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.
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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.
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