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The irony, it burns. Do you think maybe Gaia is trying to send the U.N. and the delegates a message? One record low was funny, three in a row was hilarious, a new record low for the month of December was ROFL, but now six straight days of record lows during the U.N. COP16 Global Warming conference? That's galactically inconvenient. The whole month so far has averaged below normal:
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© Press Association
With 1879 being the coldest opening week on CET record, this week has been the second coldest opening week to December since CET records began in 1659.
Those records are for a one-week period.
When you look at the two-week period, says Bastardi, the last week of November and the first week of December, it's the coldest since CET records began in 1659.
This puts central England back to the temperatures of the Little Ice Age.
And there's more to come, Bastardi warns.
"Preparation for renewal of extreme cold from France to Scandinavia and west through the UK should be made."
See entire article
© Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesA man attempts to clear snow around cars in Dunning, Scotland, in late November 2010
But you couldn't be more wrong.
"It's all actually a sign that man made global warming is very much a live issue and that there's more of it happening than ever," says a top scientist, who holds the British record for securing grant-funding for global warming research projects so he must know what he's talking about.
© Agence France-PresseFishing boats were damaged in Lebanon as the storm smashed into the country's coastline, killing one person
An enormous storm has battered the eastern Mediterranean over the weekend, causing destruction in several countries and bringing to a dramatic end months of drought.
Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt were all hit by severe weather, with lashing rain, hail, snow and standstorms wreaking havoc across the region.
In Lebanon, 10 metre waves smashed into the coastline as wind speeds topped 100 kilometres an hour on Saturday. A woman was killed when her car was crushed in the northern city of Tripoli, and four small planes were flipped over at Beirut's airport.
By Sunday, the rain had turned to snow in the country's mountains, leaving drivers stranded on frozen roads. Meanwhile coastal roads were closed as fishing boats were smashed to pieces by enormous waves.
In Israel, a Moldovan freighter sank in the storm off the coast of Ashdod after its 11 crew members were rescued, and a Russian tourist was feared dead after being swept into the sea.
The Metrodome, home to the Minneapolis Vikings, is known for being able to handle massive amounts of snow. However, this weekend's blizzard in the Midwest may actually be too much even for the Metrodome! According to KARE-TV and ESPN, the roof of the Metrodome has collapsed due to heavy snow and winds.
The collapsed reportedly happened around 5 a.m. Sunday morning. The teflon roof is an inflatable roof which covers the Mall of America field during inclement weather.
The collapsed reportedly happened around 5 a.m. Sunday morning. The teflon roof is an inflatable roof which covers the Mall of America field during inclement weather.
© (twitpic: BTBarandBrewery)Metrodome roof after it collapsed
Unusually cold weather last winter killed Florida's endangered manatees at a record rate, a report said on Friday.
During 2010, a record 699 manatees have died in Florida, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Research Institute.
Of those, 244 were attributed to cold weather and many of the 271 undetermined deaths were also likely caused by weather. In most years, the leading cause of manatee deaths is from collisions with power boats.
The latest surveys estimate there are only about 5,000 of the chubby marine mammals left in Florida waters.
"We are very concerned about the unusually high number of manatee deaths this year," Gil McRae, the director of the institute, said in a statement. "The cold-related deaths this past winter emphasize the importance of warm weather habitat to the Florida manatee."
The previous record of 429 manatee deaths was set in 2009 but only 56 of those were caused by cold weather.
During 2010, a record 699 manatees have died in Florida, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Research Institute.
Of those, 244 were attributed to cold weather and many of the 271 undetermined deaths were also likely caused by weather. In most years, the leading cause of manatee deaths is from collisions with power boats.
The latest surveys estimate there are only about 5,000 of the chubby marine mammals left in Florida waters.
"We are very concerned about the unusually high number of manatee deaths this year," Gil McRae, the director of the institute, said in a statement. "The cold-related deaths this past winter emphasize the importance of warm weather habitat to the Florida manatee."
The previous record of 429 manatee deaths was set in 2009 but only 56 of those were caused by cold weather.
© Reuters/International Center of Insect Physiology and EcologyMormotomyia hirsuta. Scientists in Kenya have located one of the world's rarest and oddest-looking flies after a long hunt for an insect dubbed the "terrible hairy fly," experts said on Wednesday.
Scientists first stumbled across the yellow-haired fly in 1933 and then again in 1948. Since then, at least half a dozen expeditions have visited a site between the towns of Thika and Garissa to find it again.
At about one centimeter long and so far found on a single 20-meter high rock, the Mormotomyia hirsuta looks more like a spider with its hairy legs, scientists said.
Unable to fly and partial to breeding in bat feces, the fly is thought to live only in the dank, bat-filled cleft of an isolated rock in the Ukazi Hills. It also has non-functional wings that resemble miniature belt-straps, and tiny eyes.
Dr Robert Copeland of the Nairobi-based International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology said the fly's physical appearance had left scientists bamboozled about where exactly it belonged in the entire order of Diptera, or "true flies."
© unkExperts predict a dramatic increase in cold-related fatalities
Experts predict a dramatic increase in cold-related fatalities as we suffer the bitterest winter in a century, causing 12 deaths every hour.
Britons face spiralling energy bills while the death toll this winter could reach 35,000.
There are also fears some mail may not reach its destination by Christmas Day because of the freeze.
Forecasters said temperatures could plummet to record lows in the run-up to Christmas, putting tens of thousands of vulnerable people at risk.
Charities warned of pensioners suffering "Dickensian" conditions, resorting to riding on buses or huddling in shopping centres just to keep warm.
Millions of Britons are being forced to turn down their thermostats as gas and electricity prices spiral.
© ReutersA Greenpeace activist demonstrating in front of Parliament Hill several years ago to call on Canada's government to meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. It's also recently emerged that the Canadian government may also withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol
"Russia will not participate in the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol," he told the UN climate change conference in Cancun.
The Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement restricting carbon emissions that expires in 2012. A new global climate deal is needed to continue efforts beyond 2012.
Bedritsky - president of the World Meteorological Organization and adviser to the Russian president - said there had been "no basic changes in the negotiating process."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev previously said the country would pull out of the Kyoto agreement if a compromise could not be found concerning the reduction of carbon emissions.
© Reuters/Amr Abdallah DalshCairo was hidden in fog during cold weather on Saturday
In the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, a 41-year-old Russian tourist was blown off the promenade into the sea and was missing and feared dead, public radio reported.
Police were unable to search for the missing man because of the stormy seas, it reported.
The winds knocked down power lines and trees, causing power cuts across Israel, said the state-run Electricity Company. The Parks Authority shut several nature reserves in the southern Negev desert because of the possibility of flash floods.
