Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The global warming which recently hit the USA, has spread to a large area of East Asia, with reports of a brutal cold snap which has killed at least 85 people in Taiwan, and confirmed snowfall as far south as the Japanese island Okinawa, on the Northern edge of the Tropics.
Record low temperatures have wreaked havoc in several Asia countries, with 85 people reported dead in Taiwan and tens of thousands stranded at airports because of the unprecedented cold snap.
In South Korea, at least 90,300 saw their flights canceled over the weekend due to bad weather and more than 10,000 travelers faced severe delays at Kunming airport in southwestern China.
Taiwan authorities advised people to stay indoors after the deaths, while in Hong Kong, teeth-chattering temperatures forced kindergartens and primary schools to shut Monday.
Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/25/asia/asia-cold-weather-travel-disruption/index.html
Taiwan is a modern state with a mild, marine tropical climate. The one time I visited Taipei in December, it was shirtsleeve weather, even at night. This is most likely why the fatality rate is so high, the locals are unprepared for extreme cold they are experiencing.
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Global Warming is having a catastrophic effect on comma usage.
“The global warming which recently hit the USA, has spread to a large area of East Asia …”
should be
“The global warming which recently hit the USA has spread to a large area of East Asia, …”
The relative clause is a defining clause, and thus combines with “The global warming ” to form a subject clause. There should never be a comma after a subject clause.
[And why not: “Global warming, which recently hit the USA, has spread to a large area of East Asia ..” But that does assume the actual sentence is true. .mod]
Another victim, of global warming!!
☺
It appears that the elderly who are living alone are at high risk in South East Asia with usually cold weather.
John
I think that applies globally to the elderly, John. But predominantly those of modest income, who must trade other necessities for what they term “comfort” and disregard their personal safety.
I lived in Taiwan for 18 years – let me just say, there is no such thing as indoor heating in almost all residential buildings. Walls and floors are concrete, add in high humidity, and 14 degree C weather can suddenly feel like you’re freezing your tuckus off.
I don’t know how cold it was when it snowed (at least 0, presumably); my wife is still over there, sent me picture and video and everything but neglected say the actual temperature.
Chris Jones on January 28, 2016 at 6:51 am
– – – – – –
Chris Jones,
I lived in Taiwan for almost eight years and I agree with you. I had to buy electric plug-in space heaters to use in the winter in our house in Tien Mu in northern part of the city of Taipei. That was in the late 1970’s to mid-1980’s. Had to bring good space heaters from the US to supplement the insufficient local Taiwan available ones.
John
There’s some heating in places like Taipei, but certainly not southern Taiwan. I mean, who needs heat when the coldest temperature ever recorded in Kaohsiung is 40? Well, the dead in Kaohsiung as one day didn’t top 50 and the night was in the lower 40’s, ensuring indoor temperatures around 50. That can kill the elderly.
I understood that Taiwan is subtropical, not tropical. Title of post my need editing.
John
Oops, should be may need editing, not my need editing.
John
Technically doesn’t need editing as Taiwan passed though the Tropic of Cancer. Kaohsiung is at 22 degrees and some change, north of the equator.
Todd on January 28, 2016 at 7:28 am
– – – – – – –
Todd,
Based on the following link, it looks like Taiwan is virtually all subtropical with a relatively tiny part of Taiwan on the sourthern tip.
Overall, it appears to be subtropical or at least it is virtually/ predominately subtropical.
John
I lived in Taiwan during many semiconductor projects. I had an apartment in Hsinchu City for several years. It had a very good air conditioner. It might have been a heat pump, but I never needed to find out. Taiwan has a central mountain range with peaks higher than 4,000 m. It certainly snows in the mountains. Most people, however, live in the coastal plain to the west of the mountains. The weather on the plain is strongly influenced by the Taiwan Straits. Typical temperature ranges are 20 – 30 C with humidity. The infrastructure is totally unprepared for snow.
People own coats and hats. I remember seeing many people donning their coats and hats when the morning temperature dropped below 20 C. I visited many friends at their homes. Some had window air conditioners in one room and used fans for staying cool in the rest of the house. The window AC was the only “climate control” that the houses had.
I’ve been seeing friends from Taipei posting pictures of their kids playing in the snow.
…No Human should ever die from lack of heat/warmth !! It is just unacceptable.. from the wino’s on the street to the elderly with no one to care for them !! COLD KILLS !!
Not to be a hater but the visual is of a place in China within the Humid Continental Climate Zone.
I would guess that even the uneducated and primitive peoples of the world have trouble with the concept of increased warming causing an increase in freezing conditions. All cultures will have trouble with heat causing cold since they are opposite and usually mutually exclusive. It takes a real salesman to sell ice to the Eskimos… at double the world price. GK
There is a reason that 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the American border !,,,,,IT’S $#%*&^ COLD !!
What benefits do Humans get from cold ?? Ice cubes ?
What benefits do Humans get from warmth ? LIFE…
P.S…My opinion may be biased because I am a Canadian/American living in an igloo !!
It’s global warming, Jim, but not as we know it!
The reported 85 deaths in Taiwan probably refers to deaths caused by extreme cold weather.
Far greater mortality is associated with moderate cold weather – given its population and location, I would estimate the average Excess Winter Deaths in Taiwan as about 5000 to 10,000 per year – similar to Canada. Excess Winter Deaths total about 100.000 per year in the USA and up to 50,000 in the UK.
See The Lancet study for details:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)62114-0/abstract
or our paper below:
Cold Weather Kills 20 Times as Many People as Hot Weather
September 4, 2015
By Joseph D’Aleo and Allan MacRae
https://friendsofsciencecalgary.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/cold-weather-kills-macrae-daleo-4sept2015-final.pdf
[excerpts]
Cold weather kills. Throughout history and in modern times, many more people succumb to cold exposure than to hot weather, as evidenced in a wide range of cold and warm climates.
Evidence is provided from a study of 74 million deaths in thirteen cold and warm countries including Thailand and Brazil, and studies of the United Kingdom, Europe, the USA, Australia and Canada.
Contrary to popular belief, Earth is colder-than-optimum for human survival. A warmer world, such as was experienced during the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period, is expected to lower winter deaths and a colder world like the Little Ice Age will increase winter mortality, absent adaptive measures. These conclusions have been known for many decades, based on national mortality statistics.
…
Canada has lower Excess Winter Mortality Rates than the USA (~100,000 Excess Winter Deaths per year) and much lower than the UK (up to ~50,000 Excess Winter Deaths per year). This is attributed to our better adaptation to cold weather, including better home insulation and home heating systems, and much lower energy costs than the UK, as a result of low-cost natural gas due to shale fracking and our lower implementation of inefficient and costly green energy schemes.
…
When misinformed politicians fool with energy systems, innocent people suffer and die.
****************
Hello Moderator – my above post needs a period (.) after Canada in paragraph 2..
Thank you, Allan
[yes and I need a million dollars -mod]
Thank you Mod – the cheque is in the mail.
+ 10….But Allan, You must realize, Liberal voters only want to feel good TODAY !! Their Grandchildren are not on the agenda !
Off topic and irrelevant to thread. Not the first time you’ve spammed threads.
If it was this cold in the subtropics, imagine how bad North Korea was.
Have no fear. After proper adjustment, the cold temperatures won’t be records—it’s too warm for that—and those who died will be found to have died for unrelated reasons.
Did some research using Google Earth and Weather Underground’s website (www.wunderground.com/history). Taipei (according to my measurements) is roughly 110 miles north of the line of latitude where the tropics begin on the map (Tropic of Cancer). And it got down to about 39 or 40 degrees there one night recently (and 42 the next night).
WUWT readers and Florida residents may remember the unusual and prolonged cold snap which that state experienced back in January of 2010. The cold made it all the way down to the Florida Keys and the city of Marathon, FL. Marathon (according to my measurements on Google Earth) is only about 90 miles from the Tropic of Cancer (slightly closer than is Taipei) and at a slightly lower altitude above sea level than Taipei. According to Weather Underground’s history database, the temp in Marathon got down to 41 degrees F on the night of January 10th, 2010, and 39 degrees F on the night of January 11th. Miami got down to 38 degrees on the 9th, 35 on the 10th, and 36 on the 11th. I seem to recall watching a video on Youtube showing how coconut palm trees in Marathon (and likey in Miami too) were damaged or killed by the cold. Maybe they shouldn’t be growing coconut palms in South Florida???
Anyway, from what I can see here, having cities so close to the edge of the tropics (even when they are near seal level) experience this kind of cold is not necessarily unprecedented (there’s that word “unprecedented” again). And any climate alarmist who expects me to believe that the rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere have anything to do with it…..well, they can forget it.
“Record low temperatures have wreaked havoc in several Asia countries, with 85 people reported dead in Taiwan and tens of thousands stranded at airports because of the unprecedented cold snap”
I cringe at the language. A cut and paste from an warmest article. One need change only 2 words
Noticed the N. polar vortex is looking like it’s morphing into a double vortex. Currently strong cold one over Europe/Asia and new one fr N. Pacific ocean is warmer. Must say that here in snowy, +2.3C, eastern Ontario, I’m appreciating the break – last few winters have been brutal.
http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/10hPa/overlay=temp/orthographic=-85.53,54.34,371
Nothing says warming like cooling.
At the end of the southern hemisphere summer ‘Climate Reanalyzer’ tells us that Antarctica has a – 0,51 ºC anomaly.
http://cci-reanalyzer.org/DailySummary/
CO2 does a very bad job down there.
Snow in Kuwait http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/snow-falls-kuwait-first-time-ever-1565913282
Freezing is the new burning up.
Over the last couple of years I remember “unprcedentred” stories of cold and snow not only in North America where ice was still on Lake Superior in July, but also all across Europe with snow in the mediterranean, snow in the middle east, Isreal, and north Africa. To blizzards across China and various points in Asia causing many disruptions. Cold snaps in South America killing llamas in the Andes, and even a bit of weather in Austrailia. What I do not remember reading in thr last couple of years were any unusual or long standing heat waves anywhere. A few cities had a few hot days in the US but 90 much less 100 degree days in the US in particular are way down in frequency. As far as my local Nevada, last years winter was warm, this years winter is average, and last two summers were way mild. So where was it so unbelievably hot that the last two years were thr hottest evah?
NOAA, HadCrut, GISS, BEST and the rest must be working overtime with that much territory to get corrected.
But they promised we were going to fry!
http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Environment/Freezing-temperatures-kill-man-burst-water-pipes-around-the-country-443194?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter