More nasty weather in the northern hemisphere. It seems to be “piling up”. This event caught many off-guard and unprepared. (h/t to Philip_B)
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| Rescued tourists wait for government vehicles to take them back to Gangtok. Telegraph picture |
Thousands trapped in -15° snowstorm in Sikkim
27 Dec 2008, 0308 hrs IST, Amalendu Kundu, TNN
GANGTOK: A trip to the snow-laden Changu Lake turned into a nightmare for more than 3, 500 tourists including hundreds of children on Friday. They were trapped in snowstorm conditions with the temperature dipping to minus 15 degrees at a killing altitude of 13,300 feet before the army pulled them to safety.
The majority of those trapped were from Bengal. Hundreds fell ill, shivering in the icy cold as their vehicles remained stranded near Changu and Baba Mandir for hours. Clad in just jackets and scarves, the holidayers were hardly prepared, mentally or physically, to encounter a blizzard.
The army rescued them and took them to military camps, where warm soup and loads of blankets helped revive most of them. Many had to be admitted to the army medical units for treatment.
In the morning, there was little indication of what was to come. Tourists flocked to the Changu Lake by the hundreds as they do every day. With winter setting in, there was the added attraction of seeing the lake under glittering snow-covered peaks. The tourists got more than what they had asked for.
It started with a heavy shower. The temperature plummeted sharply. The skies seemed to turn clear for a moment but suddenly, heavy snowfall started near the India-China border, 35 km from Gangtok. Roads went under a couple of feet of snow in no time. Over 450 vehicles were immediately trapped.
Local guides assured them that the weather would clear up, but it only got worse. More snow fell. More vehicles got stranded in the higher reaches. What compounded the torture was wind chill. With the mercury dropping to minus 10 and continuing southward, the wind picked up, cutting into exposed skin, finding its way past windscreens, locked car doors and inside jackets.
The administration sent an SOS to the army that has several camps in the area. Unit 17 of the army’s elite mountain division swung into action. Aided by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Border Roads Organization and local police, they rescued around 1,500 tourists from 230 vehicles. Many had to be rushed for treatment while the rest were given shelter in the army camps.
The remaining tourists were rescued late in the afternoon even though their vehicles remained stranded. Although no casualty has been reported, many are said to be seriously ill. With the weather showing no signs of letting up, Changu Lake could remain out of bounds for tourists this week.
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Ric Werme (15:37:19) :
In my http://wermenh.com/2016.html page, I note:
Nothing to do with the PDO, just a need to explain the frozen mastodons.
Thanks for the link, Ric, I wasn’t aware of the other material that you have gathered. I also didn’t know that an actual mastadon had been found with food in it’s mouth – but not snap frozen – as you point out.
The point I was trying to make was that “the sea surface temps drop – and then “all hell breaks loose”” – A fictional exaggeration similar to a PDO reversal on a massive upscale.
The context to my point was David’s early mention of “The Day After Tomorrow” in the context of the current cold weather. What I’m responding to is David’s apparent linking of “Man Made Climate Disruption/Catastrophy” as epitomised by the Movie and the current cold weather, for which I see a perfectly natural explanation in the PDO reversal.
So the tension I’m dealing with is b/w “Man Made Climate Catastrophy” and “Natural Variation”. Dealing with nuances on a blog is a difficult proposition.
While the dates are off by 4K years, is the “the event some 8,200 years ago where a large glacial lake drained and freshened northern Atlantic waters.” event that you refer to on your site related to, or similar to the event referred to in http://outsidethecube.blogspot.com/2007/08/younger-dryas-climate-tipping-point.html
Cheers G
Graeme Rodaughan (16:02:49) :
There’s certainly nothing recent that suggests we’re on the brink of catastrophe, at least not from my point of view. There were concerns that we might be heading to a “Thermohaline Shutdown Event” from all the Arctic melting going on, but with the onset of cooling and the negative PDO, I’m not paying much attention to that risk these days. Al Gore and James Hansen might tell you something different. 🙂 In fact, I think Hansen says ongoing warming would negate the effect of losing the warm current to Europe.
Yes, sort of. Lake Agassiz was involved in both events, though the Younger Dryas event was much bigger. I don’t recall why I focused on the more recent event, probably because it was more recent, possibly because I found more recent web references at the time. The comet trigger for the Younger Dryas is more recent research.
I don’t see much good stuff on the 8,200 ya event at the moment, try the abstracts
http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1206-greenland.html
http://atlas-conferences.com/c/a/i/q/69.htm
BTW, an article in Science News back in January had an article about “eight mammoth tusks that have small metallic particles embedded in them.” They link it to an impact between 30,000 and 34,000 years ago and also to “several animal populations living on the land bridge connecting Alaska to eastern Siberia at that time declined significantly at some point less than 36,000 years ago.”
David (post #2):
It has been snowing in Mallorca, Spain, a nice and warm island, close to the famous Costa del Sol. Friends were snowboarding in their 1300 m high mountains there.
And Arctic ice is not a record low but at the same level of 2005, 2004, etc -above 2007. Wait for full winter to settle down.
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover.uk.php
Thanks Ric,
Interesting stuff.
Cheers G
Ok, so Davids graph on northern Hem. (not sure exactly how to read it) snow cover seems to suggest that there is nothing different about this winter.
Could we be barking up the wrong tree, or or is it because Dec. 08 may not be included?
At the moment NH snow cover is normal or slightly over normal:
http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_daily.php?ui_year=2008&ui_day=364&ui_set=2
http://moe.met.fsu.edu/snow/
Incidentally the shortage of snow in parts of Europe is due to a large blocking high over most of the continent, so its quite cold, but no snow.
So how does normal compare to the past 30 odd years?