After three weeks of sub-zero temperatures and snow and ice in many parts, Ireland, like much of the rest of Europe, is experiencing considerable difficulty in continuing its post-industrial lifestyle. Supplies of salt for the roads are stretched, and also gas supplies with industry being told to use coal or oil instead.
So far the main routes are being kept open and food supplies are getting through to all but the most remote households, but with ice storms on their way in the next few days from the east expected to worsen conditions in Europe and here over the weekend, shortages could become an issue. Already potato crops have been affected with thousands of tons of unharvested spuds destroyed in farms a round the country.
Water is also an issue in many towns and cities, with increased demand apparently caused by people staying at home more, and losses due to frozen pipes.
Some homes have also been without electricity as storms and snow damage lines and maintenance vehicles find it hard to reach them.
Already the schools have been closed for next week, and this includes my own college so Ill be grounded for the moment. Martin, who is from Chicago, thinks it is a joke the country is coming to a standstill. Hasn’t anyone here heard of snow tyres? Apparently not, Ive never heard mention of them.
It is 30-50 year events like these that test our mettle and preparedness- as a nation we are failing miserably, such disruption interferes with the Great Plan of Keep on Growing the Economy. We are just not set up for hunkering down and doing as little as possible- sledging and snowball flinging excepted.
What might have seemed fun for some up till now has been a real hardship for others, but the real question is, how long will it last? If they are already closing the schools it hardly looks like the authorities will be able to be more organised than they already are.
It looks highly likely to remain unchanged for the next two weeks but seemingly the last Big Freeze, sometime in the 1960s, lasted well into March, even April in some parts. Another 6-8 weeks of this is surely not something this country is ready for.
I’m someone who is supposed to be more prepared than most, but in truth I am only half way there. Ive spent some of the time coppiceing next winter’s wood supply, the perfect activity for this time of year and weather, the first warming from the cutting of the wood being very welcome.
I have left the van over the bridge because the steep hill up here has been so icy, so it is possible to drive carefully and slowly into town, but I have only been out once this week and am keeping journeys to a minimum.
The cabin really comes into its own with the low winter sun warming the interior to a cosy 18 degrees most days by 11am. I don’t really need to light the range until the evening. Current wood supplies are probably OK for another three weeks; I could stretch it out longer if need be.
Water will be the first to go. It currently freezes each night but thaws out by lunch time. However, my main supply is currently rain water off a shed roof in a 1300L tank. With careful use I only have another maybe 8 or 10 days if there is no precipitation. I havnt investigated the well yet but presumably can break the ice and carry buckets.
One thing I have ample of is solar electricity. The sun is warm on the rocks and dazzling each day. No SAD this year! The electric chainsaw is getting some use, but otherwise apart from the computer I have far more power than I can use- not a situation I ever envisaged at this time of year.
I had made no special preparations for food but have a stock that would see me through a couple of weeks at least if I couldn’t get out at all, including two sacks of Bantry CSA spuds, and a supply of rice and pulses. There is still a couple of large squashes in the store and a few shallots left, but very little in the garden- just some leeks and a little kale. Oh, and some artichokes for when all else fails!
Contact with the immediate neighbours has been more frequent which has been nice, otherwise very quiet, leaving one to dwell on what real survival conditions would feel like, and whether, if the weather continues for long, it will come to that, and if it will be anything like the scenes from Cormac Mccarthy’s novel, now just released as a film, The Road.
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Snow tyres are wonderful. In Hungary we have to switch tyres in November ready for frost and snow and switch back in the warm months. The difference driving with good winter tyres is incredible, last year I made my commute on one long (40km) stretch of ice, this year through ice, snow and a 260km drive to Slovenia in a blizzard with the family in the car without incident. The downside is you have to buy two sets of tyres and most people pay one of the Gummi Service places to store them and switch them when required. If I come back to the UK a set of winter tyres will be a habit I’ll bring back with me.
Thanks for that Dode! I guess the main problem here is that we just dont get these conditions usually, or if we do it is only for a few days, so most people would not think it worth investing in an extra set of tyres. Or do you in fact need an extra set of wheels as well? Also, we havn’t actually had any snow yet in west Cork- it is forecast for the next couple of days- rather, sleet from a few days ago has frozen but only in patches, so there are good bits and icy bits on any given road. The hills can be impassable even when the rest of the roads are not too bad. I gather the snow tyres are not great for the road surface otherwise. I will check out whether you can even get them here, and how much, for folks on the east coast where it has been under snow for a while already they would definitely seem a good idea.
Sitting here in 45C temperatures this sounds incredible… but I did used to live in Canada and in some provinces there, one is not permitted to drive without snow tyres after the beginning of November… and if they are of the studded cariety (best in ice) they had to be removed by the end of March. However, this summer is unusually hot here in Australia. I don’t have air conditioning and the house is about 32C inside now… at 11am… and it will be quite a bit hotter later in the day. It’s been like this or some days in a row now, so we have switched to our different schedule… up early to water the garden (from the tank water caught from the roof months ago) and then inside for the day… we’ll come out again after the sun goes down. Cooking is done outside, if at all. Climate change is here already! I understand your thoughts about preparation, Graham, I am better prepared than most, but there is still more to be done!
I think the issue with winter tyres damaging road surface is really restricted to the studded tyres used in some Scandinavian countries. We switch to softer tyres with different treads to hold the road better on ice and snow, the compounds are also better in low temperatures. I think if anything there is less damage to the road, the downside is a few percent difference in fuel economy between summer and winter.
You’re right.. studded tyres are the issue with road damage. But they are the best for serious ice. I had them in Newfoundland, but didn’t need them in Saskatchewan where it is much colder though less icy.
We are in our fifth day of 40+ temperatures today… pity we can’t spread the heat (or lack of it) around more evenly… but this is what we are told to expect with climate change!
Jane “We are in our fifth day of 40+ temperatures today…” I actually think I’d rather keep the ice! But it all makes you think what a narrow band of conditions like temperature and rainfall are actually comfortable for human life. We have our first covering of snow today, but rain and a thaw is now expected by next weekend.
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