As the North Atlantic Current of the Gulf Stream Slows Down, the Freeze Could  Become ‘Permanent’link

Third Wave of Arctic Blast Continues to Bring Snow and Cold to Much of Europe

London’s Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest hub for air passengers, has canceled all arrivals, with only a handful of departures, as temperatures plunged to -5.2C overnight. This winter could turn out to be the coldest on record (since 1910).

Fresh snow has brought much of Britain to a standstill. Traffic queues in the snow on the A3 near Guildford, in southern England December 18, 2010.  Reuters/Luke MacGregor. Image may be subject to copyright.

The Temp lows in Britain:

Loch Glascarnoch (Scotland) : -17.2C
Norwich (England) : -14.4C
Tredegar (Wales) : -10.2C
“For the first 15 days of this month, the average has been -0.7C. So far this month there have been five nights in Edinburgh when the mercury dropped below -10C, once hitting -16C. On December 7, the maximum temperature reached in the daytime there was -8C,” a report said.
“In Manchester and London, 11 out of 16 nights were below freezing, the coldest in Manchester -12C and in London -5C.”
Rest of Europe
In Paris, Charles de Gaulle’s air traffic was cut by about 50 percent as heavy snow blanketed the French capital. At Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport there were many cancellations and long delays.
At Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, nearly half of the planned total of 1,350 flights, departures and arrivals, were canceled Sunday.
Heavy snowfall covered much of Scandinavia, where temperatures dipped to -22ºC (-8ºF).
Heavy snow and ice storms affected as far south as Italy. Tuscany was blanketed in several inches of snow, forcing the closure of Florence’s airport on Sunday.

Heating Oil Shortage

Up to 3 million homes, schools and hospitals face fuel rationing this winter, as the UK  government warns of ‘very serious’ shortage of heating oil during the cold snaps.
The price of heating oil in the UK has skyrocketed by 63% since June, to  71 pence [USD1.10] per liter today.

Related Links:

• Arctic Blast Hits Britain Again
• Transitory Impact of AO is the ‘Good News’
• United Kingdom of Ice

• Europe Freezes Over 3 Weeks Early
• When Disasters Strike
• 100MPH Winds Batter Britain

• NEW Snowstorm to Hit Upper Midwest
• Michigan: A 2010 Disaster Area
• Wisconsin Wind Chill Temps to Drop to -33ºC
• Your World Under Siege
• Megadisasters Loom

• Winter Officially Starts Today!

• 2010 Disasters
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) March 2008
• 2010: The Year of Disasters
• Earth’s Human Induced Antiphase Nears Completion

• FEWW DISASTER FORECAST 2011
• Earth: Wounded and Feverish
• 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010

 

Now that really IS the wrong type of snow on the line! It's not just in Britain where the weather is bringing travel chaos

By Daily Mail Reporterlink
Last updated at 1:27 AM on 7th January 2010

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As Britain struggles to cope with a few inches of snow, spare a thought for the travellers who were trapped on this train in Mongolia.
Snow drifts several metres deep meant an army of rescue workers had to be sent out to free the passengers from their carriages.
Heavy snow and unusually harsh winter weather snarled up transport across India, northern China and South Korea.

Wrong type of snow: Police prepare to shovel away snow that left a train stranded in Shangdu, Inner Mongolia

Getting back on the tracks: Rescue workers dig away underneath the stricken Mongolian train

Major roads in Beijing and Tianjin, as well as nearby provinces Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, were forced to close due to the heavy snow.
The snow shows no sign of stopping, however, and temperatures are expected to drop to -16C in Beijing today, causing more problems for those attempting to return to work after a three-day New Year holiday.

Clearing the way: A man uses a snowplough to clean the road at Seoul plaza downtown in the South Korean capital

Beijing began the working week after a blast of harsh cold and heavy snow blanketed the capital and surrounding cities over the weekend, paralysing highways and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.
As the cold snap moved east, swathes of the Korean peninsula were also hit by heavy snow choking up the rush-hour commute in Seoul, where the main domestic airport, Gimpo, cancelled all domestic flights.

INDIA

In the northern Indian plains, close to 100 people died in the cold wave keeping its grip with rain and snow in the mountainous regions, drastically bringing down temperatures.
The victims were mostly poor people forced to live rough, sleeping on the streets or in many cases out in the open with little or no covering.
The majority of the victims, about 72, were from the poorest and relatively underdeveloped Uttar Pradesh province, north of the federal capital, New Delhi, where state help was limited.

UNITED STATES

Freezing weather have gripped large parts of the U.S. with no relief in sight for the rest of the week.
The US experienced its coldest winter in nine years in December as snow storms swept across the country, said private weather forecaster Planalytics.
'Following the warmest November since 2001, the month of December 2009 ended the coldest since 2000,' a Planalytics analyst said.
The wind chill took the temperatures in Minneapolis, Minnesota, down to -17C.

F-f-fetch! A dog-walker wraps up warm in Minneapolis, where temperatures have plunged to -17C

While the upper Midwest is used to frigid weather, the sunshine state Florida is also suffering freezing temperatures.

The Panhandle and much of northern Florida is under a hard freeze warning, the National Weather Service says. The warning extended almost down to Tampa along the Gulf Coast.
Florida officials have been urging residents, visitors and farmers to prepare for temperatures near or below the freezing mark this week.
Along with the dangerously cold temperatures, residents in Montana are braced for blizzard conditions with snowfall of 12 to 20 inches possible across parts of the state.

 

More...

• 'Briton pulled alive' from snow after avalanche kills four in the Swiss Alps

In Chicago, residents bundled up on another bitterly cold day.Despite the dangerous cold, some people ventured out - especially parishioners at Holy Name Cathedral.
'It's God first. Even though weather is terrible, we've still got to go to church,' Alez Alverez told CNN.
In the Northeast, the Weather Service warned that a large storm off the New England coast would continue to bring heavy snow to much of central New York state.

RUSSIA

A country much more used to dealing with high levels of snow, Russia saw temperature lows of a chilling -20C in Moscow today.
Those travelling on trains at stations near the Russian city of Vorkuta, attempted to continue their journeys despite the freezing conditions.

A worker tries to clear the train tracks while a man, unaware of the train approaching him, attempts to cross

Workers also tried to sweep snow from the train tracks, but found it was falling too fast to clear.
However, two men making the most of the snow were Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who decided to take to the slopes in Krasnaya Polyana near the Black Sea resort of Sochi in southern Russia.
The duo donned heavy jackets and goggles as they skiied together, with Putin looking serious as the pair indulged in some seemingly serious political conversations.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (right) and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on their skiing trip

The pair relax on a snowmobile after exerting themselves skiing

GERMANY

The snow caused more problems with flights in Germany, with one jet veering off the runway at Dortmund airport in western Germany.
The Air Berlin Boeing 737-800 braked to abort the take-off due to a 'technical  irregularity', but none of the 165 passengers and six crew members were injured.

All passengers and crew were left unharmed after the Air Berlin plane aborted its take-off

The plane was not damaged but flights from the airport were cancelled or diverted for a large part of the day.
Airline spokeswoman Diane Daedelow said: 'A combination of the snowy weather and the speed the plane was travelling at forced the plane to skid off the runway.'
Over 30 flights from Frankfurt airport were also cancelled this morning.

Snow covers the trees on the mountain Schauinsland in the Black Forest, Germany

Tourists photograph each other beside the snow-covered concrete steles at the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1240319/As-Britain-told-expect-snow-10-days-rest-world-coping-Arctic-weather.html#ixzz18bFn1B5H