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Big news! Canal freezes over.


Lily Rose

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Snow is a bit of an event in the West Country, so the reporting down here does tend to go over the top.  Those "trapped" boats would still be exactly where they are whatever the weather was doing - and there ain't exactly far to roam on that canal when they do move!

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Our local news featured the sea freezing in Weston Super Mare list night, it was actually only a bit of frozen spray on the beach but they had a reporter and camera out there.

Also saw the BBC had a mention of the canal freezing in Stoke on Trent.

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42 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

Sort of my point really. The sea freezing is news (even if it is only a harbour rather than the open sea), a canal freezing rather less so. Many of us will have seen frozen canals and/or marinas multiple times every winter, though admittedly not in Devon.

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43 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Surely you mean the Isle of White!

no, he's a troll, cousin of a wight

And it's frozen at my mooring, drifting round the boat.

Edited by Jim Riley
cos I can
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I know Bembridge harbour fairly well from walking around it on summer holidays; for those who don't it's quite big but with a narrow entrance where the tide races in and out; a lot of it dries out at low tide. I can see how it might freeze up at the edges around high or low tide when there's not much water movement, but would expect the ice to all break up when the tide changes, collapsing when it goes out or floating up when it comes in.

Would I be correct in guessing that most of the canals in the country (not rivers) are currently frozen over? Is anyone moving?

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3 minutes ago, Peter X said:

I know Bembridge harbour fairly well from walking around it on summer holidays; for those who don't it's quite big but with a narrow entrance where the tide races in and out; a lot of it dries out at low tide. I can see how it might freeze up at the edges around high or low tide when there's not much water movement, but would expect the ice to all break up when the tide changes, collapsing when it goes out or floating up when it comes in.

Would I be correct in guessing that most of the canals in the country (not rivers) are currently frozen over? Is anyone moving?

Ours is a canalised river (Well Creek alias Old River Nene) and it's frozen except under the main village bridge. No boats moving - but then I think I have seen only one this year so far.

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1 hour ago, Peter X said:

 

Would I be correct in guessing that most of the canals in the country (not rivers) are currently frozen over? Is anyone moving?

I think you can safely assume you are correct. I'm not on the boat at the moment but have been on it many times when the temperature dropped to 0 or -1 overnight (so a lot less cold than now) in Warwickshire and both the marina and the canal were covered in ice in the morning. 

I would think the ice is a fair bit thicker now (if my garden pond is anything to go by) than I've seen it at any time during my three winters as a boat owner though.

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2 hours ago, Peter X said:

Would I be correct in guessing that most of the canals in the country (not rivers) are currently frozen over? Is anyone moving?

On the train into work, just before Leeds station yesterday morning, not only was the canal frozen, but it had quite an accumulation of snow on the ice.  And its much colder today than yesterday!

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Coal boat NB Halsall came through Nantwich on the Shroppie yesterday. They broke a bit of ice. 

Today I would say if you had to navigate you could. There are sheets of ice but water all around them.

Edited by Alway Swilby
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5 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

The surface of my pond is about 80% ice covered, and there is still some liquid water coming through the fountain.

All of which proves that the freezing point of water at STP is approximately 0°C. 

Move on, nothing to see here...

The surface of our pond is solid ice covered in snow. It took two kettles of boiling water to melt a hole at which time I estimated the ice to be over 1” thick. 

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The Moomins' current plan is to try and break out of Crick marina on Sunday and get down Watford locks before they close. The marina behind us is ice-free, and the temperature is currently just above freezing. The canal ice outside looks quite thick. It's going to be noisy, and if we get stopped anywhere, I recon it will be in the cuttings either side of the tunnel. 

 

MP.

 

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As far as I can make it out, there's warmer air coming up from the south which should begin to melt the ice. The BBC says I'm getting 4C all day today and higher tomorrow, and certainly the little snow and ice here is steadily melting away. The Moomins no doubt have their reasons and maybe their ice won't be so thick by Sunday lunchtime, but I think anyone who needs to move their boat would be well advised to delay a day or two if they can, in the hope that the ice will be thinner or even gone. But you might well get rained on.

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