Weather affects work of all kinds. It may be too cold, too hot, too dry or too wet to carry out your work. Travel is one of things affected most by weather. Regular commuters will be familiar with 'leaves on the line' making train tracks to slippery for the train wheels to run properly, and causing delays. Trains can also be subject to snow or fallen trees blocking the lines, flooding causing short circuits of electrical circuits, and ice causing braking problems.

As for car and lorry drivers, ice and snow cause many problems with both slippery surfaces, and poor visibility. Fog is one of the biggest killers. Motorway pile-ups have been caused when drivers suddenly encounter patches of thick fog and are going too fast to avoid running into the car in front. High winds can blow over tall trucks or high-sided vehicles such as caravans. Rain can cause flooding and tyres will aqua-plane in only quite shallow water depths, causing difficulties with steering and swerving. In extreme cold temperatures, cars need special paint treatments and tyres, as well as additives in the petrol and fluids to stop them freezing. Extremely hot climates also need special paint jobs, and sea salt or sand are very corrosive for paintwork. High temperatures can make tyres 'sticky' and the air pressure of tyres may need to be adjusted as, with the warm air increasing in volume, pressure can cause blow-outs. Cars may simply overheat too in hot temperatures, particularly if old and stuck in traffic jams!

To prevent accidents, local councils will have emergency measures available for weather likely to affect travel by road or rail. They may grit or salt icy roads, making them less slippery. Salt does two things: it prevents ice forming in the first place; salt water freezes at a lower temperature than pure water, so it stops melting snow from refreezing into ice. Secondly the mechanical action of the grains of salt also helps break up ice that's already there. When a car drives over the salt, the weight of it pushes the granules downward and backwards. The force of this cracks and shatters the ice. Snow ploughs are used to clear major roads in areas with regular deep snow. Special trains are used to clear tracks of leaves, ice or dirt.

For air and sea travellers, there are no such easy options. Airports have to close if the visibility is too bad, or if there is windy, stormy weather likely to affect take off and landing.

Sailors and fishermen are amongst the most vulnerable of all travellers. If a storm blows up whilst they are far from land, they may remain at the mercy of the weather as it is too dangerous for them to try and make it to land.