Is it Cold Enough for You?

Here are some random and even perhaps meaningless observations following Tuesday afternoon and evening’s white out. Please add any more trivia if you like.

• The streets and car parks are still emptier than usual, though by Friday there seemed a certain desperation, as people had to get about more. The town was much busier but then again, it tends to be.
• The only table or cooking salt available in Rhuthun is either small packets of flaked sea salt (at Tesco) or smaller pots of the same (at B&M). Since these are particularly ineffective at thawing large areas of ice, no one’s buying. Larger packets and containers of more conventional salt are nowhere to be found. Not that salt works so well at -8°C.
• By late afternoon, bread stocks are continually low at all locations, with Co-op, Village Bakery and Popty’r Eryr all sold out.
• Traffic speeds have been noticeably lower and roads emptier, especially after dark.
• The usual morning and afternoon traffic associated with Ysgol Brynhyfryd has been absent, with Mold Road as quite as a school holiday.
• Plenty of children were initially roaming around Rhuthun but by Friday they had reduced. This was because the three primaries were back in and it seemed that older children were becoming bored, perhaps preferring daytime 1970s and 1980s TV repeats instead.
• The salt mountain opposite the Lôn Parcwr depot is considerably diminished. One wonders how long it will last over the weekend, with what is now an 80 per cent chance of snow forecast on Sunday evening.
• Highways operatives were doing a sterling job at clearing roads, including with mini-diggers and manual shovelling in the town centre, from Wednesday morning. They’ve been out daily ever since. Well Street & Clwyd Street still have areas of slushy snow. Upper Clwyd Street was impassable but now drivable with care.
• There’s absolutely nowhere for cars to pull off the road. Cars are permafrosted and windscreens hazy with road grim, as car water bottles freeze or fail.
• You can still hear the sound of metal spades and shovels scraping on tarmac. On Wednesday, the town seemed to echo to this rasp.
• The folks at Bridge Services have a large box of thermal gloves and hats by the counter. At least one of the staff is wearing one of the hats.
• Although temperatures fall with height, those nearer the ground have actually recently been *lower* than those in the air. Evidence for such a temperature inversion can be seen by the trail of smoke drifting horizontally from Clifford Williams’ timber, Lôn Cae Bricks, which is often trapped beneath “warmer” air above.
• Friday sun managed to expose the odd patch of green and melt some snow on roofs. Hurrah! Or is this due to poor insulation? Snow on Glasdir roofs is thawing quickly—and these are intended to be highly insulated, environmentally-sound homes.