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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
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”
Did the models predict this. I forgot models predict 50, 100 years and so on after all those who made and used the models are dead and forgotten.
I seem to recall that brush fires in Israel were a fairly regular occurrence. This was several decades ago and global warming was not blamed then. Is it grant application season again?
As for the UK, it’s ironic that the conservative government is still pushing the AGW agenda.
In the following article, UK’s Network Rail apparently sends their de-icing trains to maintenance in the winter. Unbelievable. It’s either incompetence or a cunning plot…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337151/UK-snow-chaos-Rail-bosses-sent-vital-icing-trains-servicing-big-freeze.html
Weather happens!
“Coldest December in 100 years.”
Perfectly CONsistent with “global warming”. /sarc
Yeah, but the batteries run down a lot faster in double minus centigrade degree temperatures, that substantially reduces the range. I still get 60+ mpg from my little diesel car.
However it is in these trying driving conditions that I really wish I had a massive thirsty 4X4.
Global Warming Goes Back to Court
http://volokh.com/2010/12/06/global-warming-goes-back-to-court/
This morning the Supreme Court accepted certiorari in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, a case in which several states and environmental groups alleged that greenhouse gas emissions from several large utilities constitute actionable contributions to the public nuisance of global warming. This case has potentially broad implications for continuing climate change litigation in federal courts where plaintiffs have raised common law claims, but it unlikely to be as consequential as Massachusetts v. EPA.
When we come out on the other side of this winter, there will be very few left who still think the world is warming.
It will be one of the coldest winters on record.
They got what they sought to: be Green…Greenland 🙂
Temperatures “plunged” into the “double minuses?”
“Winter” is causing the prime minister to call in the guard?
It’s funny when people decry global warming, the ominous looming future threat of slightly warmer temperatures, then get to experience the damage a little global cooling can do in an extremely short period of time.
Same situation here in Norway.
In November we had 60+ national monthly minimum records.
So far in December, the average is almost 10 degrees below normal.
Last winter we constantly heard that a cold winter is weather, not climate.
But this year, the cold winter has become climate!
The reason of course is this new report linking the cold weather to the melting of arctic ice. Well, we had mild winters from 2000 until 2007, even though the ice extent was about the same as the last 2 years. So to me it doesn’t make much sense.
Heads you loose, tails I win.
This winter feels no worse than a couple of winters I remember from my boyhood in the early 1980s. It has happened earlier than normal however.
As the media had been reporting a lot that Spring starting a couple of weeks earlier was a sign of global climate warming, is this winter starting about a month earlier than normal an equivalent sign of global climate cooling? Because I am a lot more worried by a significant drop in global temperatures than a significant increase.
Actually, this year we had spring start about a month late, due to the “once in a lifetime” national deluge of snow in February – March 2010. Funny that now we are experiencing the second “once in a lifetime” snows inside last 10 months!!!
I found it amusing listening to the mainstream media telling us that the early arrival of spring is a sign of global warming, and reporting it as the snows were still falling and another month of winter was to follow. It was like the alarmist media was determined to report its pre-decided narrative regardless of what was happening in reality.
Here is a tip you might find worthwhile … so I thought I would share — In SWFL we don’t have heaters, we have air-conditioners, and big expensive to use, heating coils. A discovery I recently made, your AC ducts can be a result of your freezing in your house. Yes those ducts. The ones you pay no attention to for years. They go bad, leak and the heat in your house can be lost to the AC ducts sucking the heat out and up to the roof tops. Most AC people will tell you ducts are good for about 20 years, then should be replaced. Same goes for the AC in the summer.
Our ducts were so bad, we had them all replaced by a reputable contractor, and the result inside our house was just short of amazing. A worm cozy house resulted.
So if you are freezing think ducts, you may be surprised at what you find. Your ducts can be like an open chimney to your house. You can get a licensed contractor to test your duct work for a few hundred dollars.
No I have no vested interest in ducts or AC, just passing on a finding others may find useful — We all want our energy costs to go down right?
“Experts say cold snap is ‘once in a lifetime’ ”
Yet heatwaves are forever.
@Steeptown
Nice one. I wonder how many other readers will get the reference.
Scots should check this out. Please contact Prof. James Curran with your comments:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/1951784.stm
Aha. It is well known among Warmists that AGW will be accompanied by record snow, cold, and overall glacial mass increase.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8188605/Cancun-climate-change-summit-glaciers-increasing-despite-climate-change.html
Cold = weather
Hot = climate
More important even than Climategate in stopping the CAGW momentum will be the experience of real people (not modeled people) with real cold weather (not modeled weather.)
‘once in a lifetime’ event? According to Joe Bastardi, “The two-week period, last week of November and first week of December is the coldest since CET records began in 1659.” The is a least several lifetimes imho….
We in NE Oregon have had temps in the 40F area, I’ve been out in athletic shorts and
T-shirt chopping wood, (OK I’m Scot-Irish and Native American) but our turn in the
barrel is coming.
JasonF “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.” That is a correct statement; there were hundreds stranded in England after those stranded in Scotland.
Jeremy says:
December 9, 2010 at 7:49 am
“cobra-style emergency meetings” ???
http://data.earthli.com/news/attachments/entry/2285/gi_joe_cobr.jpg
???
================
LOL
I too thought of GI Joes old enemies (or should I say “Action Force” which IIRC is what GI Joe was marketed as in the UK back in the 80s). And afterall Destro, Cobra Commanders scheming right hand man, was scottish. Perhaps Cobra’s Weather Dominator got out of hand! (see examples from western animation at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeatherControlMachine) 🙂
Can somebody explain to the general public, and/or policy makers, that if x(t) is purely random (i.i.d.) then the extrema of the set x(1)..x(T) will basically scale with the square root of T (with the Hurst exponent if chaotic not random).
i.e. The longer your record is the more likely you are to encounter an extreme event within it. Furthermore, if you ask the question “What is the most likely amount of time I have to wait for the next extreme event?” for a purely random process, then answer is no time at all. (Because the distribution of intervals between independent but rare events follows a gamma distribution peaked at zero.)
Gareth said: Last year’s cold winter was a once in a hundred year event as well: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11152077
This winter provides an opportunity for the scientific method to be deployed. Do we have a similar El Nino and strongly negative North Atlantic Oscillation situation? If the cold is as extreme and extensive as last year then the hypothesis is supported by real world events.
“Once in a lifetime”?
Not according to the Wikipedia: 1946-1947, 1962-1963, 1990-1991, 2009-2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_1990%E2%80%931991_in_Western_Europe
Movie from the 1990-1991 event at http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/mediatheek/redactietips/MG_20JaarGeleden/1.921303 (in Dutch)
They have forests in Israel? Who knew?
Experts say cold snap is ‘once in a lifetime’ – doesn’t say who the experts are. But presumably then this is a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for the mainstream journalists to fill their pages with drivvle. (Michty, the price of porridge is going up!)
Well at 57N in Scotland we are having a thaw, traffic is flowing normally and the army is not on the streets.
BTW: It is not Winter yet….
What is extraordinary is not only is it not “once in a lifetime” because it was also in January of this year.
So two different severe winter wallops, in two different winter seasons, but in the same calendar year less than 12 months apart.
That is quite extraordinary.
My heart goes out to those who are suffering through it and not able to enjoy the winter wonderland.
You can thank the unprepared UK government for that and their soothsayers over at the Met.
Just like the Celts sacked Rome and scared the bejeezus out of ’em….its time for you Scots to get in touch with your roots and do the same to the Met offices.
Time to light the torches. 😉
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
grrr I know people who got stuck on the M8
No milk in my local shops…
Maybe it’s the butterfly affect…you know am American starts his SUV and there is a massive fall of snow in scotland and -18C temps…makes sense really
“Jay Davis says:
December 9, 2010 at 8:01 am
How are the wind turbines doing?”
If you look at the following website and scroll down somewhere near the bottom there is a table headed “Generation By Fuel Type”. As I type this (17:15 UK time) 1.4% is being produced by wind power.
http://www.bmreports.com/bsp/
Steeptown:
Never mind Doomed; lots of us are Entombed.
And most of the windmills are stopped or very slow in the light winds and calms of the last few days.
A thunderstorm (producing ground strike lighting) started a forest fire (middle of summer) near Mt Adams WA. Local news reported the cause: Global Warming.
Another example of media based science.
30 years ago, lightning starting fires in Colorado were from thunderstorms. Now it is Global Warming starting fires.
All California fires are now caused by Global Warming, not from pyromaniacs during easterly heat blasts.
So, the debate is over. (wink, wink)
Funnily enough, my wife predicted our cold UK winter back in September. No, she’s not a meteorologist, nor does she have second sight. She’s a vet. She noticed the cats here in Old Hampshire were growing thicker coats than usual – thicker even than last year, and last winter was cold. Maybe there’s a new predictive model lurking in the fur of domestic felines – CAT-astrophic climate disruption anyone?
COBRA meetings:
“Cobra is the dramatic name for the civil contingencies committee which leads responses to national crises.
The group is named after the Cabinet Office Briefing Room A in the bowels of Downing Street where it normally meets.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4663369.stm
… and we all know what emanates from bowels, don’t we?
UK household energy bills could double to £2,500 a year –
http://www.thegwpf.org/uk-news/2011-uk-government-is-asking-for-trouble.html
A YouTube link to that mini avalanche:
It’s interesting that someone had a video camera handy. 😉
Ed Scott says:
December 9, 2010 at 8:18 am
Global Warming Goes Back to Court
http://volokh.com/2010/12/06/global-warming-goes-back-to-court/
Having read the article – if I were the CEO of one of the power companies I would be tempted to at very least disconnect supplies to the plaintiffs to mitigate and reduce the pollution they claim. Mind you if I were feeling very bloody minded I might just shut down the whole power station until people came to their senses………
The cold weather in the UK is caused by blocking highs in the Atlantic, there is no evidence of an impact on the Gulf stream etc. However why we get these blocking highs is a mystery, over the last 3 years they have become a feature of our weather, but the cause is still obscure. I would imagine the current blocking high will move east towards the end of next week, but whether it rotates over Scandinavia and returns will be the big question. It may be that these highs will be a cause of cooling in Europe, but if so they will have caught us all out, both warmists and sceptics. It’s something none of us had predicted
Hmmm. The end of Warmism?
“A team of experts from NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and NOAA, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has joined the community of climate deniers[and found]….The resulting climate sensitivity attributed to the CO2 doubling from 390 ppm today to 780 ppm expected in 200 years from now (under business-as-usual) is just 1.64 °C – less than a Celsius degree per century or so. This figure is below 2 °C, the low end of the interval guessed by the IPCC. Is it really controversial to say that the warming induced by CO2 is zero for all practical purposes?”
http://motls.blogspot.com/2010/12/nasa-noaa-climate-sensitivity-is-below.html
“Incidentally just like Canada is not part of north America”
Since when ? Have we been moved somewhere, maybe South America.
While we are not now and never have been part of the USA, we do share the North American land mass with our American buddies.
Midday yesterday the BBC news stated that midday temperatures in Glasgow were around minus 10 degrees c .
BBC weather forecasters during this ‘cold snap’ have stated that temperature in urban centres are likely to be 4 or 5 degrees celcius higher than the nearby rural areas. Seems they are more aware of the UHI effect than is the Met Office in it’s climate modelling and in it’s adjustment of temperature data …….
Coldest 2 weeks Nov/Dec since 1659 at least!
Clearly the ROW must be frying because in central England (and Northern England and Scotland are having it much worse) 2010 is on track to be the coldest year since 1996 and possibly 1986.
http://www.accuweather.com/ukie/bastardi-europe-blog.asp
“The central England Temperature (CET) from the 1st-7th of December is -1.9, making this the coldest opening week of December since 1879; 1879 is the coldest opening week on CET record, so this week has been the second coldest opening week to December since CET records began in 1659.
The two-week period, last week of November and first week of December is the coldest since CET records began in 1659.”
This equates to a -7.1 anomaly for December up to 8 December – provisional.
Actually, I can see no real warming in the UK CET data since 1989.
Annual Mean Temp of the following starting at 1986
1986 8.80
1987 9.18
1988 9.83
1989 10.53
1990 10.67
1991 9.61
1992 9.88
1993 9.51
1994 10.22
1995 10.47
1996 9.17
1997 10.52
1998 10.25
1999 10.63
2000 10.29
2001 9.95
2002 10.64
2003 10.54
2004 10.53
2005 10.48
2006 10.90
2007 10.60
2008 10.07
2009 10.11
2010 9.00 – estimated using 1 as the December temp. In reality it is currently -1.9
“Experts say cold snap is ‘once in a lifetime’”
Are these the same “Experts” that predicted that snow would be a thing of the past?
Exactly what will it take to get the BBC out of the bag, and start reporting on the massive fraud that is/has taking/taken place.
A little investigative journalism would also sell papers. It is time to hold the activities of Mr. Jones and the UEA up to a bright light and find something that the authorities can prosecute. This is an opportunity for both the BBC and the UK government to not go down with the AGW ship which is obviously sinking. It is time to throw UEA and Company under the bus, stop the wind-farm madness, stop the carbon offset insanity and act like grown ups for a change instead of teenage girls at a horror fest. (Sorry any teenage girls out there, I don’t mean to insult you.)
All of the journalist of the BBC and members of the UK government need to take a long hard look in the mirror and stop neglecting your duties.
One other thing, don’t expect the U.S. to take any action any time soon.
The U.S. Government and Media are full of people who are so far left that folks in the center look like right wing nut jobs to them. I won’t even touch on how they feel about people who actually are right wingers. These folks are effectively covering up many events that are not in line with their agenda.
For example there has been record cold in the deep south here, with winter fruit and vegetable (beans, corn, citrus) crops damaged by frost. But the Media has downplayed this. Where I live (Alaska) the “official” temperature is currently 11f at the airport but just a couple miles away the temp at Elmendorf AFB is 0f. There is no place in town that is above 5 degrees right now. It has been like this for over a month. I would be willing to bet that Alaska shows up as a hot spot when the monthly temps come out but that would be a flat out lie. Our country has many areas of differing climate so the warmies can always find somewhere else where it is not cold.
The whipping the Dems took in our elections last month has actually moved the party to the left as many of the folks in moderate areas were voted out, but we still have Harry and Nancy and Barbie among others who are so far left they are almost incapacitated. Not to mention the Obamanation who is our current president. Oh please in 2012 can the Republicans field a viable candidate!
Where was I… Oh yes, don’t expect the U.S. to take the lead on this, I don’t see it happening for at least two more years. Sorry. I hope that things might be different over there…
Robert M
The UK CET will record that 2010 will be the coldest for around 25 years but thats weather I guess. Also Bastradi is wrong about the first 10 days of december being the coldest ever for CET. Mean CET for December so far is -2C . In January 1963 the mean CET for the whole month was minus 2.1C and in Januray 1795 ( the coldest month ever recorded it was minus 3.1C
-2.0c is colder than any complete December month, the coldest ever mean CET was minus 0.8C in 1890
Thank goodness it’s only weather and not climate!
We often have bad ice storms in the winter and sometimes the power is out for days. What then for the electric cars?
However… the average daily minimum CET is minus 5.1c for December so far which is equal to the coldest ever month Feb 1895 and colder than any December in total. Of course these numbers for Decemebr so far are only for 8 days and the thaw over the next few days will take the numbers up quite a bit. It is possible we will end up with the coldest December ever but unlikely even we return to cold weather in the UK. Minus 5.1c is after all more than 7C below the average for December minimum
Wait everyone knows this is a “Day after a week from next Tuesday” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/ scenario. Any moment now a Glacier will cover New York.
Well a guy can hope can’t he.
I love the way the Met Office and the BBC keep referring to it a s a ‘cold snap’. My definition of a cold snap would be a couple or three days, a week at most. We are just entering week three with no respite likely this side of Christmas; time to dig out the DVD of Holiday Inn and chuck another log on the fire.
Enneagram wrote:
“BTW: It is not Winter yet…”
While by definition the astronomical winter begins at the instant of winter
solstice (on or near December 21), the meteorological winter (at least for the
northern hemisphere) begins on December 1.
What is the link between warming and Israel forest fire? Then it should happen in July, not in December? Temperature down there is some 15°C now, so it can not have something common with temperature.
From Gareth’s BBC link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11152077.
“The researchers [speaking of last year’s UK freeze] also believe it is unlikely this combination will occur in the near future. Data from tree rings have shown that these same conditions caused by the same combination of weather systems happened over 200 years ago in the winter of 1783-84 in Northern Europe and North America. ”
So the interpretation of tree rings seems to be wrong about the frequency of cold winters, according to the ancient tradition of data/hypothesis/test (as employed by scientists).
“SandyInDerby says:
December 9, 2010 at 7:48 am
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. ”
Sandy,
I’m afraid it is not just the Scottish Government that has fallen for AGW.
Labour Party
“Time after time it’s been Labour pressing the SNP to be more ambitious on Climate Change.” [ http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/speech-to-scottish-conference-by-sarah-boyack%5D
Liberal Democrats
“The Liberal Democrats have today called for the SNP Government to act now for Scotland’s renewables industry.” [ http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/news/2010/10/lib-dems-call-snp-act-renewables-industry ]
Conservative Party
“If we continue to rely on fossil fuels as our main energy source we will exacerbate world poverty, face huge increases in global temperatures, create freak weather conditions and cause sea levels to rise by over one metre, condemning tens of millions to death.” [ http://indigopr.com/newsroom/scottish-conservative-mep-struan-stevenson-has-called-better-wind-farm-planning-order-prese ]
However, I think you will not fare better in France:
“Nelly Olin, French Minister for Ecology and Sustainable Development, stated on 31 October that she fully agreed with the conclusions of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. ” [ http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/france-priorities_1/environment-sustainable-development_1097/environmental-diplomacy_4155/climate_4596/index.html ]
We do need voices in Scotland to speak out against the foolishness of climate change policy, but I am afraid the voices are few and far between. Though interestingly I’d say that sceptics are in the majority when it comes to the Scotsman comments pages.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/
So someone forgot to tell Israel that there has been no significant warming for the last decade? Travesty.
Regarding earlier assertions about “warmest year globally”, I have sent a query to the MetOffice regarding a strange thing to do with the HadCRUT3 global anomalies. The annual anomaly data they publish has (to the nearest .01 here) 1998 at 0.52 and the first ten months also at 0.52. In fact, using the thousandths, 2010 is warmer, but with 2 probably cool months to come.
But if you look at the mean of the monthly anomalies, whether weighted by number of days in the month or not, 1998 is at 0.55 and 2010 (Jan-Oct) is at 0.50. This difference between the two versions, 0.05 degC, is almost as large as the mean error of the MetOffice next-year forecasts (and that error is nearly always found to be a warming bias).
So, if they have two views of HadCRUT3 to use, which would they use? In 1998 they would use the monthly, to show how warm it was, and in 2010 they use the yearly, to show how close to the record 2010 is. The fact that the 2 views can differ so much is bizarre – unless some kind person here can explain it?
Anyway, I’m looking forward to the first mild English weekend for a month. If the forecast is correct…
Rich.
Ken Hall>
“However it is in these trying driving conditions that I really wish I had a massive thirsty 4X4.”
There’s something to be said for it, because even a leaden-footed idiot can’t get a Range Rover stuck, but it’s hardly necessary. My rubbish front-wheel-drive car with worn budget Hokikoki tyres was fine in the snow and ice because its driver had a delicate right foot. Either way, the problem is still all the idiots who think the throttle is a switch, spinning their wheels and getting in the way. You’re guaranteed to find that the person in front of you stops halfway up a hill, or something.
Gareth says:
December 9, 2010 at 7:38 am
“Last year’s cold winter was a once in a hundred year event as well”
Last year’s winter was the once a century event of the 1910/11-2009/10 period. This year’s winter is the once a century event of the 2010/11-2109/10 period.
(And next year’s winter will be the once a century event of the last 100 leap years).
It might be the coldest since whenever here in the UK but sadly that group of warmistas which passes for our Government takes advice (for which read ‘orders’) from the “Committee on Climate Change (CCC)”. Their remit, copied from their web site, is as follows:
“The CCC is an independent body established under the Climate Change Act (2008). We advise the UK Government on setting and meeting carbon budgets and on preparing for the impacts of climate change.”
This less-than-august body has just released its “Fourth Carbon Budget”. The following paragraph from Chapter One captures the general tone of the Report:
“Recent public controversies have sparked several independent inquiries into the activities of climate scientists. As a result there have been recommendations for reinforcing the IPCC assessment process and increasing the transparency of research data and methods, which are being addressed. A small number of minor factual errors have been found in the IPCC’s reporting of climate change impacts in its Fourth Assessment Report. However, no new findings have emerged that call into question the robustness of the fundamental science.”
The whole dismal publication can be seen here:
http://www.theccc.org.uk/reports/fourth-carbon-budget
Here’s a short comment on the Carbon Budget and its impact on the British from http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/
“The CCC is the Government’s primary advisory panel on cutting CO2 and was established in the 2008 Climate Change Act. But there will be a price to pay for this utopia.
The CCC recommends a carbon tax on food, leading to higher beef and sheep prices – and “rebalancing diets” away from red meat. Meanwhile, household access to electricity will be restricted – thanks to smart grids – or taken away completely, with electricity rationed via a completely automated supply. You’ll do the laundry when you’re told to, not when you want to.
This is presented as a consumer choice (“enabling consumers to shift non time-critical demand to non-peak times”), but really the key is taking choice away from the consumer – personalised power cuts, if you like. Or no control at all.
“An important element of a smart grid is a ‘smart meter’ which will allow display of energy usage data in real time and remote or automated control of energy usage by suppliers and consumers.
“Meters will allow supply to be controlled remotely,” the report stresses, as if we missed the point.
It is pointed out in the comments that the policy term for the remote control of electricity supply is “choice editing”.
cold snap” once in a life time”? presumably, apart from last years cold snap! Life expectancy must be falling round here.
Roads closed, no petrol? How will Phil Jones get to work? – Anthony
It’s just as easy to make up the numbers from home.
Electric cars in Norway have diesel-fueled heaters. Seriously.
http://www.elektrolund.no/w/Elbil_teknisk.html
“Benefits of BUDDY over other electric cars …:
…. that the heater runs on diesel so you do not take power from the propulsion battery is quite charming.”
““The researchers [speaking of last year’s UK freeze] also believe it is unlikely this combination will occur in the near future. Data from tree rings have shown that these same conditions caused by the same combination of weather systems happened over 200 years ago in the winter of 1783-84 in Northern Europe and North America. ””
Winter 1783/84 was the winter of Laki.
From (gag, I know), wiki:
The system erupted over an 8 month period during 1783-1784 from the Laki fissure and the adjoining Grímsvötn volcano, pouring out an estimated 14 km3 (3.4 cu mi) of basalt lava and clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid/sulfur-dioxide compounds that killed over 50% of Iceland’s livestock population, leading to famine which killed approximately 25% of the population[4].
The Laki eruption and its aftermath has been estimated to have killed over six million people[5] globally, making it the deadliest volcanic eruption in historical times. The drop in temperatures, due to the sulfuric dioxide gases spewed into the northern hemisphere, caused crop failures in Europe, droughts in India, and Japan’s worst famine.
What’s the excuse for this and the previous 2 winters? The Laki eruption has been classed as a VEI6 eruption. It was so cold in North America that the Mississipi River froze over in New Orleans! Hopefully it won’t get that cold this winter?
☆ cold snap: a sudden, brief spell of cold weather
(Webster’s New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.)
The Warmist press, in true Socialist form, uses creative linguistics to sidestep facts. They’d call an ice age “a cold snap” if it suited their political agenda. “Marx Nature Trick,” anyone?
Sunday afternoon, I checked the weather forecast and decided that as it was “fog” for the next few days, I could work on the roof – so I cleared the snow and took of the tarpaulin to let it dry.
So, I have some sympathy with the Scottish “government” who would have been using very much the same “it’s only Scotland – they don’t need a proper forecast” from the Met Office.
But what I don’t have any sympathy for is their ridiculous dimwitted idea that “it’s all to do with global warming” … well in a way it is, it’s all to do with global warming cause the idiots in Holyrood believed the CRU in March 2000:
“According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”.
“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said.”
Gareth Phillips says: December 9, 2010 at 9:37 am
Are there known or suspected links between the Jet (not Gulf) Stream, magnetic effects from Earth and/or Sun, and other solar influences?
I live in Norwich, five miles from the uea cru. There has hardly been any snow at all here.
So Phil will have had no problem getting to work.
Are Phil and the rest of the team in Cancun?
Unlike Copenhagen, I can find no reference as to how many delegates each country sent to the party – at Copenhagen almost every country boasted how they had sent x hundred delegates, now they seem ashamed to admit how many were on a junket wasting taxpayers’ money.
As for the UK weather, it is simply no more than Gaia given the finger to card carrying greenies and data manipulating “climate scientists”. Not to worry, this “anomaly” will be smoothed out of the models.
Robert M says:
December 9, 2010 at 9:44 am
“Experts say cold snap is ‘once in a lifetime’”
sunderland steve says:
December 9, 2010 at 11:29 am
cold snap” once in a life time”? presumably, apart from last years cold snap! Life expectancy must be falling round here.
I’m intrigued by this curious word “snap” – could someone from the BBC clarify for us what it means? I have the impression that it refers to some period of time.
Lets put it this way – which of the following would a BBC news reader get sacked for NOT describing as a “cold snap”:
a week of frost, snow and ice?
a month of frost, snow and ice?
a whole winter of frost, snow and ice?
a period of 100-200 years of very cold winters sometimes called a little ice age?
a period of 20,000-100,000 years seriously cold climate with glaciers covering half of Europe and North America (a glacial maximum)?
A glacial epoch of 10 million years?
A snowball earth ice age lasting 50 million years?
The heat death of the universe lasting forever?
Can the line be drawn anywhere above? Or does “snap” mean any length of time when its bloody cold?
Stephen Brown says:
Cabinet Office Briefing Room A
And the meetings are never actually held in Briefing Room A, but a totally different room! Perhaps closer to the bowel.
I expect most of those 55 were the very expensive Tesla Roadsters. Which definitely have heating and defrosting. And get 240 miles/charge. And whose LiIon batteries are maintained internally at room temp whether idle or running, and are affected very little by the cold. Mileage equivalent is around 2oo+ mpg, depending on how much time you spend speeding or high-jinking with the powerful torque and acceleration. They have very advanced traction control, and are superb on snow or ice.
P.S. Converting the mileage numbers to SI units, 400 km. range, and 2-2.5 l/100 km.
Correction to above: 2-2.5 l/100 mi., ~1.7 l/100 km.
Paris had reported “heavy” snow and having to close the Eiffel Tower. It looks like “heavy” snow is a few inches there.
We’re still holding off winter here in the Denver area, mid-50s all week, but the mountains have been getting slammed with snow. Very good for all you skiers out there.
Carsten Arnholm, Norway says:
December 9, 2010 at 12:01 pm
“Electric cars in Norway have diesel-fueled heaters. Seriously.”
Thanks for the info. I always wondered how they cope in cold weather without completely wrecking their small mileage.
Usage of that term in the central U.S. (mountain states) in my experience is to discribe a sharp sudden drop of temperatures from typical daily temps to well below normal temps. As such it is some what seasonal and also varies by geographic location.
In the summer time a cold snap might be a 50 deg F day immediately preceded by an 85 deg F day. In the summer it might be a situation like happened during my 7th grade school year (1960’s) here in Denver. At noon we were enjoying high 70 deg F temperatures during noon recess. Upon returning to our home room class, we were informed that school was being canceled for the rest of the day and we would all be leaving as soon as the school buses arrived. At about 2:00 pm it was over cast, there was a biting wind, and the smell of snow in the air, as we boarded the school buses. By the time I got home around 3:30 pm, we had freezing drizzle, temps below freezing and ice build up on the roads and sidewalks making it so slick you could barely walk.
In the winter of 1962-63 we had a sudden drop of temperatures in mid January that reached -30 F on the west side of Denver although the official low was in the -20 range at the airport on the other side of town.
All of those events would be referred to as cold snaps, as they had relatively sudden onset or were substantially colder than typical weather for the location/season.
Larry
correction:
“In the summer it might be a situation like …”
should read :
“In the late summer and fall it might be a situation like …”
Larry
Jason F says:
Incidentally just like Canada is not part of north America,
Actually Jason, Canada IS part of *North* America – North America is a *continent*, not a country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11946901
“Snow and ice ‘should be cleared with the public’s help’
The public should clear icy side roads and pavements not treated by councils, the transport secretary has suggested.”
And here in Sydney, Australia were just about, sort of, having summer temperatures, but only just. Approx 29c today where I am.
Pitty the UK souls in all that global warming.
ked5;
Now, don’t be too hard on Jason. Geography was dropped as a subject in most schools decades ago. “Nigeria? That’s in Central America; right, dood?”
😀
E Philipp says:
December 9, 2010 at 8:50 am
‘once in a lifetime’ event? According to Joe Bastardi, “The two-week period, last week of November and first week of December is the coldest since CET records began in 1659.” (Corrected to 1772)
Last July I wrote a story on my blog titled :
“A Massive Winter Heading for the Northern Hemisphere?”
With a prediction:
So the stage is set for one of the most interesting natural experiments, nearly all the cool players are in place with the exception of the Atlantic Oscillation (AMO) still not in its cool phase. I predict the extra boost from my predicted solar grand minimum along with the current oceanic conditions the next northern winter will experience conditions similar to the Little Ice Age (1250-1850).
Must admit… I didn’t expect to hit the target so early.
According to this source it’s the coldest 1st week in December since daily records began in 1772:
http://www.accuweather.com/ukie/bastardi-europe-blog.asp?partner=accuweather
Meanwhile in a different London, a similar record…
“The record snowfall that has been hitting London and other communities in southwestern Ontario eased as expected Thursday, but there is more snowy weather in the forecast.
Some areas east of Lake Huron have already seen as much as 177 centimetres fall since the weekend, and the region’s communities were forecast to receive another five to 10 centimetres Thursday, as well as two to four cm Friday.”
So they could get two meters or snow in 5 days. It would have killed the other London.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/12/09/canada-london-snowfall-record-amounts.html
From Joe Bastardi
THURSDAY EVENING
FROM GAVIN PARTRIDGE AGAIN… MORE CHILLING FACTS TO WARM YOUR HEARTS.
Gavin has emailed me a correction on the CET temps.. Apparently the records only exist into the 1700s for the month, so, we cant be sure its the coldest week since the 1600s
Here is what he said
Its been pointed out to me that one of the facts I have given you is wrong.
When I said its been the second 1st-8th December on CET record, with records starting in 1659, that was wrong. Whilst monthly CET records do indeed begin in 1659 the daily data only begins in 1772.”
So it appears that we can only confirm this was the coldest since 1772 I am sure that will warm the cockles of all your hearts.
Still a pretty long time since this kind of cold… we can agree on that, eh? Hmmm I wonder what the proxy tree rings say about all this.
ciao for now ***
http://www.accuweather.com/ukie/bastardi-europe-blog.asp?partner=accuweather
A once in a lifetime winter freeze? Like last winter was a once in a lifetime freeze? Do these people practice at being stupid or is it congenital?
As this is the second ‘once in a hundred years’ event in succession, it seems a bit unlikely that this is just random weather. From my own experience of the weather near the south coast of England, I would say that since around 2003 the trend has been for increasingly cold winters. Those lovely mild winters from the nineties are now just a memory.
Global warming seems to have a consistent pattern. Most of the warming occurs in night and winter temperatures. It follows that if the global climaye starts to switch to global cooling, then winter temperatures wil provide the greatest warning, a bit like a canary in a mine.
Last year Obama left Copenhagen in a blizzard – and arrived home in a blizzard. When Parliament voted on the Climate Change Bill two years ago there was snow on the streets of London, the first time in October for seventy years. And now it seems there are record low temperatures at Cancun. I can’t help thinking that Nature is trying to tell these idiots something!
Chris
While I can’t speak for Oz, Cancun or Great Britain, we had the coldest Thanksgiving since ’85 and things have remained at a rather low ebb in MN. Tomorrow we expect upwards of a foot of cheer and bluster, temps nearing -10 F.
It is winter after all.
Guys,
use your brains even a bit. This is a triumph to the antiwarming activists. They have been able to beat the heat beast. And even more, they have established something new, teleclimatism. So no need to manmade anymore, it is brainmade. Let’s be happy, this is just first overkill, wait until they tune teleclimatism and we can enjoy the perfect climate.
But seriously, this cold wave is likely because Atlantic heat flow is reducing. The subpolar (counter)pressure above Atlantic is weakening, which in turn gives room for expansion of the Polar high pressure cold and dry air. Atlantic does not transport the warm and humid air towards north-east as it used to. Same phenomena as the summer heat wave was, the cause was the missing Altantic humid air and mixing of previous with eastern drier continetal air above Europe. Quite simple model. No rocket science.
Jason F says:
December 9, 2010 at 8:08 am
“Incidentally just like Canada is not part of north America”
Don’t be silly. Yes it is. So is Mexico.
@Lucy Skywalker says:
December 9, 2010 at 1:07 pm
“Are there known or suspected links between the Jet (not Gulf) Stream, magnetic effects from Earth and/or Sun, and other solar influences?”
I have read that “stuck” jet stream positions occur more often around solar cycle minimum. Winter high pressure blocking is the response from a short term drop in the solar signal and hence increasing cold, and lower wind speeds.
Run the “potential temperature” animation here to see UK circulation;
http://www.pa.op.dlr.de/arctic/index.html