Who would have thought that a few inches of snow could paralyze an entire nation, and become the topic of every single news channel for several days? The current state of the UK, with headlines such as "Big Freeze" and talk of "extreme weather" with up to 6" of snow makes one wonder if this is really an advanced society that has a developed infrastructure to accommodate crises of this nature. Particularly when this is the third year in a row when winter weather has been unexpected and a formal "Winter resilience review" was conducted to examine how all sectors of transport can effectively respond to and cope with such conditions. The Minister for transport has made sweeping statements about the tradeoffs that need to be made if winter spending has to increase (I'm sure the public would be willing to give up some less favorable conveniences if it meant not getting stuck on the highway!) And there is a continuous reminder that severe winter weather is not so common. Well, three times in a row should be enough for anyone to say "let's be prepared - even if the worst doesn't happen". In that regard, the government's response to the severe weather is in start contrast to their general position on global warming - namely, to adopt the precautionary principle that lack of evidence is not an excuse for inaction. In this case, lack of proof that next year's weather will be severe is not a reason to not plan for it.
The first step in being prepared for severe weather is to know with a high degree of certainty that snow and ice are indeed expected and the magnitude of the precipitation. Unfortunately, the science of weather forecasting still appears to be in its infancy in the UK, with very little use of doppler radar and continuous tracking of severe weather. This is when you really value something like the Weather channel, with its 24 hr coverage of any severe weather, in particular winter storms and hurricanes. Having radar maps made available to the public will provide greater awareness of weather conditions. At the same time, forecasters need to improve their ability to distinguish between a 2" and a 10" snowfall.
Next, the plans to clear the roadways should be well defined. When snow is expected, plows need to be moved to regions that are expecting heavy accumulations. Given that this is not such a huge country, it should be relatively straightforward to move say a 100 snow plows from the London area to Manchester within a half day in anticipation of snow. This is why #1 above is so important - a snow plow sitting in an area that is receiving no snow at all is useless.
In addition, if the government is not willing to invest in additional snow plows, it should contract with private companies that can fit snow plows to the front of 4x4's or other heavy vehicles and provide services to smaller roads. Fitting a salt spreader to the back of a truck is not rocket science and the private companies can be paid based on the amount of snow that they clear out. Or smaller, remote towns can contract with these private companies to take care of their needs and not divert resources from major roadways.
When it comes to removal of the snow, the material of choice is rock salt - not calcium chloride that has a far superior melting power and can keep the water from re-freezing down to about -20 C. The salt suppliers are also limited, and apparently lack the ability to meet the needs for even a mild winter. The winter review has recommended imports of salt from other countries - maybe the US or China? Either way, this should be the least of the issues - the only question is how much ice melt is bought and where it is stored. The UK cannot be running out of space to store salt. If it is, then ice melt should be sold in stores and individuals should be able to buy bags to use for their own neighborhoods.
Removal of snow is best done with a shovel. But news reports are showing snow removal personnel at HEATHROW AIRPORT of all places using a broom!!!! This is the most shocking part of the entire saga - not using the most basic of tools means that people prefer to just stay indoors and wait for the snow to melt rather than going out and cleaning things up. Further, the winter review has just proposed a "snow code" to protect persons who are keen on getting rid of the snow from being sued by other lazy asses who would prefer to just frolick around in the snow and then slip and break their legs. One wonders whether there is any desire for people to take responsibility for cleaning up the snow or they view it as another of the services that the government should do for them!
