Building snowmen will help stop floods, says Nottinghamshire Environment Agency expert Roy Stokes
PEOPLE are being advised to build snowmen, as one way to stop their homes from being flooded when the snow starts to melt.
The advice came from an exert at the Environment Agency, who says snowmen melt more slowly than snow on the ground, so building them would help to prevent floods as the snow started to melt.
Weather forecasters are predicting a sudden thaw this weekend, with temperatures set to soar from minus figures up to around 13°C.
This has led to fears of severe flooding in many parts of the country.
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But the Environment Agency said Brits could help slow the rate of the sudden thaw by building snowmen in their gardens and on driveways.
Spokesman Roy Stokes, flood and coastal risk management programme manager for Notts, said the snow in snowmen was more compacted, causing it to melt more slowly. "Ideally, if everybody built themselves a snowman, that will slow the thaw down a bit," he said.
"If you notice, when people clear their drive the snow thaws away but the compacted piles stay – which will give a balanced thaw, which would be helpful. We would rather it be a gradual thaw than a really quick one. If it does melt too quickly, we are likely to see a few flood alerts."
Dr Simon Keeling, forecaster at weatherweb.co.uk, warned that localised flooding was likely following the thaw.
He said: "There is going to be a big swing in temperatures, from as low as -13°C on Friday night to 13°C on Tuesday.
"It will be really noticeable, and, as the majority of England, Scotland and Wales is under a layer of snow, there will be a lot of standing water around. There is likely to be localised flooding and driving conditions will not be good.
"We are going to see a rise in temperatures next week, followed by a cold spell, but nothing like the recent freeze."
E-mail your snowman pictures to newsdesk@nottinghampostgroup.co.uk
6 Comments
by copperjohn3
Thursday, January 24 2013, 9:39PM
“It would also be beneficial if people could store snow in their domestic freezers. Again this would reduce the potential for flooding but additionally during the summer hosepipe ban they will be able to sprinkle the carefully stored flakes upon their borders to provide valuable refreshment to their garden plants without falling foul of the hosepipe police.
Its a win, win situation.”
by kevin862
Thursday, January 24 2013, 8:32PM
“So I assume if mr snowman has a wife and family, it will be even better! Would like to know his salary!!! And what was on his cv to get the position! I clearly need to get the boys to produce more ****s to act as bio friendly flood barriers, if you don't mind the smell! Or maybe it's against there doggie rights as its too much pressure on there bums to build such a pile!!
The whole worlds gone mad!”
by kevin862
Thursday, January 24 2013, 8:31PM
“So I assume if mr snowman has a wife and family, it will be even better! Would like to know his salary!!! And what was on his cv to get the position! I clearly need to get the dogs to produce more ****s to act as bio friendly flood barriers, if you don't mind the smell! Or maybe it's against there doggie rights as its too much pressure on there bums to build such a pile!!
The whole worlds gone mad!”
by kevin862
Thursday, January 24 2013, 8:27PM
“So I assume if mr snowman has a wife and family, it will be even better! Would like to know his salary!!! And what was on his cv to get the position!”
by painter39
Thursday, January 24 2013, 8:13PM
“Its a good job we have these 'experts'”
by mof_gedling
Thursday, January 24 2013, 4:46PM
“should we build more snowmen on the flood plains alongside the new houses ?”