From the “weather is not climate” department, inconvenient travel:
Here’s a sample of headlines related to difficult if not impossible holiday travel:
Christmas Eve storm in central states creates travel misery (WaPo)
A slow-moving storm spread snow, sleet and rain across the nation’s midsection Thursday, making last-minute holiday travel treacherous but promising a white Christmas for some.
The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of Oklahoma, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Texas. It cautioned that travel would be extremely dangerous in those areas through the weekend and that drivers should pack a winter survival kit.
Winter Storm Disrupts Holiday Travel (NYT)
“Snow will be falling at a rate that snow plows are not able to keep up with,” AccuWeather reported on its Web site, “while winds gusting past 40 miles per hour will cause severe blowing and drifting along with whiteout conditions.”
Heavy snowfall causes disruption across Europe (BBC)
Heavy snow and ice are causing disruption across a wide swathe of Europe. Flights have been delayed or cancelled at airports in Britain, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Power providers in south-east France say they have had to cut supplies to around two million people to avoid a massive regional blackout.
In Poland, nearly 60 people have died this December because of the weather.
Rare blizzard strikes West Texas
DALLAS — In much of the rolling plains of West Texas, a blizzard has never been recorded.
There has been one now.
The region west and northwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth area saw blizzard-like conditions throughout the day Christmas Eve as up to 8 inches of snow fell in the region, according to the National Weather Service. Winds gusting at up to 65 mph drifted the snow as deep as 5 feet in some areas.
No blizzard warning had ever been issued for an area of Texas as far south as Interstate 20, said Jim Wingenroth, senior forecaster at the National Weather Service office in San Angelo.
Heavily traveled Interstate 20 between Cisco and Abilene was closed after six inches of snow fell in the area 130 miles west of Dallas, said Larry Smith, Brownwood area engineer for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Treetops glisten, but storm snarls Midwest holiday (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
The Star-Telegram said the Dallas-Fort Worth area was experiencing its first White Christmas in more than 80 years. While the area had a sprinkling of holiday snow in 2004 and 1997, the lasttime it experienced “a true, New England-style dose of snow on Christmas Day was Dec. 25, 1926,” the newspaper reported.
Some churches canceled Christmas Eve services, while others saw sharply lower attendance.
Oklahoma City had received 14 inches of snow by Thursday night, breaking a record set back in 1914 of 2.5 inches.
Interesting weather …
From NOAA, there are no watches or warnings of any type for Buffalo today, but there is a Public Information Statement:
And the rain should be starting within the hour.
It is a little sad that nowadays we are compelled to view even weather reports with political prisms. Climate change indeed.
Jim Cripwell wrote:
I wonder if the term “global warming” will be a new name for snow.
I’ve been using it that way for a year, particularly after last year’s big storm in Seattle.
There’s now proof of Global Warming in Dallas!
John in NZ (08:05:16) :
It serves them right for having Xmas in winter.
Indeed! Whoever picked Christmas Day did not even get the season right. Twas Spring, if i recall. Anyway, the purpose was to “Christianize” Saturnalia, a Roman pagan holiday. What ignorance or conceit to sacrifice the truth for a convenient lie!
A minor irritant this time of year.
Yep – “we got it good”.
Visible satellite image showing snow cover in Texas and Oklahoma, 2009-12-25 10:30 AM CST
As the tail end and last vestiges of the storm wound through North Central Texas about 10 PM last night I took a walk and it felt like ‘Arctic Winter’ conditions with snow and a cutting, fiercely blowing cold …
Merry Christmas to all from the snow-encrusted D/FW (TX) area!
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(Note: There are a few clouds present in the midst of the snow field shown in the image above, but substantially the ‘white’ is due to snow covering the ground.)
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Here the global warming of the last two weeks ( 2 feet of snow ) is turning in to global thawing. Should be nice with the frost we get after the weekend.
Doesn’t anybody read history anymore? In the past these record winter blizzards in the Northern Hemisphere occurred during cold periods associated with low sunspot activity and/or the aftermath of large volcanos. (e.g.Tambora 1813, ?Rabaul 535, Pinatubo 1993). The hallmarks of the Sporer, Maunder and Dalton Minima was failure of the monsoons in the Orient and the cold, wet weather in Europe. In the US Great Plains and Intermountain West the double whammy of summer drouth and severe blizzards clustered around low sunspot activity 1798-1832 (Dalton minimum), 1860’s, 1890’s, 1910’s, 1930’s and most recently during the 1960’s and early 70’s when the media and alarmist scientists were screaming about a coming ice age. In the Intermountain West and Great Plains we are in our third year of shortened growing seasons and colder winters. How many years of blizzards will it take before the “warmists” catch on that the correlation between weather trends is with the PDO, AMO and solar activity, not with CO2?
“Although severe, storms are not uncommon in the US during the winter months, says meteorologist Stav Danaos at the BBC Weather Centre.”
And, In other stunningly-obvious news, storms are not uncommon during the Spring, Summer or Fall, either.
Snow in London now disappearing after a week of snow and, more annoyingly, dangerous ice on pavements.
Piers Corbyn of Weather Action plc indicates that, after a brief thaw in late December that significant blizzards will hit the UK in January.
We await developments with interest…..
“Merry Christmas everyone from the pacific Northwest where we are still waiting for a white christmas 🙂 Medic 1532″
To be fair though, Medic, we had about a foot on the ground last Christmas, at least in the Portland area, in what was our snowiest December on record. I actually had about 36” total last year, in the suburbs north of Portland.
This month its all about the cold in the Pacific Northwest. Portland is on track to record it’s coldest month in 20 years. The official station had a low of 12 earlier this month ( for a west coast maritime climate such as ours, that’s cold!) and I hit a low of 4 during the same cold snap.
It’s elementary dear friends. Global Warming is confined to the arctic where it is forcing the cold air south. Get used to it!
Best of the season from south west Canada where Global Warming is presently confined to the mountain tops. Must be due to the carbon tax we pay here in BC
Steve Goddard (08:30:01) :
A few years ago The Guardian was predicting that England would become a Mediterranean climate.
That would have been frightening, indeed – a Tropical Paradise. Yes, I remember that ~ “England would become ‘unrecognizeable'”, all of a sudden, too, for that term to make any sense. Imagine waking up there one morning surrounded by Palm Trees and Girls Gone Wild. Horrible!
Douglas DC (08:47:45) :
White Christmas in NE Oregon, we have 1/2 to 2″ in the area of La Grande,low stratus this am. Cold, in the upper teens and low 20 F. Chance of snow this weekend.BTW
Right, same here about 75 road miles East of you. And since we here in NE Oregon have taken control of the 1200km. Grid Cell, the same thing must be happening at the Pacific beach.
Snow is one thing -ice is something else entirely.
Having had rain falling on frozen ground Sunday night, then snow on top, then some sun melting a bit off the top, everything re-freezing: that makes for most unpleasant conditions, especially for for pedestrians.
Having the grass on the big playing fields in the parks still covered in ice means even the dogs are not keen to stay out for long.
As for gritting pavements and footpaths – forget it! Local government hasn’t got the money or resources – after all, why plan ahead for an event the alarmists said wouldn’t happen any longer?
All I can say is: ‘that’ll teach’em!’ (I hope!!)
A friend called fron Sun Valley ID . Five degrees F , power out for the last twelve hours from Shoshone north . For some reason the alarm system in my townhouse has gone off , but the phones aren’t working either so he can’t call the security people .
I read somewhere that this is called the “Gore Effect”. It’s Gods way (I don’t believe in God ….. well maybe) of telling the world that Al Gore is a liar.
Thanks!
The quiet Sun, the Copenhagen Conference, and the airport photo confirm God’s continuing sense of humor with the self-centered creatures living on the third ball of dirt from the Sun.
With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel
It’s a typically brutal winter day in San Diego. Crystal-blue sky and a bone-chilling 58 degrees Fahrenheit. Merry Christmas and Salubrious Solstice!
Those “80-year records” are one more way the MSM slants the truth. Apparently they are speaking only of Christmas day. I recall snow in Dallas when returning from a Thanksgiving visit to Iowa around 1983-84. The fountain in our swimming pool was a popcicle when we got home.
Cityrating.com says that Dallas has an annual average of 37 days below 32 degrees.
Steve Goddard (08:30:01) :
“There is a reason why the theory was named “global warming.” It is supposed to be getting warmer.”
This is the reason that the “theory” was changed to “Climate Change.” 😉
England’s climate is becoming like that of the Mediterranean, or at least southern France where it snowed last week.
Kellogs Global Warming Flakes: The best way to start your day, with Total Global Cooling.
It’s the whole Northern Hemisphere.
We knew from the reports last summer from down under what was coming.
Why didn’t they?
John K. Sutherland (08:40:19) :
“While I am at it: we need a new word for the English language: WIKI-WISE, to mean woefully misinformed, profoundly ignorant of the facts, believing only what one is told to believe. Shades of Orwell again.”
“wiki-wise” added to Urban Dictionary…
Hansen is the butcher with his thumb on the scale.
“Suzanne (09:40:49) :
[…]How many years of blizzards will it take before the “warmists” catch on that the correlation between weather trends is with the PDO, AMO and solar activity, not with CO2?”
Exactly. I wonder what kinds of adjustment they are making right now to make their climate models fit again. Must be a terrible job.