Skip to main content

SNOW: NEW TOOL FOR TEETH-CHATTERING CLASSES

Submitted by Editor on

Snow is reported in upland areas across Scotland including the Nevis Range, Glen Coe, Glenshee, Cairngorm and the Lecht. Wintry showers are also predicted for the East Coast over coming days.

In what is predicted to be another severe winter, Broughtonians may wish to keep track of what's falling where.

A Spurtle follower has tweeted us with news of an ingenious application which tracks Twitter reports to map snow density and quality across the UK: http://uksnow.benmarsh.co.uk/.

Those interested tweet the first half of their postcode (where they are, not necessarily where they pick up their mail) and a score out of 10. An appropriate snow icon then appears on a satellite image of the UK.

The system, however, is only as good as the number of people who inform it and the accuracy of their reports. For this reason, thanks to our correspondent, Broughton – at least the EH7 part of it – currently appears to be the snowiest part of Scotland, even though the icon makes it clear there is no such precipitation here at the moment.

Spurtle suspects that whilst this application has the potential to provide useful, real-time results, there is also considerable scope for public mischief. How long before snow-circles (like crop-circles only far bigger) start appearing across the British Isles?