Many wondering what happened to Europe's winter

[Minstrel Boy]

Snow, where'd you go? Many wondering what happened to Europe's winter

11:30 AM EST Jan 12

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Bears in Slovakia are awakening early from hibernation. So are barmaids in Bavaria, unseasonably busy in outdoor beer gardens. Bushes are blooming in Austria, and skiers at snowless Bosnian resorts are chilling out in hotel pools.

...

Belgium had its warmest Jan. 10 on record Monday, when the mercury peaked at 14 C in Brussels. Scores of people took to their terraces to soak up the sun, and others strolled along North Sea beaches. It was even warmer - a touch under 16 C - in the southern Czech city of Ceske Budejovice on Saturday, the balmiest Jan. 8 recorded in 230 years.

In marked contrast, winter storms in some regions of northern Europe accounted for at least 17 deaths and left tens of thousands without power

In parts of the Czech Republic and neighbouring Slovakia, the springlike weather gave an early wakeup call to some brown bears, whose interrupted hibernation left them as grumpy as anyone roused early from a deep sleep. Naturalists warned that the testy animals were unlikely to fall back to sleep and could be dangerous later in the season. Even corners of southern Europe, where winter is just a state of mind, have been affected. Months of mostly dry, sunny weather have brought drought conditions to parts of Portugal, parching farmland and leaving some reservoirs at 15 per cent of capacity.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050111/w011154.html

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

1. Pittsburgh PA is wondering too

65 degrees with a SW wind. I like the 4 seasons here in Western PA and I want my snow in the winter.

[soleft]

3. So is New York - 60 tomorrow they say

[trogdor]

21. I heard CENTRAL NY could see 70 tomorrow.

We're used to lake-effect snow measured by the foot. I haven't fired up the snowblower all season.

[ozone_man]

37. 54 in VT tomorrow.

OK, I'm heading to central NY tomorrow. :-)

January thaw perhaps?

MLK weekend is going to be real Winter though with highs in the teens and lows in the 0's. That's good, because I'll be out there x-country skiing.

[Eloriel]

41. Atlanta and N GA have had several days hit 70 to 72 degrees

lovely, lovely, great for working outdoors, but NOT what we're supposed to be having. In fact, I saw a forsythia in bloom in someone's yard the other day -- another "not supposed to happen" just yet.

[smirkymonkey]

48. And then it's supposed to plummet mid-day tomorrow back

down to a low of 27 degrees.

The weather has been truly bizarre lately. I remember back when you had consistent temperature ranges for each season, with the OCCASIONAL anomaly. However, now it's anybody guess what it will be like from week to week.

[happyslug]

4. Don't Worry it will Cool down, 10 degree F this Weekend.

For details see:
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/pbz/

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/forecasts/PAZ021.php

[Cobalt Violet]

6. Boston , MA too. It's suppose to be near 60 F tomorrow.

[Petrushka]

9. Same in WV's northern panhandle . . .

. . . temperatures 30-degrees above normal here. BUT . . . uh-oh! Local weather reports say that daytime temperatures are expected to plummet on Saturday/Sunday to record lows.

Edited to add that, since New Year's Day, we haven't had a day without rain. Floods, landslides/mudslides . . . you name it, we got it here.

[happyslug]

2. For those people who do NOT use to Celsius Temperature every day

16 C = 60.8 Fahrenheit
18 C = 64.4 Fahrenheit

To convert the Temperature See:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/temperature.htm

[Spazito]

5. Here is a related item regarding Rocky Mountain glaciers...

Rocky Mountain glaciers showing effects of climate change


CANMORE, ALTA. - Glaciers in Canada's Rocky Mountains are melting fast, scientists say, making them a barometer for climate change in Canada.

Some of the glaciers in the mountains have lost 70 per cent of their volume in the past 100 years, scientists say.

The Rocky Mountain glaciers provide most of Western Canada's fresh water.

"Every year there is more ice melting than going in. Over the last five years it's accelerated rapidly. The glaciers are really retreating," said University of Calgary climatologist Shawn Marshall.

more

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/01/11/climate-glacier050111.html

[Lorien]

8. Yeah, but according to Michael Crichton

many glaciers are "growing" (don't know of any myself) :eyes:

What's it going to take to awake people to the impending environmental collapse? Even liberals rarely list "the environment" as a main concern anymore. Issues like the war, gay, civil, and women's rights, social security, the economy, health care....none of them will BE an issue if we keep destroying the environment at the current rate, let alone the accelerated rate that BushCo desires. As things stand now, we're lucky to get 20 more years.

[Wolfetone]

13. http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSScience0110/04_glaciers-ap.html

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. (AP) -- Geologists exploring the rugged Continental Divide say they discovered more than 100 additional glaciers here in a single summer, a surprising find since glaciers around the world are shrinking in warmer temperatures.

The results dramatically change the map of one of the nation's oldest and best-known national parks, along with the knowledge of weather and water cycles at high elevations.

Previously, officials believed the park 60 miles northwest of Denver included 20 permanent ice and snow features, including six named glaciers.

The new survey by geologist Jonathan Achuff shows there are as many as 120 features. Most are located in cold, north-facing pockets on the east side of the Divide at elevations above 12,000 feet.

Most of the newly discovered glaciers are covered with rocky debris; continuous freezing and thawing splinters the brittle granite that forms some of the park's majestic peaks. Park officials say comparisons with historical photos suggest that at least some of the glaciers are expanding

[Wolfetone]

14. http://omega.utu.fi/glaciers.html

The test sites are located on the Svartisen ice cap in Northern Norway and on Oetztal in Austria adjacent to the study sites. The reason for selecting test sites in the same region is to avoid data acquisition and purchasing costs.The Svartisen area provides numerous dissimilar glacier outlets for testing. In a relatively small area, the eastern glaciers are retreating while the western glaciers are expanding. In Oetztal, the nearby glaciers Vernagtferner and Kesselwandferner, are as well studied as Hintereisferner itself, thus providing good comparison data.

[Wolfetone]

15. http://monolith.com.au/travel/glacier.html

The four kilometre wide, fifty metre high Perito Moreno glacier is one of the few expanding glaciers in the world and travels at a relatively brisk 1.7 metres per day and is a jewel of the vast Patagonia region that straddles neighbouring Chile.

[seemslikeadream]

24. Thanks Wolfetone

Your name, would that be the son of Peter, Theobald?


:hi:

[Wolfetone]

31. That would be correct. n/t

[Eloriel]

42. Please put your links IN the text (not subject line)

so people can click on them instead of having to copy and paste.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

51. While the vast majority of scientists around the world support the...

...concept of global warming, you've deliberately chosen three of the very few examples that support the contention that global warming is a myth.

Glaciers forming in areas of permanent shadow is not my idea of a concrete refutation of global warming.

Additionally, you have no answers for why so many of the world's once-frozen landscapes are thawing at a rate never before seen.

You must think that most DU posters are incredibly stupid to fall for this kind of stuff.

[Willy Lee]

19. I think that is repugs plan.

When you are tied up in war, scandal, crashing economy etc you don't have time to worry about the tons of toxic emissions beign pumped into the atmosphere by industry.

This just makes it easier for them to rape and pillage the planet for profit.

[NickB79]

34. If you think that's bad, look up info on Glacier National Park in MT

"In 1850, there were 150 glaciers in the park. A century later, there were only 37, and there are even fewer today, according to Glacier National Park ecologist Daniel Fagre."

http://greennature.com/article979.html

From 150 to less than 30 today. Naaa, there isn't any global warming going on.

[Wolfetone]

46. Well, according to the IPCC

anthropogenic (man made) global warming has only occured in the past 50 years or so. Therefor the 113 glaciers that disappeared between 1850 and 1950 were caused by nature not man.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

50. How fast did the world's population grow during that same...

...time period, which just happens to coincide with the rapid industrialization of the world?

[NickB79]

59. Only the past 50 yrs?

Would you have a link I could read where the IPCC released that figure? I did a Google search but couldn't find anything.

[tanyev]

7. Nope, no global warming.

It's a myth. Move along, move along.

[leftofcool]

11. Thus spaketh

the omnipotent Emperor George.

Left of Cool

[SoCalDem]

58. Junk Science.. Junk Science..

Bwaaaawckkk//Bwaaaawcckk.. Polly want a cracker:)

[gordianot]

10. Noted changes in Solar System.

This site is a little on the different side but I have heard some of this from a friend who is an Astronomer especially Mars polar ice caps. Makes you wonder?

see link http://www.enterprisemission.com/

Sun: More activity since 1940 than in previous 1150 years, combined

Mercury: Unexpected polar ice discovered, along with a surprisingly strong intrinsic magnetic field … for a supposedly “dead” planet

Venus: 2500% increase in auroral brightness, and substantive global atmospheric changes in less than 30 years

Earth: Substantial and obvious world-wide weather and geophysical changes

Mars: “Global Warming,” huge storms, disappearance of polar icecaps

Jupiter: Over 200% increase in brightness of surrounding plasma clouds

Saturn: Major decrease in equatorial jet stream velocities in only ~20 years, accompanied by surprising surge of X-rays from equator

Uranus: “Really big, big changes” in brightness, increased global cloud activity

Neptune: 40% increase in atmospheric brightness

Pluto: 300% increase in atmospheric pressure, even as Pluto recedes farther from the Sun

None of these statistics are from “fringe” scientists; they are all very, very real, and what you have just read is only the proverbial “tip of the iceberg.”

This Report’s scientific data, from a variety of highly credible institutions (including NASA itself), reveals that startling “climate change” phenomena are occurring, not just here on Earth, but, in fact -- throughout the entire solar system. This material has been publicly available for nearly a decade in some cases, but it was simply never assembled into a coherent picture of “a System in significant transition” … until this writing.

[glitch]

23. That makes our massive dumping CO2 into atmosphere even more idiotic. nt

[ulTRAX]

26. It could be......

I take everything Richard Hoagland says with a grain of salt. If there's no idication of increased solar activity, the solar system could just be passing though some diffuse galatic dust cloud. As for solar activity... this record of proton events goes back to 1976 an the most intense bursts were in 89 and 91... 2003 looks average and 04 downright boring: http://sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/SPE.txt

[Minstrel Boy]

27. Oct 04 headline: "Sunspots more active than for 8000 years"

I don't trust Hoagland as a source either. But there is something funny up with the sun. Or at least, something unseen in 8000 years.


Sunspots more active than for 8000 years

18:00 27 October 2004
NewScientist.com news service

The Sun has been more active in the last 70 years than it has for the previous 8000, according to an analysis of tree rings dating back 11,400 years. But researchers say its recent bout of hyperactivity does not account for the rapidly rising temperatures recorded on Earth over the last three decades.

Sunspots are surface concentrations of the star's magnetic field and the more there are, the more energy the Sun is emitting. The dark features have been observed and recorded regularly since 1610.

Scientists have tried to reconstruct previous sunspot activity using ice cores and tree rings. These contain isotopes, such as carbon-14 and beryllium-10, created when high-energy particles from deep space, called cosmic rays, slam into the atmosphere. Fewer cosmic rays reach the Earth when the Sun is very active, because the charged particles from the Sun deflect them.

Now, a team led by Sami Solanki of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, has analysed records of trees preserved in riverbeds and bogs that date back 11,400 years to produce the most precise study yet of sunspot history.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6591

[Ezlivin]

12. It was "designed" that way

Since all the children will soon learn about Intelligent Design (sic), there's no need to try to find an explanation for any of this.

It's quite simple: The winters were designed this way.

Any other questions?

[warrens]

16. We may hit 50 in Chicago today

And a high of 9 on Friday.

We had the warmest New Year's Eve on record this year. And so far, a grand total of one snow storm of about 6 inches.

[trogdor]

49. I think you can count on mild weather to continue.

Mild meaning less snow, warmer temps, and more rain.

What you need for cold winters is early heavy snowfall, so that the snow reflects solar energy back into space. If you can still see the ground mid-January, the ground stays warm, and so does the air. I think Phil's gonna be blind come 2/2 this year.

[HuckleB]

17. Hey, we hear ya'll in the Northwest.

No winter speak of here. Snowpack in the Cascades is at terrifyingly low levels.

[KitSileya]

18. I can attest to this!

In marked contrast, winter storms in some regions of northern Europe accounted for at least 17 deaths and left tens of thousands without power

I live in Bergen, on the West coast of Norway, and we had record amounts of precipitation in December. As for January, we topped the average amount of monthly rain on the 7th, and it just keeps on raining. We have higher than normal tides, with sea water 70-100cm higher than normal. It's getting too much even in a city where it rains so much we celebrate an annual umbrella day.

[fedsron2us]

36. Bergen is one of the wettest places in Europe.

It rains on 2 out of every 3 days and gets an average of 2250 mm (88 inches) of rainfall a year. Its such a feature of the city that the local children actually have a festival to celebrate it. If they think the precipitation is excessive then the deluge must be of biblical proportions.

[KitSileya]

45. It is. Of Biblical proportions, that is.

I'm not a native to Bergen, but I've lived here for 8 of the last 9 years, and should have gotten used to it by now. But this winter has been atrocious, and considering that the last two winters before this one were exeptionally dry, the contrast is staggering. The weather has been all out of whack these past 5 years, and apparently, we can expect an increase in rain as global warming gets worse.

December got over 500mm of rain, and according to the latest statistics I saw, it had rained 621mm in the last 30 days. That isn't much compared to places with rainy seasons - I read that a town in India got 9000+mm one summer month - but it's the fact that it rains all year round that is getting people down. The traditional November weather, which is awful, and we just suffer through it thanking God November is one of those 30-day months, started in September and hasn't stopped since.

[neweurope]

20. It's true. I'm 50 years old now. When I was a child there was snow - lots

of snow - every winter. I even remember one winter our river - a large one - freezing so trucks could cross it. For years now we have almost exclusively rain in winter, not snow (except for two, three days). Same with temperature. We might have -10 C a couple of nights in winter - but it used to be the rule. Now it's the exception. There are many more and much more devastating storms. We have more humidity. And we have more insects than we used to because it doesn't get as cold anymore.

-------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[tblue37]

28. I am 54,

and I often comment jokingly to my undergraduate students that I am actually old enough to remember when winter was cold.

[neweurope]

30. I find so much change within such a short time quite frightening.

-------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague

[Minstrel Boy]

32. Quite true. Human lives are so short, people have been able to

evade living with the consequences of their choices. But the consequences of generations of bad choices are upon us, now.

[TankLV]

57. Hey - when I was a kid the snow was up to my chest!

But then again, at just over 3 feet tall when I was 3 or 4, that's not saying much!

[Xithras]

22. They should enjoy it while they can.

Once the Greenland Ice Sheet starts melting in a big way the North Atlantic Current will be disrupted and Europeans will be asking "Summer, where'd you go?" Most of Europe will acquire weather patterns similar to those found in Northern Canada and Alaska at that point (short, cool summers followed by long, cold winters).

[Desertrose]

25. It came to Arizona

we got just about everyone's precip here lately....

Today there is this big bright light in the sky....if memory serves, it could be the sun! :)


Seriously...things are way outta balance....earth changes are definitely here.....

[deacon2]

29. Barmaids in Bavaria... sorry, what was the topic?

It seems all your snow is here in California at present - where it doesn't belong. Another Indication of shifting weather patterns? Or a vast right wing conspiracy to sell more skis to us liberal SoCal types so we'll break our necks on unfamiliar slopes? I'm betting on global warming myself, but I thought the election outcome was a little questionable too.

[daleo]

33. Winter is doing fine where I am today

It was 40 below with the wind chill on my walk to work, here in sunny Alberta. That's the same in Fahrenheit and Celsius. I prefer the term "global climate change" to "global warming". Driving a system like the earth's climate out of equilibrium could go either way - hot or cold.

[ozone_man]

38. I've been looking for my other boot. :>)

40 below! You've got bragging rights for sure.

Yes, I think "global climate change" is a much better term. Alaska is seeing 5C warmer temperatures, Australia is on fire, somewhere else is being deluged with rain and the West Coast is seeing unprecedented snowfall.

Still early to draw conclusions, but I am more and more suspicious of weather patterns.

[daleo]

39. Well, that is with the wind chill

I think the actual temperature was more like -25 or a bit lower, but the breeze was pretty fresh today. Western Canada is in a bit of a deep freeze right now. But it really is nice and sunny.

[laundry_queen]

40. Yeah, I think I'm close (relatively speaking) to where you are

but further north and this morning it was -40 without the windchill, -48C with. brrr!

[daleo]

43. Sounds like the Peace River Country or points north

I heard Grande Prairie was supposed to hit -32 or so. It is a good day to wear lots of layers.

[u4ic]

52. Yes, it's a lovely day out there, isn't it??!?

Interestingly enough, 2 of the past 3 Christmases have been warmer in Edmonton than in Liverpool, UK. We have friends there we talk to, and 2002 and 2003 were both colder there.

And thank you, it is climate change - and it not only affects temperature, but also other weather patterns.

[bamacrat]

35. 80 in BAMA yesterday

[Media_Lies_Daily]

53. In the 70s in Huntsville yesterday.

[puerco-bellies]

44. Damn it!!! My heating oil calls are getting creamed!!

Oh well, that will teach me for betting that global warming would be more gradual. Thank god I'm short the dollar and long foreign currencies - A.K.A. Playing the dumbass economic mis-leader, trade strategy.

[brainshrub]

47. We are wondering the same thing here in Asheville, NC.

It's weird.

[jayctravis]

54. Southern Illinois...

Near St. Louis. Yesterday was almost balmy, 60 degrees.

Today we have a minor blizzard.

[Minstrel Boy]

55. Warm Russian winter drives bears out of bed

Warm Russian winter drives bears out of bed

MOSCOW, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Russia's winter is so warm that a bear in a zoo has woken from her hibernation two months early, while another hasn't gone to sleep at all, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.

The normally ferocious Russian winter, the bane of invaders from Napoleon to Hitler, has been unusually mild this year with temperatures hitting record seasonal highs.

"For a second day we are organising extra observation of a female black bear, which has woken up because of the warmth," a spokesman for the zoo in Russia's second-largest city of St Petersburg told the agency.

"The zoo's brown bear hasn't gone to sleep this year."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12153375.htm

[TankLV]

56. It fell here in Las Vegas! Snowed for over 4 hours IN THE VALLEY!

Avalanche danger on Mt. Charleston.

Rain for weeks.

Hope I remember all this when it's 120 again!

"but it's a DRY heat!"