True. Though I don't remember a proper 'winter' in about 15 years down south - all thanks to the northerly position of the jet stream in recent years the boffins say!
Yep that sounds about right. Can't remember the last really decent snowfall here in the West Country. Winter after winter seems to pass us by without us seeing any real snow.
Does not need snow to freeze points. Modern point heaters come on when the rail temperature is about 2 deg C if the humidity is above a certain level this to dry to moisture to prevent ice, below the humidity level the heaters come on at (if I remember correctly) at 0 deg C this is to prevent the grease etc from becoming to stiff. For all the eco warriors out there there is also a "hot rail" sensor which switches the heaters off above a rail temp of 4 degrees C
I might have the exact temperatures wrong as it been a long time since I have dealt with point heating, but modern installations (the last 10 years) are sophisticated bits of kit
