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© UnknownA man walks past an ice covered car on the frozen waterside promenade at Lake Geneva in Versoix, near Geneva, Switzerland, early Feb. 5. The death toll from the vicious cold snap across Europe has risen to more than 260, with the winter misery set to hit thousands of those seeking to escape it as air traffic was hit.
How cold is the Winter of 2010-2011 in Great Britain and Ireland? Well, it has been "referred to as The Big Freeze by national media. In the UK it was the coldest December ever, since Met Office records began in 1910, with a mean temperature of -1°C. It broke the previous record of 0.1°C in December 1981."

And it obviously broke records for cold set before the "Met Office records began in 1910" as indicated in this souvenir:
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© Unknown

Or this bookplate made in 1740:
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© Unknown
These are from the traditional River Thames frost fairs which were "on the Tideway of the River Thames at London between the 15th and 19th centuries, during the period known as the Little Ice Age."

A large collection of these items and other paintings from this pre-Global Warming era can be seen at this LiveJournal Page. It is both chilling and illuminating.

Europeans might want to think twice about turning over a large section of their power needs to wind and solar power. It might get kind of cold outside and time for more Frost Fairs!

In the meantime, the cold in Europe is alarming. How alarming? It seems that Global Warming has been quietly cancelled in the UK. Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about (and if NASA scientists are right, the Thames will be freezing over again) Met Office releases new figures which show no warming in 15 years.
The supposed 'consensus' on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years. The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century. Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.
Oops, I guess this is a case for "Mistaeks wur maid."