When my family were out in the car around Christmas after all the recent snowfall and rain, I noticed that it felt that there were new speedhumps on the road. On closer inspection it appeared that the areas of ice around manhole covers were raised higher than on the rest of the road (see photograph)? None of my family could explain - why is this?

This stalagmite like icicle formed itself in the bird's water bowl overnight on 17th-18th December (dundee). There were no drips to cause it to grow.

If you had stood outside looking up with your mouth open in the UK's worst snowstorm in the past 10 years, how long would it taken for the snow to fill your mouth with 200ml of water?

Would it have been more energy efficient to keep yourself warm all that time or to transport that 200ml of water to a tap in the area that the snowstorm happened?

Trying to build a snowman with my kids this weekend, we encountered an issue I've seen a few times now, where the snow is all powdery and won't actually stick together. Consequently we were unable to gather enough together to make a snowman. What weather conditions cause this?

If we consider thermodynamics and its law that heat travels from hot to cold, I was curious as to how or what occurs when sunlight is travelling to Earth. The gap between the Sun and the Earth is effectively a vacuum and also the low pressure at high altitudes mean that it is very cold, surely the heat should be dispersed by then and not reach sea level.

I would like to know how we still manage to feel the heat.

Thank you

During the current cold weather I notice that the ice on the windscreen of my car can have different properties from morning to morning when approached with my ice scraper. Sometimes it is powdery and easily removable, sometimes only a certain angle of attack with a scraper will do, and other days the ice has properties closer to that of iron!

Why is this and is there anyway of knowing just what the tired worker will be faced with on his/her windscreen in the morning in advance?

I wince at the thought, but is it possible, given a low enough temperature, for urine to freeze instantly into an icicle if you're caught short in Arctic conditions. If so, how cold would it have to be? and could it be dangerous for an intrepid explorer? 

I have heard that the very cold temperatures we are experiecing can cause diesel to freeze. I heard that the temperature is around -12 degrees, is this true?

I have thought of this question as this can effect everybody.