'Extreme' British Weather

It is so typical of the British that an "extreme weather warning" was issued after the Southeast of the United Kingdom suffered 15cm of snow in 24 hours. The snowfall led to London buses being pulled off the roads, schools in Essex being closed, and lorries blocking major highways. My initial reaction was to laugh heartily and point out that many parts of Canada, and the Northern United States suffer 15cm of snow in 24 hours as a matter of course.

It was Bill Bryson who commented that the British fascination with the weather was perplexing because the UK had so little weather that was truly exciting. The Americans have tornadoes that can flatten towns, earthquakes that have affected major cities, hurricanes that have swept away large regions of the coast, heavy snowstorms that have knocked out power in entire states. Even one of the most active volcanic areas in the world (Hawaii). The British have rain that kind of piddles down (not even proper rainstorms) and not much else.

Of course, to snicker at the current snow 'storms' in the UK is to miss the point. Such weather is rather extreme for a country which hardly ever gets any wonderful snow to compensate for the miserably cold and wet winter months. If anything, I would view the recent extreme weather as a wonderful occurrence to get outside, build a snowman and have general fun. Just don't expect it to last. I can only wish that such bountiful snowfall had happened while I was still there.