“Overly Overcast: Germany Weathers Darkest Winter in 43 Years”
It seems that there’s a lot of gloom in Germany this Winter, more so than usual. This article in Spiegel explains why:
“The days may be getting longer, but there’s still not a hint of springtime sunshine in Germany. Weather data shows that this winter has been the gloomiest in 43 years. If the sun doesn’t start shining soon, it will be the darkest winter on record.
Winter in Germany is typically a grim affair, dark and steeped in the kind of chilly damp that goes straight to the bones — and, unhappily, to the psyche. But many residents feel that this winter has been particularly hard to bear.
Meteorologists say that’s because it has been the darkest winter in more than four decades. Less than an average of 100 hours of sunshine have been recorded so far over the course of the meteorological winter, which runs from December through February, said National Meteorological Service (DWD) spokesman Gerhard Lux on Monday. The winter average is an already measly 160 hours of sun.”
h/t to WUWT reader Michael Schaefer
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Sunshine hours does have a major impact on people’s moods. The less there is the more gloomy they get. One of the reasons attributed to a fairly high suicide rate in the dark northern Scandinavian winters and quite likely elsewhere too.
If the suicide rate is up in western Europe this winter it will soon be blamed on manmade climate change.
This story begins with darkness in the German motherland. Will it end with climate science enlightenment for them? Maybe a German renaissance is needed first.
Good luck to you Germany in being the leader over there.
John
Gary Pearse says:
February 28, 2013 at 6:33 am
“The Germans in the long haul are not fools. They are already redeveloping coal and making moves to recover an economy devastated by fools and economic handouts to EU wastrels. Ultimately, they will lead the fools out of the wilderness. I’m surprised its taking so long though..”
I’m German. Most Germans are gullible idiots who will fall for any propaganda lie by the Greens or the Eurocrats. It is simply amazing to what extent the people around me echo the proganda theme du jour. Currently they all express their concern about the Italian election – what, the Italians didn’t elect the Goldman Sachs ex employee that has been installed for them? Well, but of course my fellow Germans would not even be able to say that sentence – they long forgot that Monti was a non elected Eurocrat and their beloved public media never told them the Goldman Sachs connection.
They are really very stupid, very uninformed, yet think they are smart and informed. Do not trust them.
ARMIDALE NSW Australia : Gloomy for whole of Febuary 3 c below the average.Tomatoes will not ripen!Ah the vicissitudes of weather!Off to Germany inMarch
DirkH says:
February 28, 2013 at 7:45 am
“I’m German. Most Germans are gullible idiots who will fall for any propaganda lie by the Greens or the Eurocrats.”
Perhaps a bit harsh of you, although I think this is because you expect better of your fellow Germans. Your more thoughtful type, I suspect, represents a higher proportion in Germany than is to be found in the rest of the EU. It isn’t foolish to have been fooled; it is foolish to not do anything about it when you finally know it. A recent rethinking on global warming by some of your prominent institutes (Wegener) and your minister of energy’s realization that current policy is leading to disaster, will bear common sense fruit. Other European governments (perhaps with the exception of France) will eventually follow suit.
If you shutdown nukes for no good reason and starting burning lots of brown coal the sky will darken.
For those who are suffering from the gloomy winter in Germany and elsewhere, you might want to have a physician test your vitamin D levels. You might need a prescription vitamin D booster.
I’m out for a drive here in southern Ontario Canada and snow has been falling lightly but steadily for the past three days (as it has been for most of February). All the solar panels have auto-attitude positioned to be completely horizontal, this results in them collecting a nice six or so inches of snow. These panels are about 20 feet or more off the ground, even if the skies clear the snow remains stuck to the panels and they produce no power.
The foolishness of solar power at or above any Canadian latitude is stunning !!!
Gary Pearse says:
February 28, 2013 at 6:33 am
. I’m surprised its taking so long though..
*********
As someone who worked building a few coal plants, critical path schedule takes about 2-1/2 to 3 years. That’s after design.
I met an old man walking down the road the other day. He called out “when is it going to get warm, we have had 11 months winter!”.(in the UK) I didn’t like to tell him it would probably be about 40 years time.
DD More says:
February 28, 2013 at 10:56 am
Gary Pearse says:
February 28, 2013 at 6:33 am
. I’m surprised its taking so long though..
*********
“As someone who worked building a few coal plants, critical path schedule takes about 2-1/2 to 3 years. That’s after design.”
I’m in mine/plant development consulting and there are long lead times. My comment was intended to refer to the time it’s taking Germans to get the picture of the economic suicide they have been committing.
Will hibernation be the new (Green) black??
“Throughout the month (January), most days peaked at less than 2.5 GWe. This peak is coming from an installed base of 32 GWe spread throughout the country.”
http://atomicinsights.com/2013/01/german-solar-photovoltaic-performance-terrific-graphics.html
Good animated graphic of daily German PV power output here:
http://www.sma.de/en/company/pv-electricity-produced-in-germany.html
Having read so many accounts for many years in a row of cold and snowy conditions across europe, asia (-90 in siberia), even austrailia, snow in north africa, I’m puzzled how every single month with all these cold and gloomy winters we still always have a positive temperature “anomoly”. How cold does it have to get in how many places for the “anomoly” to become negative?
I’ve just seen a BBC reporter in northern Japan standing next to 6 meter (6 yard) deep snowdrifts, talking to a 70 year old man who has never seen anything close to the snow amounts of this winter, and then the reporter calmly describing this weather as a consequence of global warming.
Theo Goodwin says:
February 28, 2013 at 8:48 am
For those who are suffering from the gloomy winter in Germany and elsewhere, you might want to have a physician test your vitamin D levels. You might need a prescription vitamin D booster.
You’re right, most of us are probably vitamin D deficient.
An Aussie through and through, I worked in Switzerland in the early 1990s. I used to cycle to/from work every day. Eventually I figured out that this was giving me SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) as I started feeling really depressed all the time. So I started to cut down on the clothing to increase my skin exposure and hence Vitamin D. But this simply meant I froze my butt off going both ways while still feeling really depressed. Eventually I just started drinking heavily in the evenings….
I live in Pennsylvania and it has been dark here too. I can’t provide hours, but I can tell you that my solar electric installation has had the worst winter since installing it three years ago. One other thing we have had very little of is snow. Massachusetts got it all, the lucky devils.
phlogiston says:
February 28, 2013 at 3:29 pm
“You’re right, most of us are probably vitamin D deficient.”
Thanks for the response. I was not offering general advice but genuinely recommending that you ask a physician to do a test.
Patrick says
Not in the Scottish part of the UK! Lots of glorious sunshine and clear blue skies this week.
Just a pity that Scotland has few solar PV installations, but has despoiled its own countryside with thousands of windmills. Which have not been able to provide any nett power at all because the air has been completely still.
‘
How ironic that the last (and apocalyptic) part of Wagner’s Ring Cycle is called ‘Gotterdammerung’ which translates as ‘Twilight of the Gods’.
Maybe the Gods are showing their dislike of solar PV as the solution to Germany’s energy problem with this awful warning………
“Latimer Alder says:
February 28, 2013 at 8:08 pm”
Yes, you are right. I was talking about Southern England. Mind you, Scotland is the country that plans to derive 100% electricity generation from alternatives by 2020 (I am not sure that vision is too clear) , and sell what it generates from fossil fuels to Engand/Europe. By the sounds of it, this “plan” isn’t working too well.
Once again proof that addressing climate change by switching to an energy source dependent on weather and climate AMPLIFIES VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE. And this vulnerability increases in direct proportion to the percentage of energy provided by these sources. This simple conclusion should be obvious to anyone asking the question. It’s amazing that so many politicians and the media have been blind to this obvious reality. The Germans, having large installed capacity of solar are learning the meaning of energy dependency climate vulnerability.