Good day all>>>Here in Malibu,Ca. we don't allow nasty weather....It's 73*F..sunshine,blue Pacific and of course perfect just as it should be...Pay no attention to Mr Alvin Gore or the UN on global warming...It's in their bonnet....A glass of wine will help ...Such a nice sunset.... Oh , yes you 'Poor Brits", it's winter time ...Your supposed to be cold, damp, stormy,windy,dank, and just plain miserable.......smile, it helps...

Mr Tim, San Marcos, U S of A //Ca.

Here in New Zealand we are having a La Nina summer with temperatures hovering around the 30s regularly. Many areas of agricultural land are suffering from drought and the dry is expected to continue well into April. Great for holidaymakers, but a disaster for agriculture. The world's weather is definitely more extreme than ever.

Peter Howard, Christchurch , New Zealand

Can you buy low profile snow tyres for 19" alloys ? Nope.
In which case the masses will never buy into it.

Gavin, London,

I live in Calgary, Alberta where recently the wind chill temperature was - 40 c and worse. We are geared for it. My car is in a heated garage and always starts. My house is properly insulated. I drive on roads that are swept and sanded. My car has snow tires, not all season. In short, the weather is known and anticipated. Britain has this unusual weather on rare occasions. It is not economically feasable to protect against it.

Jim McCallum, Calgary, Canada

To P R Haynes:

It is precisely because the weather is so regularly cold that you Canadians are able to deal with it. The point is that in Britain it isn't often this cold which is why it causes more difficulties. It would be absurd for us to have such precautions as you have as we only get snow a couple of days a year. The cost-benefit analysis would be dreadful if we took the same measures as you. It has nothing to do with being half-brained.

Will, London,

Paul C from Gloucester - excellent point, the hauliers should take full responsibility for protecting the public from these Road Trains in what is obviously danergous winds and it is so easy to save a life. Whats is a days time compared to a human life/lives.

tony, EK,

""Dealing with the very worst of conditions is not rocket science - half a brain is all you need.""P R Haynes, Thunder Bay, Ontario'''

P R Haynes has a point it not rocket science when it comes to dealing bad weather conditions, but what he has to realise that we in the UK are not use to the type of conditions that he is Canada. Being a small island surrounded by sea we get a mixed bag of weather conditions which can change from one hour to next. I'm sure that once the train companies have got their heads together they will come up with a solution. Oh by the way our public services dont come to a stand still, we're British and we ALWAYS find a way of getting around any obsticals that get in our way.

K. Foster. Nottinghamshire

K Foster, Nottinghamshire, UK

To Adrian from France, I'm afraid "just getting some snow tyres like everyone else" is pretty silly as I for one only really experience snow for about two days in a year, hardly worth a whole different set of tyres. And it's normally perfectly driveable snow anyway. You're just reading the hype of the media.

Joel, Herts,

Get a grip S Thomas ! you are an alarmist to the extreme
The weather is no different than it has always been - we are just in a warming trend at the moment because we are still, geologically speaking, coming out of the last Ice Age.
It is not worrying for mankind at all, our entire evolution has been driven by natural shifts in the climate otherwise we would still be in Africa . Lets have some sense and stop believing all this global warming idiocy from the tax-happy politicians and grant hungry scientists

billy, cardiff, Wales

Let's get this straight - Canada in winter is colder than Britain? Australia in summer is warmer?

And any kind of weather at all is confirmation of global warming?

Frank Upton, Solihull,

"Just - double figures eh! A positive heatwave! Here in Canada on Monday it was -38 with a wind chill of -46 - now that's cold! No doubt the whole of the UK will close down!"
JN-Canada....

Yes it will.But u are never on the move in Canada. Learn it from our tiny Island .

Brian Kelsey, Redditch, UK

Hey P R Haynes, we enjoy making something out of nothing on this little Island we call home.
Yes its pathetic compared with your minus 46 and 40cm of snow, we have no grizzly bears or mad yaks either!
But I would rather live here in this health and safety mad, carbon soaked, nanny state than somewhere that in its many million square miles has not one decent football team!

I understand this was an entirely pointless rant but I need something to make me feel better after finding out a tree has just flattened my new beamer in these 7 or 8 mph winds!

Gary, Midlands, UK, and proud of it!

Thanks PR Haynes, I agree, people cope much better in other countries with far more extreme weather conditions, but you are actually entirely equipped for it. Fortunately for us, extreme weather is occasional here (hence the media fuss each time), but it does mean that we simply aren't equipped for it: it would be absolutely cost-ineffective to be so for the occasional 'cold snap'.

Victoria, London,

im living in the east of France the coldest region of France when i read what goes on in the UK and talk to my friends they come across as truely frightened to venture out when theres a dusting of snow .What do you expect when the nanny state and media give advice of dont venture out stay at home fear of everything even a little bit of snow .Turn the telly off learn how to drive on snow (which is just to drive slower and respect distances etc common sense)get some snow tyres like everyone has round here and theres no problem, or sit at home and wait for someone else to tell you its safe to go out.

adrian, Besancon, France

why were these lorries still driving in these dangerous conditions? Why isn't there a simple rule that if the wind is gusting above a particular value for the class of lorry, then that lorry cannot legally drive unless it is to move to the nearest parking area (ie. get off a motorway). This is a simple health and safety issue... the hauliers are responsible for the health and safety of their drivers and they should not be forcing them to continue when it is no safe...

paulc, gloucester,

Dont be so cocky Mike Fraiser a good deal of queensland was still under floodwater last I heard!

Jordan, York, UK

Oh puh-lease..... here in Northwestern Ontario it was minus 46c with windchill last night. Even daytime highs can be as low as -27c. Snowfall off Lake Superior (lake effect snow) can regularly be 40cms in one fall. Exposed flesh can freeze in under 5 minutes. So, do people curl up and die? No! We get on with life! All municipal trucks have snowplow attachments, people dress for the conditions and even after the biggest snowfalls everything is moving smoothly within 2 hours - snowfalls of under 20cm are not even commented on.

Dealing with the very worst of conditions is not rocket science - half a brain is all you need - probably goes a long way to explaining why UK public services all collapse at the sign of a snowflake.

P R Haynes, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Watch out for another electricity/gas company putting its prices up next week

Richard , Bexhill, East Sussex

Welcome to Britain Mike Fraser :)
Britain tends to fall apart when we get a bit more than an inch of snow or winds above 40mph

I was in Yakutsk, Siberia last year and experienced some of the most hostile storms I have ever encountered, truly terrifying yet exciting.
The natives didn't notice. Business as usual.

Phill , Cheshire, England

why on earth are high sided vehicles allowed on the road when gales are forecast. Any such vehicles that are sent out in such conditions should have their insurance made void if involved in an accident in such conditions and the owners should be made to foot the bill for any damages etc
pete

Pete, York, North Yorkshire

In response to BJ Deller's comment. It's climate change not global warming...changes in the planets weather. Extreme events and unexpected weather are becoming more common. This January has been milder than some spring days I can remember yet the storms we are getting seem to be more intense. Anyone who hasn't noticed or is ignoring these phenomena must have a whole sheep pulled over their eyes. Worrying stuff for the human race.

S Thomas, Oxford/Liverpool, UK

Just - double figures eh! A positive heatwave! Here in Canada on Monday it was -38 with a wind chill of -46 - now that's cold! No doubt the whole of the UK will close down!

J Nicholls, Edmonton, Canada

I am confused. Isn't the world supposed to be getting warmer? We were told that it was going to be a warm winter.

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

I was over in UK for a week last January and copped 75mph winds that blew down trees and stopped traffic. No sooner was this cleared than we had snow which again stopped roads, this cleared to be followed by ice which stopped both trains and roads. As I left for sunny Oz, I read that there was going to be a Parliamentry enquiry to find out what went wrong. I nearly fell out of the plane laughing.

Mike Fraser, Sydney, Australia