Earth ChangesS


Igloo

December set to be coldest in UK since 1890!

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© Mandi AndersonTaken at Danby, North Yorkshire
As the icy weather set to continue, the UK could be heading for its coldest December since 1890, forecasters said.

Temperatures were expected to remain below freezing on Boxing Day with spells of rain, sleet and snow in northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of west Wales and far west England, spreading eastwards overnight.

But they added that temperatures could rise as high as 10C (50F) by the middle of next week as a new weather system moves in from the Atlantic.

Those braving the bleak mid-winter to get away for Christmas yesterday faced reduced rail services, icy roads and continuing cancellations and delays to flights.

A number of train companies ran amended timetables, with some services axed on the main London to Scotland routes up the east and west coast.

The RMT transport union said it was "scandalous" that train companies could bring in "special" timetables and avoid financial penalties.

Igloo

Paris airport terminal evacuated due to 3 feet of snow on roof

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© ReutersAir France planes parked on the snow-covered tarmac at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
Firefighters called in to clear snow at Charles de Gaulle airport as freezing conditions continue to wreak havoc

Passengers at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris were evacuated from one of its terminals today amid fears for their safety because of an accumulation of snow on the roof.

Bernard Cathelain, the deputy director of the Paris airport authority ADP, said the terminal was still operating but passengers had been asked to move.

Le Monde reported that about 60cm of snow had built up on the roof of the terminal and about 2,000 people had been evacuated. Firefighters have been sent in to clear the snow.

The problem added to the woes at Charles de Gaulle, where freezing conditions and a strike at the main French factory producing de-icing fluid forced the cancellation of half - about 400 - of the flights scheduled for this morning. A supply of de-icing fluid (glycol) has been flown in from the US but many passengers already face missing Christmas dinner, which is traditionally served tonight in France.

Igloo

Best of the Web: Canary in the Gulf Stream: Ireland's coldest winter in 130 years

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Polar bear on O'Connell Street, Dublin - This has officially been the coldest December on record
This has been the coldest start to winter for the last 130 years, when records began. According to Met Eireann, Ireland's meteorological service, December has officially been the coldest month ever on record.

Last Monday County Mayo recorded low temperatures of -17.2C (1F).

The latest snap is expected to last beyond Christmas Day and a thaw is expected to set in slowly on St.Stephen's Day December 26th.

Even then there will be heavy rains and high winds, and driving conditions will be even more risky say the experts.

Dublin Airport was closed again yesterday for most of the day when an unexpected snow storm hit.

The weather continued to play havoc with effort to get home for Christmas by thousands coming from America, Australia and many other destinations.

In New York and Boston and Chicago Aer Lingus were warning passengers to check with the airline before departing for the airport as yesterday's unexpected storm had again thrown schedules up in the air.

Cloud Lightning

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" says astrophysicist

Piers Corbyn ice age
© UnknownPiers Corbyn
Biggest blizzard in decades for Northeast USA 25-31 Dec. Much more severe than standard meteorology will predict

Astrophysicist Piers Corbyn issued this warning 10 days ago.

"The midwest has already had tremendous snow deluges around 10-12 December, said Piers Corbyn, astrophysicist of WeatherAction long range weather & climate forecaster.

"But you ain't seen nothing yet compared with what is going to hit NE USA including New York State in the period 25-31st December."

"Very Major snow and blizzard events will strike NE & E USA in a double hit centered around 25-27th & 29-30th Dec.

"This is likely to be one of the most significant snowfall/blizzard periods in NE & East USA for decades". (See here)

WeatherAction forecasted weeks ahead that there will be many dangerous weather events around the world in the period 25-31 Dec and specified a triple whammy of extreme events for Britain/Northwestern Europe, Northeastern /Eastern USA and South/East Queensland Australia.

"There will be many dangerous weather events around the world in this period", said Piers. "Snow/blizzards/rain (where appropriate) and winds will be much more severe than standard meteorology will predict from 2 days ahead in these periods".

Attention

New Zealand Rocked by 4.9 Magnitude Quakes

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© Simon Baker/New Zealand Herald/Associated PressSafety fences are erected around fallen bricks on Madras Street in central Christchurch, New Zealand, on Sunday, after a series of aftershocks.
Masonry and glass rained down near post-Christmas shoppers as a magnitude 4.9 earthquake rocked Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island on Sunday.

No one was injured, but at least 20 buildings in the city's center were damaged by the quake, which scientists said was the latest of hundreds of aftershocks since a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch on Sept. 4. That quake caused extensive damage and a handful of injuries, but no deaths.

Sunday's earthquake also came a few hours after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck under the sea near Vanuatu. There were no reports of damage or injuries from that quake, though it generated a small tsunami wave.

New Zealand and Vanuatu are situated on the Pacific "ring of fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile in South America through Alaska and down through the South Pacific.

Snowman

Canada: Vancouver Island Resort Gets Record Snowfall

snow
© unknown
While the usual warm, rainy weather has coated much of Canada's West Coast over Christmas, one Vancouver Island ski resort is practically snowed-in.

Mount Washington has been pummelled with three metres of fresh snow in the past three days, burying lodges, cars and even ski lifts.

A spokesman for Mount Washington Alpine is boasting a mid-mountain snow base of more than five metres, currently the deepest among ski resorts worldwide.

Brent Curtain says in the past month and a half the resort has already gone halfway toward breaking its all-time record of 18.5 metres of snow -- which took five months to build up in the winter of 1998-1999.

Snowflake Cold

Ice Age: Snow storm bears down on Mid-Atlantic, Northeast

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© AP Photo/Chattanooga Times Free Press, Jake DanielsJoe Gallegos smashes a block of snow onto friend Mike Covert, right, while Gavin Gallegos, 6, left, and Elizabeth Reed look on at White Oak Park in Chattanooga, Tenn., Saturday, Dec. 25, 2010.
Washington - A band of frigid weather snaking its way up the East Coast on Sunday threatened to bring blizzards and a foot of snow to New York City and New England, while several states made emergency declarations as the storm caused crashes on slick roads.

Airlines grounded hundreds of flights Sunday along the Northeast corridor in anticipation of the storm, affecting major airports including New York's JFK and Newark. Airlines said more cancellations were likely as the storm progressed. Travel misery began a day earlier in parts of the South, where a rare white Christmas came with reports of dozens of car crashes.

In Washington transportation officials pretreated roads and readied 200 salt trucks, plows and other pieces of equipment to fight the 6 inches or more expected to fall in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The Northeast is expected to get the brunt of the storm. Forecasters issued a blizzard warning for New York City for Sunday and Monday, with a forecast of 11 to 16 inches of snow and strong winds that will reduce visibility to near zero at times. A blizzard warning was also in effect for Rhode Island and most of eastern Massachusetts including Boston, with forecasters predicting 15 to 20 inches of snow. A blizzard warning is issued when snow is accompanied by sustained winds or gusts over 35 mph.

As much as 18 inches could fall on the New Jersey shore with wind gusts over 40 mph.

Info

Young Female Chimpanzees Make and Play with "Dolls"

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© Robert WeinkoveChimpanzee eating figs in Kibale National Park
Richard Wrangham of Harvard University and Sonya Kahlenberg of Bates College in Maine published research in the December 21, 2010, issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication that demonstrates the first evidence that chimpanzee youngsters in the wild may tend to play differently depending on their sex.

The research was reviewed at EurekaAlert and a draft of the research paper can be downloaded from this site.

The basic findings are:
  • Female chimpanzees play with sticks in a manner resembling a mother chimpanzee caring for an infant.
  • A biological (evolutionary) predisposition to play with dolls in a manner imitating mothers caring for infants is proposed as superlative to sex-stereotyped socialization roles in female humans.
  • The same type of behavior has been observed in the captivity in the wild with chimps but this is the first observation of this type of behavior involving "toys" created by the chimpanzees themselves.
  • Young female chimpanzees were observed playing with and carrying sticks more often. This play included taking the sticks into their day nests and demonstrated behavior similar to mothers caring for young chimps.
The researchers argue that this may be a single chimpanzee group learned behavior because this is the first known observation of that behavior but argue that it may be indicative of an evolutionary trait and a behavior that has been carried over from apes to humans.

Bizarro Earth

US: Major Winter Storm Barrels Up East Coast

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© Margaret Hester/The Asheville Citizen-TimesAn overturned SUV lies in a snowy ditch along I-40 East in North Carolina at mile marker 48 on Saturday, Dec. 25, 2010. Much of North Carolina was under a winter storm warning.
A winter storm that brought a rare white Christmas to parts of the South was barreling up the East Coast early Sunday, with forecasters predicting 6 to 10 inches of snow for Washington and blizzard conditions for New York City and New England.

Airlines canceled hundreds of Sunday flights in the Northeast corridor, with more likely to come as the storm intensifies.

Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina declared states of emergency early Sunday or Saturday night. As North Carolina road crews tried to clear snowy and icy highways, Mid-Atlantic officials spent Christmas Day preparing for up to a foot of snow, plunging temperatures and high winds.

"Our concern is tomorrow it's going to get significantly colder," Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell told The Weather Channel on Saturday evening. "Winds with gusts up to 45 miles per hour will cause blowing snow and that's going to cause the worst of it ... and we're urging extreme caution in travel. Try to get home early and if you don't have to travel don't go."

Continental Airlines canceled 250 Sunday departures from Newark Liberty International Airport outside New York City. United Airlines announced late Saturday that it had canceled dozens of Sunday departures from Newark, Philadelphia, New York's LaGuardia and JFK, Boston and other airports. AirTran also canceled flights, as did Southwest Airlines, mostly in or out of Washington Dulles, Baltimore and Newark.

Arrow Down

Russia: Over 6,000 Travelers Stranded at Moscow Airport as Power Cut Delays Flights

More than 6,000 passengers were left stranded at Moscow's Domodedovo airport on Sunday after a heavy overnight snowfall caused cancellations, Russia's Aviation Committee (Rosaviatsia) said.

Some 70 flights were cancelled at Domodedovo airport, Russia's busiest, after two electricity substations were knocked out.

The power cut affected about 100,000 people in the region, the Moscow United Electric Grid Company said.

A spokesman for Rosaviatsia said power has not been fully restored yet but that the airport is "partially operational."

There is no rail service between central Moscow and the airport.