Something i heard in work today! UK related.

While i was at work today, i over heard a manager talking on the phone regarding salt stock, apparently a southern council has ordered 12,000 tonnes of Salt! many of you may not realise this but that is a HUGE amount compared to what we usually have stocked, the last couple of winters we have only had around 4,000 tonnes.

According to some internal reports floating around, uk winter 2011/2012 is going to be a bad one.

Surely any thread about local or national government being prepared for anything should be under the "hoax" section?

Seriously though, if the reports are true, I doubt the public will take kindly to another government failure which causes mass shutdowns of the infrastructure.

thanks for the warning
time to stock up

reply to post by Itop1


Like every year you mean lol

Every year we are told "its going to be bad" yet the councils NEVER get enough salt to grit the roads.

I dont see anything odd really, just a bit of forward planning. People are getting pissed off with councils failing them year in year out.

EDIT: Just to add, my council ordered 15,000 tons last year and 25,000 the year before

That's one bad winter they must be preparing for - oh and all the extra fish and chips they'll eat while keeping warm indoors - Have there been any vinegar orders put in?

Lol, they can't even tell us what the weather is like right now, let alone more than three months away.

I think this is a precaution as a result of last winter's conditions. Many councils were caught on the hop. Also, if they do order too much, they could probably sell it to other local councils who run dry, at a BIG profit.

Interesting none the less.

The website of my local council says they use, on average, 33000 tons of salt each winter.

So I don't read much into the figures quoted by the OP, sorry !

my father is high up in the local council here in ireland and he says a precautionary measure they are getting a higher amount of salt this winter too, i have no idea of the norm amount and whats being ordered but thought id give it a mention.

also!! iv heard of many people that this winter is expected to be worse than the previous two years!! people who are familuar with nature also say the same...

i personally am expecting it to be another harsh one again!!

stock up on lots of wood/food/water while its still cheap instead of being cought out to pay high prices.
either way its usable items so wont go to waste

reply to post by Itop1


may I suggest you do some research on has the gulf stream stalled/stopped think you will find your answers there, that you are looking for. oh by the way I've already started stocking up while thermals are still cheap and fuel for winter yes it should be a bad one this year ,and have already stocked up on food just in case are pathetic road network grinds to a halt and shops run out like last yr couldn't get a tin of peas for weeks lol

lol I was there for last years "Big Freeze" 5 cm of snow... airports closed. In Finland, that's a normal day in winter

No doubt that is Hampshire County Council.

I heard somewhere before that our winters in the uk have been getting worse yearby year and this winter will be like a mini ice age. Something to do with the mid atlantic drift if I remember correctly but I may be wrong.

Failure of having adequate supplies made most councils look like complete idiots..It's only natural they want to cover their arses this year.

ATS Euromaster: Motorists Urged to Prepare as Forecaster Predicts the Worst Winter on Record.
Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:40am
www.reuters.com...

wonder what they know..

Originally posted by Niall197
The website of my local council says they use, on average, 33000 tons of salt each winter.

So I don't read much into the figures quoted by the OP, sorry !

I agree. 4000 tons doesn't sound a lot to cover a whole district for an entire winter. In fact my local council used "8,000 tonnes of rock salt to treat the highway network" and that's ONLY the highway network, let alone the smaller routes.

Originally posted by Itop1
According to some internal reports floating around, uk winter 2011/2012 is going to be a bad one.

There are no serious indications of this. Some suggestion though that we may again have a cold start, but a milder Jan and Feb. Personally I'd not be putting any money on that at this stage, though I must remember to check out the MetO seasonal probability forecasts when the next model run becomes available next month.

I think it's simply a case of better prepared than not.


Edit: worth noting that lack of salt was not a problem last winter (as it had been the winter before).

Originally posted by TeroK
lol I was there for last years "Big Freeze" 5 cm of snow... airports closed. In Finland, that's a normal day in winter

With all due respect, what is normal in Finland is totally irrelevant to Britain. We have a totally different weather system, and different climate. Hence why we can't cope as well.

The councils in the south usually stock between 2,000 and 5,000, what they have ordered for this year is quite unprecedented, they haven't released any forecast or said it's going to be bad, this is just something i over heard, having worked for the council for over 15 years i know how not-normal this is, i have heard people say this winter will be bad but nothing official.

by the way when i say 12,000 tonns, this is additional to what they would usually already have in stock for winter 12,000 not total, usually they order around 3,000 additional tonns depending on which council, not 12,000!

Originally posted by Essan

Originally posted by Itop1
According to some internal reports floating around, uk winter 2011/2012 is going to be a bad one.

There are no serious indications of this. Some suggestion though that we may again have a cold start, but a milder Jan and Feb. Personally I'd not be putting any money on that at this stage, though I must remember to check out the MetO seasonal probability forecasts when the next model run becomes available next month.

I think it's simply a case of better prepared than not.


Edit: worth noting that lack of salt was not a problem last winter (as it had been the winter before).

edit on 27-8-2011 by Essan because: (no reason given)

I wouldn't read too much in to what the met office say, they have been wrong about the last three winters, completely wrong in fact, telling us we will have a mild winter and ending up having the coldest in over 40 years, also, last year quite a lot of councils ran low on salt which resulted in gritting only major roads, not all though.

Originally posted by TeroK
lol I was there for last years "Big Freeze" 5 cm of snow... airports closed. In Finland, that's a normal day in winter

Oh, for the record, getting into a sauna with 15 naked strangers, beating yourselves with branches followed by rolling around in snow is also considered "Normal" in Finland.

Darn! I just put all my money on oregano