Thursday 24 January 2013

Prevent Flooding By Building Snowmen

With the changing climate and the threat of floods now becoming a part of the British way of life, the Environment Agency have come up with a way to prevent the rising river levels, make snowmen.
With the moving of the jet stream and the arrival of a milder weather front, the snow from last week is set to become a memory but what comes with that is the thaw draining into rivers and the inevitable sight of water covered streets once again. 
The Environmental Agency have come up with an unorthodox solution though, urging everyone to build a snowman.
'"Ideally, if everybody built themselves a snowman that will slow the thaw down a bit' said Roy Stokes, a spokesman for the agency, pointing out that tightly-packed blocks of snow, such as snowmen, tend to stay colder for longer, thus helping to regulate the flow of water.
'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' he said, 'when snow is compacted, as it is when you build a snowman or drive over it in a car park for example, it melts at a slower rate'.
Great advice but before i could get my coat and gloves and begin rooting around in the fridge for a carrot, another Agency spokeswoman was correcting the earlier advice, saying 'While building snowmen is great fun, sadly it is unlikely to make a significant difference to the overall rate at which the snow melts across the country and won't protect your home from flooding'.
I'm sure the original spokesman was making a light-hearted, semi-serious comment but it's too late for me anyway, the bit of snow we had last Friday was gone by Saturday evening but i have done my bit by storing a snow ball in the freezer which i plan to throw at the kids in the summer, therefore delaying the release of a snow-balls worth of water until June.
No need to thank me flood prone South West England, I consider it a public service.

No comments: