Bitter Cold rips London

By all measures it is cold in London today and the threat of snow has most people in a jolly, playful mood. I think that mood has more to do with the fact that people in general are slow to return to work after the holidays. The office was empty yesterday and while more populated today, the feeling is that people are content doing heads down, quiet work and not quite ready to engage fully.

London has a very moderate climate and temperature extremes like this are rare. The thing on everyone’s mind today is the idea that it may snow. Snow in London is very bad. Even the smallest amount can cripple the transportation infrastructure. Yesterday warnings were issued to all travellers to be cautious of travelling as you may not get back to your homes. When this happened last year, the city was paralyzed for days.

The smell of snow in the air, and yes, there is a very distinct smell that it has makes me think of my days at Binghamton. PJ and I took one of our many road trips to Buffalo. You want to experience snow- that is the place to go. They have ‘lake effect snow’ which is a heavy, wet, billowy tupe of snow that is generated when the warm lakes pump moisture up into the air and it moves over the much colder land mass. Buffalo is perfectly positioned for lake effect snow and when it comes down it does in feet at a time. I recall on of our trips to visit Tina and looking out the window to a complete white out. When the snow stopped, you can just make out the fine silhouettes of car tops in the streets below. That type of snow takes days to deal with even with heavy equipment. None of that type of equipment even exists here in London.