Are there any meteologists out there, I am not sure if the good/bad weather stories printed in the papers are entirely accurate.

The reason is, I am going over to a breakers yard to pick up a few parts for the missus’ car and wonder whether I should pick up a set of steelies for it and have a set of winter tyres fitted for the winter.

We don’t know. The Met Office (the best meteorologists there are) have given up attempting seasonal forecasting for the public, and with good reason.

Hope so. More skiing. 😀

“No sun at night, winter be sh*te”.
Old pheasant pluckers saying – sometimes true you know…..

What are steelies? Tyre chains?

Thinking about the winter tyres myself TBH, but not sure of the compromises involved.

My waters say yes !

“bad” in what sense?
Bad winter for me would be temperatures around freezing, persistent rain, muddy trails.
Good would be like last winter – sub zero, loads of snow, dry & grippy trails, stunning scenery, opportunities for skiing and snowboarding on the hills behind mine and very quiet roads cos everyone is too scared to drive!

Nah, it’s going to be sunshine all the way up to January 12th, then a 2 week cold snap with 1 night of freezing fog and then drizzle until spring starts. It should be a doddle, you wont even really need a coat.

Glad to be of service.

Have a look at Positive Weather Solutions.Thats who I look to for long range weather forcasts.

+1 crazy-legs

Hopefully it’ll mostly be proper cold and not just drizzle. But who can tell? “You’ll have to wait and see,” as my Ma used to say.

Thinking about the winter tyres myself TBH, but not sure of the compromises involved.

My dad runs winter tyres on steel wheels for four months of the year, but he drives out to the Alps quite a lot, and everyone does the same over there. His current set has lasted two winters now, will probably be worn out this year though. They do wear quicker than normal tyres, and I think your fuel consumption goes up noticeably cos they have much higher rolling resistance. They are pretty good on ice and packed snow, but not much use in really deep stuff. Probably overkill for most of the UK – if you buy a set I guarantee you it won’t snow again until you sell them on three years later…

For the sort of winters we’ve had in the UK recently I can heartily recommend these things. I bought a pair last year for about £50 cos I live at the end of a track that doesn’t get gritted or cleared. They take about a minute to put on, less to take off – much less faff and mess than chains and you can leave the ABS/traction control on too. In my car they grip well in anything up to about 9″ of snow, and are actually better than chains on ice. I believe lots of the emergency services now use them for icy/snowy conditions. I saw some classic gobsmacked faces in stuck 4x4s as I rolled sedately past in a normal, boring-looking hatchback with those things on last winter.

I hope so! after spending the weekend stocking the logstores and chopping kindling, I am hoping for some cozy evenings by the fire!!

I don’t mind a proper winter, but last winter was too cold and long for me up here.

hope so, I bought snow chains for my boots!

no. it’ll be ok.

Yes

No

Maybe

Here’s my prediction for the next 6 months:

Cool & dry end to October, so get some riding in.
November will be mostly wet and cold I’m afraid, some high winds in the middle of the month too.
December – some early snow flurries at the beginning of December will soon fizzle out, December will be on the whole a good month, with some higher than average temperatures. No white Xmas I’m afraid.
January & February will be very cold, with prolonged periods of snowy/icy weather, particularly at the end of Jan/beginning of Feb. Expect widespread disruption (again).
March will be wet, cold and miserable with a lot of rain and potential for flooding in low lying areas.

There you go, now bookmark this thread and see how close I get 🙂

My dad runs winter tyres on steel wheels for four months of the year, but he drives out to the Alps quite a lot, and everyone does the same over there. His current set has lasted two winters now, will probably be worn out this year though. They do wear quicker than normal tyres, and I think your fuel consumption goes up noticeably cos they have much higher rolling resistance. They are pretty good on ice and packed snow, but not much use in really deep stuff. Probably overkill for most of the UK – if you buy a set I guarantee you it won’t snow again until you sell them on three years later…

For the sort of winters we’ve had in the UK recently I can heartily recommend these things. I bought a pair last year for about £50 cos I live at the end of a track that doesn’t get gritted or cleared. They take about a minute to put on, less to take off – much less faff and mess than chains and you can leave the ABS/traction control on too. In my car they grip well in anything up to about 9″ of snow, and are actually better than chains on ice. I believe lots of the emergency services now use them for icy/snowy conditions. I saw some classic gobsmacked faces in stuck 4x4s as I rolled sedately past in a normal, boring-looking hatchback with those things on last winter.

Its law to have winter tyres in most of northern Europe. I could imagine the amount of ‘ripoff britain’ etc… comments if that was ever passed over here. Considering last weekend within 60miles I saw 2 car crashes due the heavy rain on a quiet sunday morning run down to the airport, it shows we have a massive lack of respect for road conditions over here.

They are much better for wet conditions too aswell as snow, so was thinking along the safety lines too. The tyres would mean that she doesnt have to get here hands dirty either.

Last year we had a Panda which was far better in the snow than most other cars on its standard mini cheddar tyres but you are only as good as the 20 stuck cars in front of you.

Might get the wheels in if I can get a set cheap and then do a mad panic overpriced buy on tyres if it starts to snow.

Then I can preach about it and also still get out to the empty shops.

+1 autosocks

as long as you take them off as soon as you are off the snow/ice.

We were able to drive straight up a slight incline of sheet ice with them on. It meant we could drive the last 1.5 miles home instead of walking.

ask me again in April.

I run winter tyres on my focus from start November to some time in April depending on the weather. Got some free rims from a friendly garage. They wear better in Winter than summer tyres and give so much confidence whenever it is wet, snow, ice or below 7C. I can not recommend them enough.

My wife has a people carrier and uses them all year round (Nokian WRG2) and they last longer than the summer tyres she used to use. She will not use summer tyres anymore as these are so much better in the wet about 50% better. They will be 5% worse than summer tyres in the dry however.

I too have considered winter tyres. Not bought any tho 🙂

I’m more interested in the answer to this to see if it justifies me buying some XC skis 🙂

No one can really do seasonal forecasting very well, and anyone who says they can is deluding themselves.

However, I would say it’s worth having winter tyres no matter what the weather is like in winter. They provide better grip in any conditions below around 10C (which is nearly all of the time during the winter), due to the rubber compounds used and especially in the wet, plus you don’t have to worry about a bit of snow.

No brainer really. Even if you don’t want to drive around with cheap steel wheels on your nice car, most decent garages will change your tyres over for you for £5/6 a wheel so you can keep using your nice alloys.