF is the country coming to? Surely that decision is best taken in the
morning when they know how much snow has fallen, if it doesn't just rain
that is...

The schools up here get closed but not mid afternoon the day before
*forecasted* snow. We get a phone call in the morning, normally about
0800, but already have pretty good idea if the school will be shut due to
having to, literally, dig the Land Rover out...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

I'm sure you'll get snow Michael. But how much?
Circa 5cm maybe? That should never be enough to close a school IMHO.
Somebody is panicking I suspect?

Will.
--

"Michael Di Bernardo" wrote in message
o.uk...
Its true Dave, i was surprised when i heard about it. Mid-Afternoon today
the LEA decided to close all dudley schools, apparently on advice from the
UK Met Office and their Emergency Planning Committee. I was also surprised
we had an Emergency Planning Committee myself lol. Another "apprently" is
that the West Mids looks set to have the worst conditions in the UK. Which
i'm sure we'll find out soon. Down to -0.6C at the mo, rising from -1.5 at
around 8pm tonight. Still clear, no snow as yet.

Mike
www.dudleyweather.co.uk

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
I see that Dudley has closed their schools already.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6338423.stm

WTF is the country coming to? Surely that decision is best taken in the
morning when they know how much snow has fallen, if it doesn't just rain
that is...

The schools up here get closed but not mid afternoon the day before
*forecasted* snow. We get a phone call in the morning, normally about
0800, but already have pretty good idea if the school will be shut due to
having to, literally, dig the Land Rover out...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Wed, 7 Feb 2007 23:38:03 -0000, Will Hand wrote:

Circa 5cm maybe? That should never be enough to close a school IMHO.
Somebody is panicking I suspect?

Aye, about the possibilty of being sued if Little Johnny falls while
playing on the 20yard long slide made on the play ground.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Feb 8, 12:42 am, "Dave Liquorice" wrote:
On Wed, 7 Feb2007 23:38:03 -0000, Will Hand wrote:
Circa 5cm maybe? That should never be enough to close a school IMHO.
Somebody is panicking I suspect?

Aye, about the possibility of being sued if Little Johnny falls while
playing on the 20yard long slide made on the play ground.

OTOH, what is the point of having a multi million pound forecasting
ability if no one is going to use it?

I should have thought the best use one could make of such information
as was available to a sophisticated country was to tell parents to
make other plans to look after their children than pretend to assume
the mundane.

After some 20 or 30 years of very little snow in this country, I know
if I had children I should like to be at home with them whilst they
sample a singularly important phenomena such as their first snow fall.

It's not as if this country isn't geared to the conditions. In the
good old days when it snowed, that was the first inkling one might get
of it. And getting to work -or not being able to, was determined by
sorting it all out for one's self.

Thankfully, in this day and age, we don't have to. And that is a good
thing when a daily commute is often more than ten times what it once
was.

Well, isn't it?

Weatherlawyer wrote:
On Feb 8, 12:42 am, "Dave Liquorice" wrote:
On Wed, 7 Feb2007 23:38:03 -0000, Will Hand wrote:
Circa 5cm maybe? That should never be enough to close a school IMHO.
Somebody is panicking I suspect?

Aye, about the possibility of being sued if Little Johnny falls while
playing on the 20yard long slide made on the play ground.

OTOH, what is the point of having a multi million pound forecasting
ability if no one is going to use it?

I should have thought the best use one could make of such information
as was available to a sophisticated country was to tell parents to
make other plans to look after their children than pretend to assume
the mundane.

After some 20 or 30 years of very little snow in this country, I know
if I had children I should like to be at home with them whilst they
sample a singularly important phenomena such as their first snow fall.

And what about the parents? If schools are closed prematurely and snow
doesn't cause gridlock, how many employers are going to allow an 'emergency'
day off to look after the kids?

On 7 Feb 2007 19:40:17 -0800, Weatherlawyer wrote:

I should have thought the best use one could make of such information
as was available to a sophisticated country was to tell parents to
make other plans to look after their children than pretend to assume
the mundane.

Yes, you warn parents that *if* the forecast is correct the schools *may*
be closed. And that a decision will be made in the morning dependant on
*actual* conditions. Round here there is a volunteer "ring around" system
in place once the decision to close the school(s) is made that system is
triggered and within an hour everyone knows.

I suggest that any school that does not have a "call out" system in place
is failing in it's duty of care. How do they quickly close the school
during school hours should they need to, boiler failure, gas leak,
anything not just bad weather. In such an emergency the school secratary
will have much better things to do and worry about than sitting on the
phone trying to contact 100 to 1000 sets of parents.

After some 20 or 30 years of very little snow in this country, I know
if I had children I should like to be at home with them whilst they
sample a singularly important phenomena such as their first snow fall.

It may well be the parents first significant snow fall let alone the
kids. This is half the trouble with the roads, no one under the age of
about 35 will have had the chance to drive on snow and it's not taught as
part of the test.

And getting to work -or not being able to, was determined by sorting it
all out for one's self.

Quite, these days "they" (who ever "they" are?) have to sort out any
problems. People don't think or plan for themselves anymore.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In article .com,
Weatherlawyer writes:
snip
I should have thought the best use one could make of such information
as was available to a sophisticated country was to tell parents to
make other plans to look after their children than pretend to assume
the mundane.

After some 20 or 30 years of very little snow in this country, I know
if I had children I should like to be at home with them whilst they
sample a singularly important phenomena such as their first snow fall.

Some parents may not be able to get off work at short notice, though.
Their children would surely be much safer at school than left to their
own devices.
--
John Hall Weep not for little Leonie
Abducted by a French Marquis!
Though loss of honour was a wrench
Just think how it's improved her French. Harry Graham (1874-1936)

Dave Liquorice wrote:


It may well be the parents first significant snow fall let alone the
kids. This is half the trouble with the roads, no one under the age of
about 35 will have had the chance to drive on snow and it's not taught as
part of the test.


I remember people saying much the same thing forty years ago. Snow and ice
was a lot more common then, but the vast majority of drivers hadn't a clue
how to drive in slippery conditions. We agreed that the driving
instruction - and probably the test - should include experience on a skid
pan.

--
Graham P Davis
Bracknell, Berks., UK
Send e-mails to "newsman" as mails to "newsboy" are ignored.

On Feb 8, 11:25 am, Graham P Davis wrote:
Dave Liquorice wrote:

It may well be the parents first significant snow fall let alone the
kids. This is half the trouble with the roads, no one under the age of
about 35 will have had the chance to drive on snow and it's not taught as
part of the test.

I remember people saying much the same thing forty years ago. Snow and ice
was a lot more common then, but the vast majority of drivers hadn't a clue
how to drive in slippery conditions. We agreed that the driving
instruction - and probably the test - should include experience on a skid
pan.

--
Graham P Davis
Bracknell, Berks., UK
Send e-mails to "newsman" as mails to "newsboy" are ignored.

Ability to control or avoid a skid may be of use to racing
drivers but is pretty pointless for the average motorist. The reason
the roads jam up in snow is due mostly to the fact that in many
places they are at nearly full capacity anyway. The traffic just
about keeps going under normal conditions but anything that slows the
flow will soon cause long delays. For example a steep hill may become
unusable due to lack of adhesion and the traffic has to be diverted,
adding to the congestion. No amount of skill will increase the
coefficient of friction between tyres and ice, snow or slush. Ability
to drive in snow may have enabled you to get through when there was
hardly a car on the road (say, 1930's) but nowadays the problems are
entirely different.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, NE Surrey, 556 ft