Roads closed, no petrol? How will Phil Jones get to work? – Anthony
Now the Army moves in to clear away snow in coldest December for 100 years as fuel runs out at petrol stations in Scotland and East Anglia
Last updated at 2:17 PM on 9th December 2010
- Overnight lows of -15C in Scotland and -13C in England
- Experts say cold snap is ‘once in a lifetime’
- Slight thaw this weekend but a return to snow predicted for next week
The Army was called in today to help clear away ice and snow as Britain headed towards its coldest December for 100 years.
As temperatures plunged to -15c (5f) David Cameron ordered the military to step in and help the UK’s beleaguered local councils.
The Prime Minister also revealed Cobra-style emergency meetings of senior officials and Ministers had been held to discuss the Government’s response to the big freeze.
Edinburgh City Council was the first local authority to ask for help. Officials have held talks with the Ministry of Defence and the Scottish government to allow soldiers to remove built up snow and ice from roads and pavements.
ARMY ON CALL TO CLEAR SNOW CHAOS
A mini avalanche slides from an office roof in Edinburgh yesterday.
Thursday December 9,2010
By Nathan Rao
THE ARMY was called in to keep Britain moving yesterday as large parts of the country struggled with freezing temperatures, compacted snow and treacherous ice.
David Cameron revealed the Government was holding crisis meetings as the prolonged cold spell crippled much of the UK.
The country is bracing itself for another cold blast after a few days of milder conditions.
Hundreds of motorists spent the night stranded in their cars in the north of England. It came after 500 motorists were stuck on the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow when a ferocious snowstorm struck earlier in the week.
Yesterday, there was no let-up in Scotland as temperatures continued to plunge into the double minuses and residents reported the heavy snow had compacted into thick sheets of ice.
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Related:
Home Improvements: How to keep warm this winter
The great man-made global warming debate is entering an interesting phase, as early snow blankets much of Britain. If this winter is anything like as cold and long as last year’s, my postbag will soon be bulging with cries for help.
ENERGY BILLS ‘WILL HIT £2,500 A YEAR’
HOUSEHOLD energy bills could double to £2,500 a year in an “unstoppable” rise driven by the £200 billion fight against climate change, a market expert warned yesterday.
Meanwhile, brush fires rage in Israel, and despite some claims in Monsters and Critics…
Israeli’s worst-ever fire linked to global warming, expert says
‘This fire had a a strength we’ve never seen before. We have to link it to global warming,’ Yisrael Tauber, a forest manager for the Israeli Jewish National Fund land conservation organization said.
…that this was related to global warming, the truth turned out to be a case of negligence compounded by arson.
From the Jerusalem Post
Two teenage brothers from Usfiya were under arrest on Saturday on suspicion of negligent conduct during a family outing on Thursday in the Carmel Mountains that police said was likely responsible for the Carmel inferno.
…
Meanwhile, police and firefighters had to contend with sporadic fires that erupted far from the main Carmel fire zone, leading investigators to conclude that arsonists were attempting to “hitch a ride” on the Carmel disaster.
We see the same sort of news stories in the USA every fire season. Some rent seeking nimrod from an NGO proclaims the forest/brush fire to be caused by “global warming”, but the truth turns out to be far different.
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So the negligent perps can use global warming as a defense? You can’t blame the boys if it is due to American cars and SUV’s
On another note, I read that only 55 electric cars had been sold this year in the UK. Too bad. If the petrol trucks can’t move, they can still drive. Of course they have no heaters or defrosters.
We’re all doomed. Doomed I tell you. (spoken with a scots accent)
small nitpick
The Daily Mail link should be
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336705/UK-big-freeze-Army-standby-coldest-December-100-years.html
It’s good the warmists switched to calling it “Climate Disruption” this past summer. Now all this unprecented snow and cold in the UK is proof positive of Mann’s affect on the climate. It would have been harder to argue that point last year. Now all this snow and cold fits neatly into all their computer models. As well as the heat and brush fires in Israel. Kind of neat how it all works out, isn’t it?
Last year’s cold winter was a once in a hundred year event as well: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11152077
2010: The hottest year on record with the coldest December on record. What else can it be but a major disruption? Until next year when there are no records and no major disruptions….what will the next terminology be?
Brrrrrr
http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp4.html
Could the bitter weather , evidently coldest start to winter since the 18 th century , be a result of the Gulf stream flow that normally protects us from the cold going AWOL ?
It’s not surprising that the Scottish Government have very little idea what to do about these conditions – they’ve fallen for Global Warming and renewal energy scam hook line and sinker.
“The key driver for renewable energy policy is the legally binding EU 2020 Targets (20% of EU’s energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020). This has informed Scottish and wider UK renewable energy targets.
Scotland is committed to achieving the EU 2020 target as follows:
* 80% of demand for Scotland’s electricity to be met from renewable resources by 2020, with an interim milestone of 31% by 2011.
* 11% of demand for Scotland’s heat to be met from renewable resources by 2020.”
That’s why when I retire it’ll be to the other half of the Auld Alliance rather than back to the land of my childhood.
“cobra-style emergency meetings” ???
http://data.earthli.com/news/attachments/entry/2285/gi_joe_cobr.jpg
???
The army’s not going to clear away the “snow chaos”, just the snow, and that may reduce the chaos, probably not, because the chaos is likely in the eye of the reporter.
I thought the Scots were tough old “sods”! -15C is nothing for northern US and Canada. 🙂 But seriously, I hope you guys can get thing squared away over across the pond. If nothing else this continues to punch holes in AGW.
Florida is freezing right now, Central PA has been hitting -8 to -10 C lows for a week and likely for another week, not unusual at during the winter, but not common this early (My Lat is roughly the same as Lisbon, but of course continental climate, not maritime).
I would love to hear the rational for linking wildfires to climate change. In the American West you have a climate that has been dry for eons (not unlike Israel), an expanding population, and forest management system which has struggled with identifying the best technique for reducing them, not to mention immense difficulties in fighting fires starting in remote areas. A really fascinating book called “Young Men And Fire” recounts the story of smokejumpers in the Mann Gulch disaster in the late 40s.
You know, this extreme weather in over the pond reminds me of the plot in the Avengers movie fighting against Sir August De Wynter. Where are you John Steed and Emma Peel???
We must also note the death toll is rising. Fresh snow and cold is forecast to continue past Christmas Day in the hottest year on the record or is it now the tied hottest.
“Death toll to rise as big freeze kills 13th victim” [2 days ago]
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/849607-death-toll-to-rise-as-big-freeze-kills-13th-victim
So, fires in Israel caused by…”Global Warming” and severe cold in the UK caused by, Global Warming??? Sounds logical.
Oh yea, forgot to mention that SUVs and gas guzzling 4-wheel drives are great in snow.
“Roads closed, no petrol?”
Mr Watts, to hear an American that understands that we Brits call gasoline petrol is impressive indeed! Best wishes, Dave.
How are the wind turbines doing?
Actually the situation in Scotland is much worse than the report with the coldest start to winter we have seen in many years. A lot of people have been stranded in their cars overnight while temperatures plunged to -20 in some places, only today did the temperature get above 0! Petrol stations have been unable to get new supplies and we are currently restricted to a £20 limit on fuel. I still have to dig my car out from under about two feet of snow from where I had to leave it parked on Monday. It would be funny, but, we have a first minister here who went to COP15 last year and got friendly with the delegate from the Maldives and was planning to go on a fact finding mission to assess the impact of climate change on the island. Unless the sand from the Maldives beaches has some special properties better than rock salt to combat snow and ice I’d prefer if he got to work making sure we are not caught short like this again! On top of that we have just been hit with gas price hikes of up to 9%, as I look out across the once beautiful Scottish landscape all i can see are stupid turbines that can’t turn in this weather!
Before global warming, there were no forest fires.
Before global warming, the UK was warm and comfortable.
The cold snap being “once in a lifetime” was absolutely hilarious, probably the best laugh I’ve had all week. Really now, -15C is once in a lifetime??? Awesome. So the take-home message is that it won’t happen again in our lifetimes, so don’t buy warm clothes and stuff?
Of course the Met. Office here are still pushing the line that this year will be warmest ever. Since they’ve been saying that all year, the local councils have not bought enough grit. That’s two years in a row …
Pointman
They should really have said “twice in a lifetime”. They used “once in a lifetime” for last winter.
Pesky things these consecutive “once in a lifetime” events.
We have to act now. Decarbonise the whole economy. Oh, wait..
Incidentally just like Canada is not part of north America, Scotland is not in the north of England! Nitpicky but get’s my patriotic goat.
“Hundreds of motorists spent the night stranded in their cars in the north of England. It came after 500 motorists were stuck on the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow when a ferocious snowstorm struck earlier in the week.”
Should read:
“Hundreds of motorists spent the night stranded in their cars in SCOTLAND”