I've recently moved from spending all my time in the Scotland and sometimes the north of England to living in the south west. I'm a keen cyclist, and a mark of a good adventure ride was finding a road lined with snow poles as you really feel like you're in the wilderness. From Buttertubs Pass in the Dales, to the high pennine roads, to the southern uplands and up to the cairngorms and NC500 roads, there's plenty dotted about and I think I've ridden most snow-pole lined roads on the mainland by now.
The southernmost that I'm aware of are on Holme Moss. I've been on the highest roads in Wales and around Exmoor, but none to be seen.
Does anyone know where the southernmost extent of snow poles are? Or where there are some that are unlikely to be needed? I know there's a few at a low elevation on the A83 just past the Dunoon junction. There's also an example of snow poles used to mark the side of the roads in deep flooding near Dalmellington, so definitely not intended as actual snow poles!
A nerdy question, I know, but that's why I joined!
Snow Poles - southernmost extent, and least likley to see snow?
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- FosseWay
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Re: Snow Poles - southernmost extent, and least likley to see snow?
I suspect snow deep enough for snow poles to be useful is actually more likely at the top of Buttertubs than it is round me (on the west coast of Sweden). Snow poles are put out every autumn here, but having enough snow at once for them to be needed to see where the edge of the road is, is unusual. I'm at 59N, about equivalent to Aberdeen in UK terms.
I have driven in weather where the snow poles were very useful, but it's always been further inland and/or further north.
I have driven in weather where the snow poles were very useful, but it's always been further inland and/or further north.
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Re: Snow Poles - southernmost extent, and least likley to see snow?
From my experience, they are most useful in areas where the wind picks up and blows the snow into deep drifts. I've seen snow deeper than a meter in the North Pennines, certainly deep enough that they'd be required. They also really help in bad visibility, whether it's a full blizzard or the roads are in the clouds - another common occurance on those sorts of roads. Even a light dusting of snow - enough to cover the tarmac - can really disguise the scenery if its combined with bad vis.
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Re: Snow Poles - southernmost extent, and least likley to see snow?
Are we sure there aren't any on Dartmoor or Exmoor? Snow isn't common down there but can be heavy when it does.map_procrastinator wrote: ↑Thu Oct 26, 2023 14:12 I've recently moved from spending all my time in the Scotland and sometimes the north of England to living in the south west. I'm a keen cyclist, and a mark of a good adventure ride was finding a road lined with snow poles as you really feel like you're in the wilderness. From Buttertubs Pass in the Dales, to the high pennine roads, to the southern uplands and up to the cairngorms and NC500 roads, there's plenty dotted about and I think I've ridden most snow-pole lined roads on the mainland by now.
The southernmost that I'm aware of are on Holme Moss. I've been on the highest roads in Wales and around Exmoor, but none to be seen.
Does anyone know where the southernmost extent of snow poles are? Or where there are some that are unlikely to be needed? I know there's a few at a low elevation on the A83 just past the Dunoon junction. There's also an example of snow poles used to mark the side of the roads in deep flooding near Dalmellington, so definitely not intended as actual snow poles!
A nerdy question, I know, but that's why I joined!
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Re: Snow Poles - southernmost extent, and least likley to see snow?
I've done a lot of google street view searching on the higest roads and haven't spotted any, and I've ridden quite a few of the >400m roads in Exmoor and didn't see any.