Watching the Weather - Bizarre, Record Breaking, Catastrophic Weather Around The World

[maryals]

Mary and Bessie

[Judee]

Britain in grip of coldest winter for 30 years
Friday, 8 January 2010

Jeff J Mitchell

Britain remained in the grip of the coldest winter for more than 30 years today, with conditions set to feel even more icy in the coming days.


Temperatures were already on a par with the South Pole after the country suffered its coldest night of the winter so far.


There will be little respite, with more snow in eastern England today and temperatures likely to be pegged at or below freezing in all areas.


Over the weekend an easterly wind will move from the south of England across the country, bringing with it a biting chill factor as the coldest spell for more than three decades grinds on.


The mercury sank to minus 22.3C (8.1F) in Altnaharra in Scotland this morning - close to the minus 22.9C (minus 9.2F) currently at the southernmost part of the globe.


Manchester and parts of the Brecon Beacons in Wales saw temperatures fall to minus 16C (7F), with Glasgow reaching minus 8C (18F), Cardiff minus 5C (23F) and London hovering just below zero (32F).


As the UK remained bitterly cold, there was yet more disruption on the roads, trains and at airports, with hundreds of schools shut again.


Concerns were also raised about salt and grit supplies and a number of businesses were forced to stop using gas.


As gas consumption soared nationwide yesterday, nearly 100 major UK firms were told to turn off their gas to help avert a demand crisis.


In Reading, Berkshire, up to 4,000 homes were left without water after a main burst in the big freeze.


It happened outside the Royal Berkshire Hospital but clinical areas were unaffected. Engineers hoped to restore supplies later today.


Treacherous conditions on the roads have proved difficult for ambulance crews.


An elderly woman in the snowbound village of Princetown, Devon, had to be airlifted to hospital when land ambulance crews were unable to reach her.


The death toll caused by the big freeze rose again yesterday after the body of 45-year-old Philip Hughes from Slough was recovered from beneath the ice in a frozen lake in Frimley Green, Surrey.


He had been staying at the complex to watch the BDO darts world championship.


At least 22 people have died since before Christmas in incidents thought to have been related to the weather.


Disquiet was brewing about repeated school closures, with council leaders and London Mayor Boris Johnson urging staff to take the decision to shut carefully.


Many schoolchildren have now been off school all week, and Mr Johnson warned the closures could have a "devastating" impact on single parents.


Today schools were shut in Salford, Northumberland and Gloucestershire, with hundreds of others closed in Hampshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.


More than 500 schools were also shut in Wales.


School leaders fear the prolonged cold snap could mean chaos for next week's A-level and GCSE exams.


On the roads, drivers faced hazardous conditions as people struggled to get around and grit stocks wore thin.


Some councils were forced to ration their salt yesterday as one of the biggest suppliers of rock salt in the UK asked the Department for Transport to draw up a list of priority customers.



Full Story:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 61627.html

[maryals]

Call me silly for sitting in a beanbag chair naked eating Cheetoes and watching the Weather Channel, but I wish it would snow like hell for a change.

TMI TMI


Mary and Bessie

[maryals]

Up here in South Central Alaska we've had perfect weather for the past year. Maybe we just live right and Mama Nature likes us


Mary and Bessie

[Judee]

Up here in South Central Alaska we've had perfect weather for the past year. Maybe we just live right and Mama Nature likes us


Mary and Bessie

If you look at a map of the last ice age, you'll see why the west coast is, for the most part, almost normal...

[VOguy]

Oddly, people are in a panic around here because of the cold and the snow, which amounts to about 5" total. I'm having a hard time getting excited about this. Here's why.

As I child in Toledo in the 50s, I remember we always had some snow by Thanksgiving, and always snow over Christmas. I remember one Halloween where it snowed enough to see it but melted when it hit the ground. This was the norm till around 1961. The last round of good snow was in 1978.

So through the 80s to 2010 we have had green Thanksgivings and Christmas seasons. It's now just becoming, at least to me, how winter was in the 50s. Perhaps it's not that unusual. Maybe people just forgot what winter was.

[Delphine]

Quote:
Originally Posted by VOguy
Call me silly for sitting in a beanbag chair naked eating Cheetoes and watching the Weather Channel, but I wish it would snow like hell for a change.

TMI TMI

from Mary

Wait, Mary....trying to get an image in my mind here.

[Judee]

After predictions of lots of snow in our region, I'm thinking we might have a mild winter based on the present weather patterns. Call me silly for sitting in a beanbag chair naked eating Cheetoes and watching the Weather Channel, but I wish it would snow like hell for a change. I'm tired of lawn work at Christmas.

Well VO, you know what the statistics are for winter weather and birth statistics I'm sure. Have you talked with Mrs. VO about this behaviour? You might be eating those beans from that chair soon...

[VOguy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by VOguy
Call me silly for sitting in a beanbag chair naked eating Cheetoes and watching the Weather Channel, but I wish it would snow like hell for a change.

from Mary

Wait, Mary....trying to get an image in my mind here.

Think orange. Think orange.

[VOguy]

Well VO, you know what the statistics are for winter weather and birth statistics I'm sure. Have you talked with Mrs. VO about this behaviour? You might be eating those beans from that chair soon...

In the first place, the cats and I have one thing in common. And it has nothing to do with us being broken in the first place. Nope, two was enough.

I was looking at some more statistical sites last night and there is good evidence to the fact that the 80s/90s were some of the warmest winters on record. I hate to mention this because we get back to the debate of Global Warming, but the weather patterns are probably cyclical in some areas.

But honestly, I remember snow on the ground from December to March in northern Ohio and have pictures in the family albums to prove it. I think our winters just got warmer, very slowly, over time, and we didn't notice it as much.

[earthist]

Not that it matters, but I remember, too, VO. I used to simply expect nighttime temps to fall below 0F the first week of the New Year.

[VOguy]

You do realize that if we go through a few more winters like this, (which we may do), then the mantra will be Global Freezing instead of Global Warming. I can almost smell Al Gore writing another book.

[maryals]

You do realize that if we go through a few more winters like this, (which we may do), then the mantra will be Global Freezing instead of Global Warming. I can almost smell Al Gore writing another book.

But they have already come up with a new term, "Climate Change"

Mary and Bessie