Manchester may be on a latitude north of calgary its just that canada etc doesnt have the gulfstream to warm them up,hence calgary expect to use their snow equipment for around four months a year so its well worth getting the best tackle ,airports in the U.K. expect around two days of snow per year so the bean counters dont allow a large expenditure,it costs less to close a couple of days than spend thousands on machines that do less work than some airport managers we all know.
Also we cannot use the old type cow p**s deicer any more as it harms the enviroment,the new stuff is about as good as orange squash but the health and safety say its less harmful to fluffy cuddly things.
All this will be irrelevant soon because as honest Gordon an his chums say as they tax the a**e of us and try to ruin our industry global warming is melting everything.