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[zirk]

Just been catching up on the weather on BBC News, there was a live OB with a BBC Presenter at Midlands Airport doing His bit in front of the Camera. In the background were 3 Guys with Hi Viz's on, one Guy pushing a small Trolley full of Grit, another with a Shovel spreading the Grit and the 3rd Guy using His finger pointing to where the Grit needs to go,  Hooray, thee are Jobs out there! 

Talking of Grit, according to BBC Bristol, its our fault for the Motorways are becoming closed, not enough Cars on the road to work the Grit in because everyone's stayed at home.    

[tunnie]

Heathrow just shut its Northern runway, wtf is wrong with management there? They appear to react each time like they've never seen snow! 

[Lazydocker]

Heathrow just shut its Northern runway, wtf is wrong with management there? They appear to react each time like they've never seen snow! 

Northern runway is near(er) to buildings and the approach is slightly different so my be more to do with potential risk than the actual snow/ice Having seen a 747 overshoot the end of the Northern R/W through brake fail I can understand why... They go a long way without brakes

[tunnie]

Heathrow just shut its Northern runway, wtf is wrong with management there? They appear to react each time like they've never seen snow! 

Northern runway is near(er) to buildings and the approach is slightly different so my be more to do with potential risk than the actual snow/ice Having seen a 747 overshoot the end of the Northern R/W through brake fail I can understand why... They go a long way without brakes

Fair point, but other busy airports manage?

If this much snow was in Canada or America don't think it would make back pages of the news

[the alarming man]

snow what snow....havent seen any here

[Entwood]

Just remember that there is snow and snow ...   

UK snow is around 0 C and is wet, heavy slushy stuff that is a complete sod to clear, and often has a layer of ice underneath where the falling snow has melted on contact, then frozen later on.

Continental Snow - mainland Europe, America, Canada   .. is far colder -5C - -10C, smaller flakes that remain as individual flakes .. easily moved by snow blowers/ploughs and because the ground is so cold it does not melt on contact, once blown clear the ground is often very dry.

We make it worse IMHO by the excessive use of salt which melts the stuff even further ... which dilutes the salt solution, which then freezes more easily ...

Most airports have no problems keeping runways open ... dead simple job . the problem is the taxy ways and parking areas .. and especially the "fingers" that connect to the aircraft these days to allow folks on and off ...  there is absolutely no point in allowing an aircraft to land if it can't park and offload !!!

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Heathrow just shut its Northern runway, wtf is wrong with management there? They appear to react each time like they've never seen snow! 

In fairness Tunnie, the Heathrow airport have been using their £36 million of equipment to clear one runway fully, the southern I believe, then have gone on to clear the northern runway.  Using those massive snow clearing machines would not be safe if the airlines were landing on that runway as well!!

No one now can complain that Heathrow have not got the machines to cope now  and are using them fully