It appears this winter is rough not only in the USA, but elsewhere,. Significant snowfalls were also seen in 2002 and 2004. From Today’s Zaman:
Snowfall immobilizes rural communities in eastern, central Turkey
Cold weather and heavy snowfall brought daily life to a standstill in rural parts of Turkey, forcing closures of rural roads and inter-city routes in the country’s eastern and central regions.
Snowfall was responsible for the closure of a highway on Thursday connecting the Hakkari district, located within the province of the same name, to the district of Çukurca. Several vehicles became stuck in the snow. Highway crews used snow plows to move the snow from the highway and free the vehicles.
Blizzards closed down over 1,000 village roads in the country’s eastern regions, and an inter-city route between Erzurum and Bingöl provinces was reopened to traffic after hours of plowing; however, the Iğdır-Ağrı inter-city road is still closed to traffic.
I’ll bet you considered the title… wait for it… “Frozen Turkey”
The Jet Stream determines everything, what controls it? There is deep jet in the West and it’s going North in the East (US). When will it change, why does it change? NOAA will be correct on it’s prediction of above warming in the Southeast in Jan if it does not change.
Ah. Countries are beginning to quit global warming cold turkey.
Biggest Snowfalls in Southern Europe for the last decade happened in 2005.
But is this usual in that region?
Don’t want to fall into same mind set as the AGW crowd!
the_Butcher (07:21:06) :
“Biggest Snowfalls in Southern Europe for the last decade happened in 2005.”
So? The winter has only started and (for those geographically ignorant Americans) Eastern/Central Turkey is located in Asia.
Denis Hopkins:
It is normal in the mountains of eastern Anatolia, however the snows extend over almost the whole Anatolia which is quite unusual this early in the winter. There is a lot more snow than normal in SE Europe – Western Asia:
http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_daily.php?ui_year=2008&ui_day=361&ui_set=2
The reason is the strong high pressure area parked over the North Sea which causes warm Atlantic air to flow north over northern Scandinavia and Barents Sea (hence the slow ice growth) while cold siberian air flows south over the Balkans and Turkey.
How bad is this going to get ?
“World Crops Threatened by Strengthening La Nina Weather Pattern”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aj1nH.0owWcY
The ITCZ/Jet Stream has a tendency to rearrange itself or be rearranged by external forces as those forces see fit. As they are not asking NOAA or other,s for their opinion. I do not see how any future forcast can be other than educated guess based on historical evidence. There is always a curve ball.
Spain’s Baqueira Beret ski resort has reported a new record has been set for snowfall with 435cm (Over 36 feet) of snow having fallen since 29th October.
http://www.skiinfo.com/News/Baqueira-Beret-EESBAQUEIRA-104-en.jhtml?aic=151433
The Northern Blue Mountains of NE Oregon are getting quite a Dump this AM.
-Nothing unusual for say 1950-79, but for the AGW crowd in the area have been strangely ah,quiet. I have about 12′ on the ground in SW LaGrande.Still snowing.
This is a simple return to Cool PDO conditions and a quiet Sun to boot…
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all from the Westernmost tip of Europe.
It hadn’t been this cold for more than fourty years. Yesterday we woke up under a layer of frost like I’ve never seen in these southern parts. Not only the cold is unusual as is the time it has been lasting. Even today as we are under the influence of a severe low front, the mercury is reluctant to go above +14 ºC. The northern regions of the state look like Scandinavia, with the mercury below zero all day round.
Well at least the Russians have been having a warm winter.
Denis Hopkins (07:39:20) :
I have no knowledge of the area, but a related story at http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=162392 ends with
OT: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=162393 has an update on Istanbul’s earthquake risk. IIRC, it’s on a fault where a series of quakes over the last century or so have been getting ever closer to Istanbul.
Denis,
Remember that this site also discusses weather (note the Categories : weather) and other interesting subjects too. To quote the slogan:
‘Commentary on puzzling things in life, nature, science, weather, climate change, technology, and recent news by Anthony Watts’
I know Anthony has mentioned this before, but it’s worth pointing out occasionally.
On topic, Europe has had a lot of snow fall so far this winter. It was the coldest start to winter in 30 years for the UK and the ski resorts throughout Europe have had good, early snow too.
While this is weather rather than climate, it’s interesting such cold snaps still occur. Some AGW believers seem to think that cold, winter weather is a thing of the past!
Satellite and Climate Model Evidence Against Substantial Manmade Climate Change
by Roy W. Spencer, Ph.D.
December 27, 2008
ABSTRACT
A combination of IPCC climate models, recent NASA Aqua satellite data, and a simple 3-layer climate model is used to demonstrate that the IPCC climate models are far too sensitive, resulting in too much global warming being predicted by those models in response to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The models’ high sensitivity is probably the result of a confusion between forcing and feedback (cause and effect) when researchers have interpreted cloud and temperature variations in the real climate system. (What follows is a brief summary of research we will be submitting to Journal of Climate in January 2009 for possible publication.)
http://www.drroyspencer.com/article-satellite-and-model-evidence-against-manmade-global-warming.php
Free Energy Oven
Based on the latest Climate Modeling Technology developed at NASA
http://www.ilovemycarbondioxide.com/ipcc_oven.html
Apparently the E.U.’s Carbon Scheme is working. So is ours, and we haven’t even begun it yet.
Well, you all aint seen nothing yet!
According to Global Forecasting System models, it’s going to get a lot worse – especially in Eastern and Central Europe and parts of Western Europe. Models show a bitter and possibly protracted cold snap developing around the 6th of january with temps way below normal. If these models pan out, then they’ll have to get the ice breakers out on the Danube river. Something that aint been done in years.
Global Forecasting System
http://www.wetter24.de/de/home/wetter/profikarten/gfs_ncep/archiv/Europe/pmsl/2008122712/nothumb/ch/1499acbe78.html
1. Select a region
2. On left side click Temperatur (Elemente)
3. Scroll down and pick a time.
Sorry, it’s only in German. Maybe you can find one in English.
Joe Bastardi mentioned the prosepect of a cold snap deep freezing Europe a few days ago.
Having just been to Turkey and returned, I don’t think this is all that unusual as central and especially eastern Turkey are quite high in elevation. The Turks all talk about how severe winter is in eastern Turkey
No doubt a record for the Spanish ski resort, but 435 cm would be roughly 14 feet — rather than 36 feet.
I’m visiting my wife’s people in Rhode Island and can report that quite a lot of the snow in southern New England has melted (all of it that wasn’t moved by man or machine). The newly uncovered line, i.e. the no snow line, will move farther north for at least 36 hours under the influence of warm southerly winds.
Come tell us what it’s like at your house:
http://talkingabouttheweather.com
John X
I can hardly contain my glee! A major La Nina, combined with what is predicted to hit Europe in a couple of weeks, surpasses even my wildest anti-AGW dreams.
I’ve been watching the SST temp charts persistently for the last half year, and now my La Nina hunch is getting confirmed. It’s baaaaaack!
I see some rough days ahead for the AGW fantasists!
Was It not long ago that La Ninas were being written off, and that the Earth would increasingly see a succession of ever more frequent and growing monster El Ninos that would burn up the planet in a ball of fiery hell soon? Unless of course we repented and stopped our sinful use of carbon.
Any sunspots today? Nope!
I can finally begin to taste it. The AGW theory is about to come crashing down. Victory shall be mine!
Subsidized “free” energy.
————————————————————-
Sunshine is Free Energy, Right?
http://www.climatechangefraud.com/content/view/2984/218/
“…President-elect Obama and the group of global warming maniacs he has assembled to run the nation talk about creating millions of “green jobs” based on solar and wind energy.”
“But solar and wind energy is virtually free, right? You don’t have to pay anything for sunshine and wind, right? Wrong! If it was free or even affordable, there would be no need for huge government subsidies—your tax money—and mandates on utilities to include solar and wind energy. Without them neither solar nor wind power industries could exist.”
“The U.S. Energy Information Administration released an estimate that, by 2030, solar power might be providing about 5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year to American consumers. By contrast, the agency expects that conventional coal-fired plants will produce 3,351 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. By any comparison available, solar is possibly the most idiotic way to produce electricity. With the exception, that is, of wind power.”
“You are looking at a serious act of madness and deception at the worst possible time.”
Mike McMillan
It is the thought that counts!
Patrick Henry (08:35:53)
ummm…check the calculations…if the snow was 435 cm, that works out to just over 14 feet. 36 feet would be around 1100 cm.
Either way, that is a lot of snow!
I have a friend in Cyprus and he says they are having unsually warm weather.