It's bloody lethal out there! (photos)

[d000hg]

Thaw has finally come to Durham, typically just as the river was freezing over. Snow hasn't gone anywhere, but the roofs have all started shedding their load of icicles and snow... which has mostly turned into solid ice.

Walking down into town, the pavement is littered with lumps of solid, clear ice in sizes from brick to breeze-block. And because the roofs are slanted, the stuff flies off at different trajectories depending how fast it moves, so nowhere is safe. A block the size of my head whizzed past my ear...

But here are some photos...


This is the stuff waiting to fall on people, I make them about 1m long...


Durham's resident pleasure cruise ship, icebound






Sadly I didn't have time to walk to the train-station... there is an icicle there considerably taller than I am.

[DimPrawn]

Thankfully snow and ice a thing of the past so I guess these are really old photos from the 1950's?

However, the warming is so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".

"Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said.

[Clippy]

Any cases of people playing or crossing the river on the ice?

[RichardCranium]

We had a little rain in the night which froze. So this morning Mrs RC well down the four steps and grazed and bruised herself.

The 2nd floor flat appear to have an overflow running. The soil pipe from their floor down to the car park is embedded in ice about 3" thick; and the wall beside it is covered in a sheet of ice about a foot across. I assume the soil pipe is blocked (frozen solid?) at some point above us, and the water is leaking from a joint in the pipe. So it might be the 3rd (top) floor flat.

I didn't think to take a picture before breaking off the first 7 or 8 feet of ice from the pipe. And now it is getting dark.

[ThomasSoerensen]

My wife slipped on ice on Tuesday. Today she had MRI. Tomorrow she starte physio therapy to recover from re-appeared pelvic loosening. she texts me every hour that she is at home crying from pain.

Nice ice.

[d000hg]

Any cases of people playing or crossing the river on the ice?

Not frozen enough, it's only just beginning to turn really and I guess it will melt fast now.

I didn't think to take a picture before breaking off the first 7 or 8 feet of ice from the pipe. And now it is getting dark.

Same here - in my first picture the top half of that pipe is probably 1" thick. Have seen some great ones where the pipe is frozen inside, and the bottom bend breaks off... you can pull the entire 20-foot section down, sawing it into foot-long 'bricks'.

I'm glad I don't live in a rough street anymore, the road is piled with ready-made missiles to throw at windows.

[Paddy]

Thankfully snow and ice a thing of the past so I guess these are really old photos from the 1950's?

However, the warming is so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".

"Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said.

tulip, I just ordered skis from Ebay.

[Paddy]

My wife slipped on ice on Tuesday. Today she had MRI. Tomorrow she starte physio therapy to recover from re-appeared pelvic loosening. she texts me every hour that she is at home crying from pain.

Nice ice.

Sorry about that. If she goes private, they will give proper pain killers

[RichardCranium]

My wife slipped on ice on Tuesday. Today she had MRI. Tomorrow she starte physio therapy to recover from re-appeared pelvic loosening. she texts me every hour that she is at home crying from pain.

You can tell her some random nutter on the Internet is wincing for her.

[markmm]

You can tell her some random nutter on the Internet is winking for her.

That's a bit rude, we don't need to know about your perversions.