Freezing rain

farview. Isn't our weather strange? I'm in Ashton-in-Makerfield (Wigan) - not too far from Bolton and it's been pleasantly mild here today, with very little rain.

Yes, freezing rain yesterday tea time driving back to Manchester from Bradford. We stopped at traffic lights on the approach to the motorway home and I noticed the drips of rain from the top of the railings by the traffic light crossings were in fact icicles. And they reflected all the lights from cars etc so in fact, mundane as it was, it looked spectacularly beautiful. One has to stop and stare sometimes.

I drove to Leeds on Thursday for my son's graduation on Friday. Yesterday when I drove home it was dark very early, raining and very windy. The motorway signs all warned of freezing rain but not sure if it actually was or just a warning that it might be. I was driving South towards London but my DD had to return to Glasgow and skidded on ice as a road closure meant she was sent a different route. Thankfully she got home safely but maybe the rain had been freezing there! DS and DIL went home by train but relieved everyone got home OK. Petty dreadful weather for travelling.

Thank you Tillybelle...we just have to make time "to stand and stare...". Or we miss it....

cavewoman
Thank you.
I totally agree and love being outdoors. A few months ago I went on an 'owl day', really only an afternoon, where we saw the most beautiful owls and were able to have them fly onto our (gloved) hand. So cute.
In summer I often cycle with friends to Cowdray Park where we have watched red kites circling above the thermals and saw badgers...yes badgers crossing a field near a stand of trees - unbelievable in the early afternoon. We stopped for refreshment in a field, such a glorious day out and cost nothing.

Very wet again here in Devon, risk of flooding. Cat is fed up not being able to go out & having to resort to using his litter tray . He even sits by the catflap looking at me as if I can turn the weather off

I have experienced rain it's frightening, snow I can cope with.

Lovely photos Gabriella
Last week my friends and I shared a flask of sherry and some mince pies in a bird hide overlooking a reservoir teeming with wildfowl. Who needs expensive restaurants?

Widgeon3 we lived in Hanover for two years. January 1976 to December 1977 and loved it.

farview It's so lovely to hear you comment on something of beauty in Nature! I think to have the ability to appreciate such natural beauty is a true gift!

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Morning walk.

I wouldn't have stayed upright if I'd have gone out yesterday. A foolish move that would have been.

Freezing rain is one of the worst things I think, we live in Scandinavia and this happens occasionally, not often thank goodness when it does it paralyses traffic, I would rather have snow or rain, thats more manageable!

Warm-ish here in SW Surrey today. No heating on, been for a walk on Blackdown with a friend and took flasks of soup and a sandwhich we ate and drank overlooking the view from Gibbert Hill in Hindhead, about 10 miles. We deserved a sit down.

I live in the SE we had the rain up until about 8 o’clock last night. No ice but cold. Then we went to pick up gd from the 02 and it was milder. Strange day.

When we lived in Germany we experienced Freezing Rain in Hannover and first became aware of it when we noticed people ice-skating along the road... Quite extraordinary.

Frosty here, South of Denmark, we had snow showers yesterday and the day before, but the snow didn't lie.

We used to keep a couple of horses at a DIY livery yard in West Berks. Think it was late winter 2002 when around 6pm out of the blue we had severe thundersnow, the only time I’ve ever seen this. Horses had all just been stabled overnight and went berserk - they were absolutely terrified. It took me an hour to drive 5 miles to pick my daughter up along country roads.

We were due in Leeds (an hours drive for us) last night for OH's works party and seriously considered pulling out as by 4pm it was coming down in sheets. In the end we decided to give it a go based on texts from others on the other side of Leeds saying the roads didn't seem too bad. It was torrential all the way there, the temperature had gone down from 2 deg to 0 by the time we arrived. We left early but the temperature had risen during the evening and by the time we got home it had gone up to 8 deg! Sometimes they get the dire warnings wrong.

Oh feel for you Lucky legs brrrr!
I worked at MCFC for a few years (Maine rd)
Just walked the dog and today is quite cold but tons better than yesterday...

I bought tickets as a treat to go and watch Manchester City yesterday on the opposite side of the ground from my husband’s normal seat. We endured a dreadful journey there in the weather and found that our seats were almost at the front completely unsheltered on every side! I realised that I hadn’t gauged my clothing right at all, we were completely drenched, frozen to the marrow, I thought I may have frostbite in my toes, we were both shivering through to our underwear! It was hell! I went and got us hot drinks but HE refused to go up into the stands to watch the rest as he didn’t want to miss a moment! I wish I’d gone up on my own but I was worried about not finding him again in that vast crowd. Safe to say, I didn’t enjoy it (apart from the win) at all and couldn’t get warm on an equally dreadful journey home! All I could think of, I’ve paid a lot of money for these tickets!

We watched icicles form on the shed as the rain fell yesterday afternoon and within a very short time at least 10 accidents were reported on one stretch of the M6 (Cumbria) with the addition of hail/snow.
This morning its all disappeared, thank goodness !!

It was a horiible cold, wet and windy day yesterday in Oxfordshire but we battled it out and bought our tree. And had coffee at the garden centre!

My first day of setting up a company in Pennsylvania 25 years ago had me working late and our office cleaner warning me about the coming “freezing rain”.

I thanked her for the warning but continued working. At about 10pm I returned to my car to find it coated with a thick layer of solid ice.

So I returned to my office to sleep on the floor having learned that unlike benign British weather, North American weather can kill the unprepared.

Global warming may mean that deadly weather will be visiting our grandchildren as they become adults.

Its dry thats all I know at the moment but I am planning on going out in a moment so it will be dozens of layers. Friday I went to Swansea from Somerset and it felt like the north pole. But I haven't seen any freezing rain.

I've only seen it once, in France, on the way with brother and SiL to their house. Roads were so treacherous, lorries were banned, and when we stopped in their little town for bread, the roads and pavements were sheet ice.
Couldn't park near the house, approach too icy, had to inch our way gingerly to the door.
Thank goodness the thaw started that evening.