I have just seen the gritters out at Frecheville (12.00 Midnight Sat 26th.Nov.)
There is no sign of frost at all tonight, it is disgusting. The council are screeming out that they are short of money so they put council tax up to pay gritters double time at night to go out and grit roads when there is no frost, but what can we do about it NOTHING.

Weather forcst could be telling them that a cold front is comming in!

It was snowing in my part of Kent yesterday afternoon.

:)

Quick, get sky news kents had snow! didn't they have there quota last year?

The council cant win, gritters go out, people moan that they are wasting money, they dont go out and people moan about that! Id rather have the roads gritted just in case than not at all.

Originally posted by sparky2
I have just seen the gritters out at Frecheville (12.00 Midnight Sat 26th.Nov.)
There is no sign of frost at all tonight, it is disgusting. The council are screeming out that they are short of money so they put council tax up to pay gritters double time at night to go out and grit roads when there is no frost, but what can we do about it NOTHING.

It's a case of damned if they do, damned if they don't.

They always get slagged off on here and in the Star if they don't grit and then it's icy, and after the slagging off the council's had for Monday's traffic chaos, can you blame them for pulling all the stops out to keep the roads clear?

Anyway, they will be acting on predictions from the weather forecasters, and it has been really cold these last few days!

Originally posted by sparky2
There is no sign of frost at all tonight, it is disgusting. The council are screeming out that they are short of money so they put council tax up to pay gritters double time at night to go out and grit roads when there is no frost, but what can we do about it NOTHING.

They don't grit the roads to get rid of frost - in weather like this they grit them to get rid of black ice. As a previous poster has said, this is all down to Met Office predictions about the weather - they don't just grit the roads for the fun of it.

Originally posted by martss
The council cant win, gritters go out, people moan that they are wasting money, they dont go out and people moan about that! Id rather have the roads gritted just in case than not at all.

Sounds like the gritters knew what they were doing anyhow now, dosen't it ?

Black Ice is still about. I'm always falling off my bik e in ice if I'm out and about as the gritters are out and about but haven't cleared my path yet. Just because most of you have cars that are more stable and don't feel the ice as quick as bikes, doesn't mean other road users don't exist (although sometimes you think some drivers think they are only one on them).

I'm not hitting on car drivers here, cus I have a car but I like to use my push bike when travelling light or not too far and I feel the ice straight away and some car drivers must think the breaks on a bike are disc brakes and can brake as safely as them and as quick as them while complaining you are riding up a hill too slow. :rolleyes:

So yeah, leave the gritters alone :D

yup better to grit the roads in these cold weeks even if there is no frost on a few of the nights cos on others there certainly is the weather is hard to predict that is why Brits love to talk about it, so you can hardly hammer the gritters for not knowing on the day. We'd be lost without them;)

i thought his pop career was over?

oohhhhhhh, GRIT ters

:|

Originally posted by sparky2
I have just seen the gritters out at Frecheville (12.00 Midnight Sat 26th.Nov.)
There is no sign of frost at all tonight, it is disgusting. The council are screeming out that they are short of money so they put council tax up to pay gritters double time at night to go out and grit roads when there is no frost, but what can we do about it NOTHING.

Just because you cannot detect frost at midnight doesn't mean there wasn't a frost being predicted by the Met Office for 03.00 or 06.00hrs.

It's a strange logic which dictates that the gritters wait for the frost to actually form before gritting the roads. Or would you prefer an accident to occur on black ice first? :huh: At least you wouldn't feel "disgusted" - even though some poor soul may be in hospital after skidding on black ice.

All councils receive Met Office extreme weather reports on a 24 hours a day basis, as do the police, ambulance and fire services. These Met Office reports include predictions of icy road conditions, accumulations of snow, strong winds, heavy rain and flooding. Flooding predictions are in 3 categories. The most severe flooding prediction would require evacuation of people living in designated low lying areas. By your logic though, you'd be waiting for the river banks to burst before getting people to safety.

Well said robbo, now about the lack of traffic management in sheff! shown Jan Wilson the big thread on last mondays fun ride home?

I never slag off the gritters because they're already doing a thankless job and I wouldn't do it myself. The major problem with adverse weather is that the second the Police say, "don't venture out if you don't have to" or "there's no need to leave work early and snarl up the roads", everyone does. It's human nature. A couple of years ago, working on Ecclesall Road, we stood in our office window and watched how long it took from the first flurry of snow to the road being snided in both directions - less than 30 minutes and it stayed like that for the rest of the day.

i had to look twice when reading this thread i thought it said "glitter's in sheffield" i thought nah he cant be he's still in vietnam lol.........................

Good job your a fully qualified meteorologist. :)