From the Mail Online: (h/t to Richard North of EUReferendum)
But the forecast is the bigger worry, not the lame-o self help from the local government:
Council chiefs have sparked outrage after proposing residents dig themselves out of the snow as Britain braces itself for another winter of Arctic conditions.
As long-range forecasts suggest the country will be hit by blizzards and temperatures plummeting to -20c, bosses at Camden Council prepared to hand out spades.
But their solution to the bitter weather has been slammed by those who remember the headache of last year’s gritting crisis which brought widespread disruption and left people trapped in their homes.
The north London council’s proposal involves a ‘self-help’ scheme in which people can ring and request a shovel.
The authority plans to give out more than 2,000 spades to community centres and groups, shopkeepers and families to help clear clogged-up roads and pavements.
Eleanor Botwright, director of Castlehaven Community Centre, said: ‘It is not quite dig your own grave but it is a double-edged sword.
The coming winter is worrying many in Britain, and it seems that such “shovel ready” programs really don’t help that worry.
The MetOffice might lift spirits if they forecast a BBQ Christmas.
Ah, I see my post has been deleted. That however does not detract from the fact that snow in Camden town is rare, and that this initiative does not replace the duty of the council to keep roads and pavements clear and gritted. The Daily Mail has a history of this sort of rabble rousing to try and call any social initiative into disrepute. It supported the Nazi party right up until the time war was declared and is a flagship for the hard right in the UK. It also campaigns long and hard against the NHS and welfare state. If the people of Camden town do not like this idea, then they can vote the administration out in the next council election. That is the mark of a democracy. A good tip is to treat announcements of this sort with the same suspicion
as we view climate change comments from the Guardian. And remember, the UK is not the USA, we have a much more entrenched middle of the road political tradition, and to us any administration in the USA whether Republican or Democrat would be viewed as pretty right wing. We have to view such information not through the rabble rousing gutter press, but through the traditions of that country. Although ( dare I say it) it would be nice to keep this as a climate debating and information site, as opposed to a site for the promotion of right wing political values.
After last winter, the general UK view of how local government deals with bad weather is summarised by the Daily Mash:
In the area of norway where I live, you cannot do without this one;
http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/products/modeldetail.aspx?page=modeldetail§ion=P2SB&modelname=HS724TA&modelid=HS724TA
Of course it runs on petrol.
Somewhere in my papers The MET Office predicted the opposite now stated.
When did that change?
It is fairly straightforward for one person to give an often more reliable seasonal forecast than the MetO, by use of look-backs of a set number of years where the circulation patterns were similar. It can fail badly at times though.
Astrometeorologists go further, and look at the astronomical cause of the temperature changes. We are largely looking at a milder period from later in December and through most of January.
I think some Norwegians would see it differently. Norwegian railway hasn’t impressed many the last few years.
kwik: I have one of those also. Bought it last year and that wasn’t a minute too early.
I hope there will be enough aid for the elderly, incapacitated and needy during this harsh winter coming up.
Meanwhile, people such as Prince Charles have the luxury of others servicing their needs while promoting one of the biggest lies of our current generation. Make the scion of inbreeders live in a small flat and fend for himself without servants tending to his every need.
Will council be sending out hats and mittens too?
Richard111 says:
October 8, 2010 at 10:20 pm
“Snow will be a distant memory.” Now who said that?
Probably come IPCC-related climate researcher looking for more funding…
Re: Snow shovels
After moving to New Hampshire many years ago, I realized quickly that the fastest way from snow to no snow around my house was a non-carbon-neutral gas-powered snow blower…and generous amounts of ice remover (aka salt) when needed.
The UK Met Office has given up on long term forecasts as it was getting them so wrong it was a Laughing Stock, they were consistantly slanted towards supporting CAGW and hence counter productive after climategate. So we are left with Piers Weather Action and this new mob Positive Weather Solutions, who the Daily Mail quote in the full article, have never heard of them and can’t verify their claims on past forecasts. Await Piers’s forecast with interest, another Winter like last year will kill CAGW in the UK for years to come.
Give a man a shovel and he will shovel for a day
Teach a man about why they need shovels and they will be wise for a lifetime.
Apologies for the repeated themes in the posts by myself, I thought the first one had been deleted!
If there is significant cooling (climate change of the cooling type) the UK will need to invest in a complete set of snow removal equipment: smaller powered units for large commercial or private sidewalks, street graders, and collection units to remove snow to trucks for transport. (Temperatures dropping below freezing, a very large body of adjacent water, 10 inches of snow is roughly equivalent to 1 inch of rain creates the problem.)
The position of the geomagnetic poles and GCR intensity both affect the jet stream. This analysis (see Seager’s very readable article) supports the assertion that Britain gets their warm winters primarily due to a southern jet stream (air not North Atlantic drift current water) that is created as the jet stream moves across the North American rockies. (A Rossby wave is created. See this article for details.)
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/div/ocp/pub/seager/Seager_AmSci_2006.pdf
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/people/klaus.wolter/MEI/
http://www.ipgp.fr/~dormy/Publications/MD03.pdf
Asymmetric behavior of magnetic dip poles
“Surprisingly, the North Magnetic Pole (NMP) velocity has more than doubled in the last 30 years, reaching the huge velocity of around 40 km/year in 2001. Such velocity is the highest observed so far over the 20th century. This fact has been given much attention in recent research (Newitt et al., 2002), and together with the weakening of the Earth’s magnetic field intensity over the last century has raised the …”
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091224-north-pole-magnetic-russia-earth-core.html?lame
The geomagnetic pole is now moving at 55 to 60 km per year. As an aside the South Atlantic geomagnetic anomaly is strengthening.
Last year councils wre scaring us into not clearing the snow in front of our homes, in case someone slipped on the result of our efforts and sued.
So one hopes the council realise the liability they are now incurring by not only encouraging but actively equipping residents to go out and wield these double edged swords.
@Byz
‘however if many of your readers think that any european government not led by “Adolf Hitler” is socialist then I might need to concede the point :)’
Puny little Adolf was a socialist so in essence his national socialist workers party led a socialist government. :p
This sounds like one of the first manifestations of David Cameron’s Big Society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Society
a concept which itself would benefit from a large shovel.
I’d suggest that many of the people commenting know little or nothing about the UK, its government and what its people want from the government.
For those who want to learn, I’d commend the posts by Gareth Phillips and Byz as a starting point.
Case in point:
Caleb says:
“I expect that, if you carefully check the money-trail, you will see that either: (…)
2.) Politician A is running a State Operated factory”
I’d be fascinated if you could give us an example of a UK politician running a “State Operated factory” making shovels, or indeed anything else.
I think you might be mistaking us for North Korea.
William
You may be interested to also to see:
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/NFC1.htm
There are two important points here:
North pole is not a singular entity, there are two extremities and the max intensity has been oscilating between two for last two millennia:
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC21.htm
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/GT1.htm
I am not certain that it is the GMF itself that moves the jet stream, I think it is pulled back and forth by the area where thermal energy of the Gulf stream is released into troposphere (see first graph in
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC20.htm.
Anthony Watts,
Are there any graphs/data about the flow rate and temperature of the Gulf Stream?
If so, could they be posted like the “Sea Ice Page”.
Maybe we could make our own predictions about the English/European winters, and the number of shovels needed.
Thanks,
Dr. Lurtz
[Reply: Notes to Anthony should be posted on the Tips & Notes page, located on the mast head. ~dbs]
Piers Corbyn:
I’ve got a spare five Australian Dollars which, the way exchange rates are going, is going to be equivalent to about £1,000,000 in a year or so; but still wouldn’t buy a decent daily newspaper in the UK.
Never mind the bloody winter. I’m planning a trip to Europe in May/June and want to know if I should budget for thermal underwear or just the usual wet-suit rental.
:-)/2
This was from Bastardi a while back:
http://www.accuweather.com/ukie/bastardi-europe-blog.asp
‘…I don’t think Great Britain is as cold as last year, more or less a normal winter. But this will be a rough winter in areas in central and eastern Europe, the interior part of the continent. That is a thumbnail sketch, a rough look. One more thing… precipitation will be a bit below normal for much of Europe this winter. ‘
A later post has this:
‘I believe that this is a colder-than-normal winter for a large part of Europe, but I am torn as to where right now.’
I think his official forecast is not due till the 15th Oct.
FatBigot says:
October 8, 2010 at 9:41 pm
“I was down in deepest Sussex last week and spoke to some of the local farmers. ”
Aw what do they know. they’ve only been farming there since before Boudica
was collecting Roman Heads. -I have a tall, red headed, cousin whom we call
Boudica-BTW.. My very Ulsterman Granpa -Farmer/Rancher, had all these
little weather signs he used, an yes he could predict better than any NOAA
super computer. Farmers,Ranchers, Fishermen, all know which way the wind
blows, Whether USA, England,or any part of the planet that they occupy…
Why can’t we outsource the digging to India, like we have with all the other UK service industries?
Those of us that line in northern continental climate zones think this is all very funny. Funny in a sad ironic way, of course. Let me think, Baden Powell, you know the “be prepared” guy. Wasn’t he British?
Well, following the Law of Umbrellas (if you’ve got one with you, it won’t rain, but if you forgot it at home, it will pour all day!), it’ll probably be a mild winter in the UK, seeing that I just got myself some newfangled warm T-shirt and leggings for when it’ll get cold, following the precautionary principle …
We’ll see if that was a waste of cash – next spring!