Earth ChangesS


Igloo

UK: Snow Storms Could Put 1,000 Firms Out of Business

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© PAA woman clears the snow from her driveway in Rowley in County Durham as the winter weather returns to the UK with snow, ice and strong winds sweeping into the east coast
Almost 1,000 businesses could go bust if the final weekend of Christmas shopping is badly disrupted by snow and ice.

Experts have warned that Britain could be shivering in temperatures colder than Siberia over the next few days.

Customers relying on home deliveries face an anxious wait, with hauliers warning that thousands of items could still be stuck in warehouses on Christmas morning.

Temperatures are expected to drop to -15C (5F) in the coming days, leaving Britain colder than the North Pole, the Arctic and Alaska.

It is feared that shops which have already been severely hit by freezing conditions in January and November will not be able to cope with a third spell of bad weather. Yesterday Amazon became the latest retailer to bring forward its final order deadline for guaranteed Christmas delivery while the shopping channels QVC and Ideal World said they could not guarantee that orders placed now would arrive in time for Christmas.

Douglas McWilliams, the chief executive of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said: "As many as 800 or 900 businesses could go bankrupt which otherwise wouldn't have, because this is the straw that breaks the camel's back."

Igloo

US: West Coast Drenching and 12 Feet of Snow

West Weather Setup December 20 2010
© weather.com
The weekend kicked off a very stormy period for the West Coast that will extend into Wednesday.

Up to 12 feet of snow has fallen in the Sierra, over 18 inches of rain in some locations, and winds well over 100 mph in the high country.

If you've planned that holiday ski trip to one of the resorts in the Sierra Nevada, rest assured there will be plenty of fresh powder. The biggest challenge may be traveling there.

Below is the stormy setup in place since this past weekend.

Low pressure in the northern Pacific Ocean is helping to direct a fire hose of moisture and jet stream energy into the West Coast.

Snowman

Snow disrupts travel across northern Europe

Snow Cambrai France
© ReutersThe UK, France and Germany were badly hit, with forecasters warning of freezing weather all week
Thousands of flights and train services have been cancelled across Europe because of snow and ice, leaving many travellers stranded.

Main European airports and travel disruption
  • UK: British Airways cancels all short-haul departures. Heathrow, Gatwick, Cardiff, Edinburgh and other airports suffering disruption or knock-on effects
  • France: Authorities ask airlines to cut 30% of flights from Paris's two main airports Charles de Gaulle and Orly to ease congestion
  • Belgium: All departures from Brussels airport cancelled until Wednesday morning due to a lack of de-icing liquid
  • Germany: Some 300 of 1,340 flights cancelled at Frankfurt because of problems elsewhere in Europe, airport operator Fraport says
  • Netherlands: The schedule at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam is suffering cancellations and delays

Igloo

Record low temperatures hit Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland snow
© Rebekah HallFurther overnight snow continues to cause disruption across Northern Ireland.
Temperatures in Northern Ireland plummeted to their lowest on record with -18C recorded at Castlederg, Co Tyrone last night.

A further 10 to 15cms of snow fell in some areas and the freezing conditions have made roads hazardous.

Bizarro Earth

California Mountains Face Crushing Snowfall

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© Accuweather.com
A stormy weather pattern has settled in over the West, and California will endure the harshest conditions well into this week. While rain drenches much of the state, heavy snow will continue to pile up in the mountains.

Snowfall totals in parts of the Sierra Nevada reached 2-5 feet at many locations through Sunday afternoon.

Another 1 to 3 feet of snow can be expected in these areas through Monday night.

This means that storm totals will reach as much as 6 to 8 feet of snow, with locally higher amounts in some of the peaks above 6,000 feet.

On top of Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort, at an elevation of around 11,000 feet, 9 feet of snow were measured Sunday morning!

At the base of Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort, at an elevation of around 8,000 feet, 6.5 feet of snow were measured. The all-time yearly snowfall record at the base is 139 inches, and the snowfall through Sunday morning brought the snowfall to 107 inches for this year so far.

Bizarro Earth

Some houses destroyed but no casualties reported after yesterday's Ethiopian Magnitude 5.3 earthquake

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With thanks to a number Ethiopian readers of Earthquake-Report.com we are able to develop a view on what happened exactly during yesterdays earthquake in Ethiopia. We truly thank our readers for their involvement.

The Ethiopian Addis Abeba university published a report that the earthquake occurred in and around Hossana and had a Magnitude of 5.3. It happened at 3:15 local time.

Following ENA (Ethiopian News Agency) the earthquake lasted 19 seconds and was felt very well in the greater Hossana area.

Some traditional old earthen houses were demolished as a result of the earthquake
Some houses erected with modern materials were left with cracks in the walls.
No people were killed and it is uncertain if people have been injured.

Here are a few of the reports from our readers (they can also be read below our main article published shortly after the earthquake)

Bizarro Earth

Very heavy earthquake in Southern Iran

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© RSOE EDIS
A very heavy earthquake just happened in Southern Iran.

At 22:11 (10:11 PM) a very powerful and shallow earthquake occurred in the Iranian desert close to Road 93. Some smaller villages are located at a distance of 10 to 20 km from the epicenter.

These villages are: Kaskuh, Darundeh, Dulab, Nemetabad, Sangabad and Bagerabad.

Due to the kind of fault lines Iran earthquakes and the building methods exceeding M 6 are extremely dangerous. It will take a little before the Iranian press will publish more details on this earthquake (our experience based on many prior earthquakes).

The epicenter location has an error margin of 14.6 km.

USGS has calculated that about 735 people will endure a MMI VIII (Severe shaking). 19,000 people a VII, very strong shaking.

The city of Bam, destructed almost completely in another earthquake in a recent history, will get a V MMI shaking today.

Bizarro Earth

SouthEastern Iran - Earthquake Magnitude 6.5

Iran Quake_211210
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 18:41:59 UTC

Monday, December 20, 2010 at 10:11:59 PM at epicenter

Location:
28.439°N, 59.098°E

Depth:
12.4 km (7.7 miles) set by location program

Region:
SOUTHEASTERN IRAN

Distances:
213 km (133 miles) SW (236°) from Zahedan, Iran

283 km (176 miles) SE (136°) from Kerman, Iran

310 km (193 miles) ENE (63°) from Bandar-e Abbas, Iran

538 km (334 miles) N (5°) from MUSCAT, Oman

Igloo

Planes grounded, thousands of festive holidays ruined, drivers stranded for hours as another foot of snow falls on Britain

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© PAShovelling snow while it's still snowing: Workers at Heathrow try to clear the snow after all flights at the airport were grounded over the weekend
  • Up to eight more inches of snow to fall today
  • Severe delays on London Underground during rush hour
  • Man dies after falling through ice on fishing lake
  • BA cancels 70 of 130 departures and 89 of 133 arrivals this morning
  • Eurostar urging passengers not to travel unless absolutely necessary
  • Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports open but expecting delays
  • Furious AA said thousands of ungritted roads resemble 'ski jumps'
  • Key train services suspended as workers try to shift snow from tracks
Millions of Christmas travellers face further chaos today with an extra eight inches of snow expected to fall.

Much of the transport network is still paralysed - threatening to ruin the festive period for millions of families.

Temperatures plunged again overnight, with a UK low of -19.6c, recorded in Chesham, Buckinghamshire.

A record low for Northern Ireland was seen in Castlederg, County Tyrone, where the mercury plunged to -17.6c.

Cloud Lightning

US: Pre-winter storm dumps 7 inches of rain in California, 12 feet of snow in mountains

A wet pre-winter storm dumped as much as 7 inches of rain on parts of Southern California over the weekend, with several more inches expected to fall in the days leading up to Christmas.

Rainfall that began Saturday morning continued relentlessly throughout the day Sunday. It wasn't expected to let up until sometime Monday, then resume again on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service. After a brief break at the end of the week, more rain was likely to arrive on Christmas Day, Seto said.

A flash-flood warning was in effect for parts of Southern California, particularly mountain areas burned in recent years by wildfires.