Have we entered another ice age?

[southerncomfort]

What the actual heck?

I thought the one upside of climate change would be milder winters, but we've been under snow pretty much constantly since Christmas. I can't remember the last time the temperature went above zero.
It's absolutely brutal out there today. Still sub zero with an absolutely savage wind.

Thank goodness for native ponies that aren't remotely bothered by a bit of weather.

I am hanging on to the fact that cold winters are usually followed by dry hot summers!

 

[Rowreach]

We were just saying how lovely it is to have proper winter weather and not the raging winds and storms that recent years have brought.

I like proper seasons ?

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I will have now ended it by buying some fur lined riding boots, you're welcome .

 

[southerncomfort]

We were just saying how lovely it is to have proper winter weather and not the raging winds and storms that recent years have brought.

I like proper seasons ?

I'll give you that Rowreach.

The 2 previous winters were just one storm after another with gales and torrential rain.

I'm quite happy for it to be cold and frosty, but really the snow can do one now.

 

[southerncomfort]

I will have now ended it by buying some fur lined riding boots, you're welcome .

Excellent! Perhaps if I purchase an umbrella we'll have a nice dry period for a while.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Excellent! Perhaps if I purchase an umbrella we'll have a nice dry period for a while.

Sounds like a plan to me!

 

[Rowreach]

Excellent! Perhaps if I purchase an umbrella we'll have a nice dry period for a while.

Bearing in mind last year we had a six week heatwave starting in the middle of March, anything is possible ?

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I'm sat at my desk at work (office in a listed Manor House, the manager of which doesn't feel that heating is a necessary expense) listening to the wind come through the windows, with a t-shirt, thermal, hoodie, fur (fake of course) lined hoodie and a coat on. I have a blanket on my lap and gloves on and I just can't wait to go to see the horse and not be able to feel my extremities for an hour.

I have had enough, can you tell?

 

[suestowford]

I would quite like to stop breaking ice on water troughs & buckets, and stop having to heave barrels of water up to the fields thanks to all the tanks/pipes being frozen solid.

 

[vam]

I'm liking it, mind you I'm down south so just really cold as the snow cleared up quickly. I much prefer it to the wet humid winter's we have been having.
It feels like we had a winter rather than a slightly colder wetter autumn and spring

 

[shortstuff99]

As the poles warm it pushes the colder air down which is why we are colder then we should be as this air should be over the Arctic. Not really a good thing....

 

[dorsetladette]

I'm sat at my desk at work (office in a listed Manor House, the manager of which doesn't feel that heating is a necessary expense) listening to the wind come through the windows, with a t-shirt, thermal, hoodie, fur (fake of course) lined hoodie and a coat on. I have a blanket on my lap and gloves on and I just can't wait to go to see the horse and not be able to feel my extremities for an hour.

I have had enough, can you tell?

I'm home. office set up in the conservatory as thats where the router is. Tiled floor is freezing, every window seems to have a draught (not noticed before). I came back from the horses this morning cold so I'm currently sat in 2 pairs of wooly socks, thermal leggings and joggers, vest, tshirt, jumper and my dressing gown over the top. I've got a little heater pointing at my feet and the central heating turned up.

I had to explain the dressing gown in a teams meeting just now.

I'm looking forward to mucking out just to warm up. I've got chilblains for the first time in years. Roll on spring!!

 

[luckyoldme]

I'm having proper full blown tantrums now.
I've spent all week trying my best to avoid snow but it's just do hard to work in.
The trucks been stuck twice..dropping the trailer off usually takes 10 minutes as and it took nearly an hour
Then the car was stuck with a week's worth of snow on and around it. The road was closed on the way home. Greer.
Today I'm going to make a point of getting out for a walk and getting some photos and to try and appreciate the beauty of it but I'm not feeling it quite yet !

 

[Jeni the dragon]

We've had over a foot of snow on our fields since Tuesday. It's the most we've had here since I moved 10 years ago. But this is the second time since Christmas we've had this much.
I have managed to get the car out every time, though its been a really close run thing! And I've been taking the longer flatter routes to get out, plus kept a spare shovel from the yard in it just in case!

 

[NinjaPony]

Climate change strikes again, we are going to get more extremes of weather. That said, the relentless storms, rain and wind have really been grinding me down this winter so I’ve actually welcomed the respite and pony is coping well with an extra rug. That said, I might need a 4wd car if this is the future for winters to come.

 

[PapaverFollis]

The gulf stream is driven by the sinking of cold salty water in the North Sea. As the ice caps melt the water becomes less saline (and less cold) and doesn't sink so well. The gulf stream and the warming effects of it weaken... we end up as bloody cold as other places at the same latitude. Which is cold. Hurrah! Sarcasm.

 

[holeymoley]

We don’t seem to be too dissimilar from usual up here. The wind is rotten today though, it’s really making it feel absolutely baltic. I think i prefer it to the wind and rain though?! Absolutely hate wind of any sort, so destructive. The rain is fine but the fields are just unbearable so at least with this they are firmer.

Roll on some dry mild days, hopefully the same weather we had from April through last year would be lovely.

 

[Wishfilly]

As others have mentioned, the south of the UK in particular is kept warm in winter by the gulf stream. If you look at other places with similar latitudes, they tend to have much colder winters than us! As the ice caps melt, the cold water is affecting the gulf stream, meaning we get colder weather coming in (particularly from the North East), rather than the warm weather brought up from the equator.

ETA: but the cold is bloody miserable!

 

[Sealine]

Down here in Herts we've had very little snow but it's pretty cold. I like the dry, cold weather although I've not ridden since Sunday. This is a nice reprieve from the mud and wet weather.

But I have turned into an axe wielding lunatic. I've been using an axe to break the ice on the water trough as it's a good 2 inches thick but I'm enjoying it far too much. It's a great stress buster.

 

[Bernster]

Brrr you lot are making me feel cold!

 

[zandp]

I've just had to go an put a pair of thermal socks on reading this.

I'm fed up of everything at the yard being frozen - all water pipes to the stables, all hoses, all taps, all troughs and lugging water about. I loved it when we had snow but we've just been freezing this week. Had 2 flurries of snow at work about 20 miles away and a little bit higher than home but nothing stayed.

I went out one morning last weekend in my non windproof but normally warm cord jodhpurs and in the afternoon had to put my fleece lined/waterproof and windproof jods back on as couldn't believe how cold it was in more normal clothes.

 

[cobgoblin]

I much prefer snow and ice to relentless wind, rain, and mud. We've still got about 9 inches on the ground, there was more but it's having a bit of a dry thaw now.

 

[J&S]

Here in Devon there is no snow right now, wind is very cold but not nearly as bad as a couple of days ago which I felt was sheer torture. The difference in temperature, i.e just above freezing as apposed to below freezing, encouraged me to phone a friend and get the ponies out round the block. Not sure when this will happen again but looks like next week is warmer. I am WFH this pm and am clad in various layers, blankets and a hot water bottle on my lap, it was warmer out riding!

 

[southerncomfort]

I'm sat at my desk at work (office in a listed Manor House, the manager of which doesn't feel that heating is a necessary expense) listening to the wind come through the windows, with a t-shirt, thermal, hoodie, fur (fake of course) lined hoodie and a coat on. I have a blanket on my lap and gloves on and I just can't wait to go to see the horse and not be able to feel my extremities for an hour.

I have had enough, can you tell?

Oh heck! Aren't their rules about office temperatures?

A former colleague of mine had a mini desktop plug in fan heater.

 

[southerncomfort]

I would quite like to stop breaking ice on water troughs & buckets, and stop having to heave barrels of water up to the fields thanks to all the tanks/pipes being frozen solid.

I hear you!

I've given up on the water trough and all the outside taps are frozen, so I'm actually carrying buckets of warm water from house across a field covered in a good 3 inches of snow. I have to top it up with more warm water 5 or 6 times a day to stop it freezing. In the morning it's frozen solid so I have to tip out the giant ice block and start all over again.

 

[southerncomfort]

I'm liking it, mind you I'm down south so just really cold as the snow cleared up quickly. I much prefer it to the wet humid winter's we have been having.
It feels like we had a winter rather than a slightly colder wetter autumn and spring

The problem with living in the North is that winter is very long, typically beginning in October and lasting sometimes we'll in to April.

 

[southerncomfort]

I'm home. office set up in the conservatory as thats where the router is. Tiled floor is freezing, every window seems to have a draught (not noticed before). I came back from the horses this morning cold so I'm currently sat in 2 pairs of wooly socks, thermal leggings and joggers, vest, tshirt, jumper and my dressing gown over the top. I've got a little heater pointing at my feet and the central heating turned up.

I had to explain the dressing gown in a teams meeting just now.

I'm looking forward to mucking out just to warm up. I've got chilblains for the first time in years. Roll on spring!!

Sometimes on a very cold morning I used to come in from feeding the ponies and climb in to bed fully clothed with a hot cup of coffee to warm up.

Sadly OH has set up a mini office in the corner of the bedroom and apparently it doesn't look good in Zoom meetings if their is a woman in bed in the background.

 

[southerncomfort]

We've had over a foot of snow on our fields since Tuesday. It's the most we've had here since I moved 10 years ago. But this is the second time since Christmas we've had this much.
I have managed to get the car out every time, though its been a really close run thing! And I've been taking the longer flatter routes to get out, plus kept a spare shovel from the yard in it just in case!

I've had my car off the drive maybe 3 times since Christmas because our road isn't gritted and is an absolute death trap .

My husband makes me go and sit in it with the engine running for 10 minutes every week. While I can see why this needs to be done, sitting in an igloo on wheels is not fun.

So glad we have the Shogun, we'd be lost without it.

 

[southerncomfort]

Climate change strikes again, we are going to get more extremes of weather. That said, the relentless storms, rain and wind have really been grinding me down this winter so I’ve actually welcomed the respite and pony is coping well with an extra rug. That said, I might need a 4wd car if this is the future for winters to come.

I'm definitely putting snow tyres on next year.

 

[southerncomfort]

Down here in Herts we've had very little snow but it's pretty cold. I like the dry, cold weather although I've not ridden since Sunday. This is a nice reprieve from the mud and wet weather.

But I have turned into an axe wielding lunatic. I've been using an axe to break the ice on the water trough as it's a good 2 inches thick but I'm enjoying it far too much. It's a great stress buster.

* adds 'axe' to weekly shopping list!