Colder than Reykjavik: UK set for more snow as temperatures drop to -1C

[Joanne98]

Source: Guardian

Freeze spreads to London and the south, with arctic winds predicted to sweep in from northern Russia

Fresh snowstorms are expected to continue for at least two more days across much of the United Kingdom, after 24 hours which saw falls in almost every part of the country.

Strengthening northeasterly winds have taken the national average temperature to –1C (30.2F), lower than Reykjavik in Iceland and parts of Greenland. These are expected to trigger a further week of cold weather payments to four million households.

For the first time in the current chill, the worst in November for 17 years, snow today reached London and England's most southerly counties. Roads, trains and airports including Heathrow and Gatwick were all seriously disrupted.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/30/uk-snow-forecast-weather-freezing

[truebrit71]

1. But global climate change is a myth...

...If the gulfstream stops the UK is hosed..

[dipsydoodle]

2. Its actually

a high pressure area in the middle of the Atlantic coupled with the current shape of the jet stream causing the problem. I'm certainly not a climate change denier but perhaps you'd be kind enough to explain exactly how climate change has caused either event mentioned in this instance.

[Frisbee]

3. It's all in this great documentary!

[flyingfysh]

4. this is exactly what climate change predicts

Global warming computer models predict that cold water from melting icecaps weakens the Gulf Stream, resulting in colder winters in Europe - and hotter summers.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Read what I said

its the jet stream : not the gulf stream.

[greenman3610]

7. the gulf stream scenario

is not seen as likely as it was a few years ago...
at least not in the near future.

[truebrit71]

14. Yeah but it's much more fun to be a smart arse...

...yeah i know weather and climate change are different, but apparently some here think there is no relationship whatsoever between the two..

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dipsydoodle]

18. Fine - you grew up here.

Born here too ?

It snowed at exactly the same time in November 1967 - driving to work and back from Wembley to Walthamstow made that easy to remember.

Perhaps you'd also like to use your reasoning for 1963 too when it snowed later but it lasted longer : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_1962%E2%80%931963_in_the_United_Kingdom I took my driving test in the snow that January. For nearly two months side roads were only usable by driving up the tracks used by other cars - I was a tv engineer and so couldn't avoid side roads.

I'd opened up by saying I wasn't a climate change denier. It just that occasionally circumstances combine to give the effect we have here at present.

btw - the actual signifance of -1c defeats me.

[truebrit71]

24. Yes born there - Hence the handle...

..

[dipsydoodle]

25. Not sure

why the other message was deleted - I didn't alert. I'm quite thick skinned.

:hi:

[truebrit71]

27. In retrospect I may have been a tad harsh...

..sorry about that...

[ikri]

6. Typical

It's been snowing in the North since last week, temperatures have dropped to -20c (-1 Fahrenheit) in Scotland. There's been over 12 inches of snow where I live, public transport has ground to a halt (trains late, buses cancelled), roads have closed and people in rural areas are pretty much trapped in their homes, but London gets a bit chilly and the media suddenly wakes up and begins to panic.

[Odin2005]

8. -1 celsius? Pfff! They should live here in Fargo, then we'll talk cold!

[Darth_Kitten]

9. Come to Manitoba....minus1? I only wish.......

:D

[time_has_come]

13. Ah Manitoba. Where, Winnipeg?

How I do love "the peg"

[Darth_Kitten]

19. You're serious? You must be a really optimistic person!

;) haha.

[time_has_come]

26. It has it's charms...

cold tap water in the winter, for instance.

:)

And nice people.

[Diclotican]

11. Odin2005

Odin2005

Where I live, it have been -10 to -15 C the last couple of weeks... Cold, yes, but not that cold, if you just have decent cloth on your when outside.. It is more important to keep decent heat inside, so not the water tubes are freezing, it can cost a lot of money to fix it...

But other than that, just ordinary winter.. Even tho Trondheim have had its coldest november for 222 year now.. And it is rumored that it wil be more cold in the next week over most of the country.. Below 20 C is rumored to be the norm next week

Diclotican

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. For reals...that's like, what, 28 degrees?

29?

That's not even close to cold.

[Odin2005]

21. Nope, around here that is a heat wave in the winter.

[ikri]

30. Well...

The -1c figure is in London. Most people in the UK live outside London but most of the media apparently live there so they've not really noticed that it has been snowing in the North of England and Scotland for the last 8 days (really unusual) but the moment London gets the slightest dusting of snow they're in full panic mode. Temperatures in Scotland have dropped to -21c and are apparently going to get lower in the next few days.

Britain is really badly prepared for snow & ice. The last 2 years have been very bad but for the decade or so before that we'd usually have maybe 2 days of snow during the whole year which thawed pretty rapidly - flooding was the bigger problem. The mild winters have led to councils only budgeting for a day or two of bad weather, there's very little bad weather infrastructure (snow ploughs, gritters, etc.) so there are real travel problems (today's drive to work, all of 4 miles, was the scariest trip I've ever taken, cars were skidding all over the unploughed, ungritted roads). I've not seen a gritter on the roads since the snow started and walking on the pavements can mean dicing with death, it's safer to walk on the roads.

With the lack of experience in bad weather & lack of infrastructure when it snows we react badly, there were cars & trucks abandoned near London last night because of 1cm of snow because people have no idea how to deal with the snow in the same way that they have no idea how to deal with a shark, it's just too far outside their experience.

[bergie321]

10. Uh Oh

It's winter again. Time for another 6 months of climate change denier fever...

[librechik]

12. My son is visiting London right now

I guess he didn't check the weather reports! He's still having fun, though.

[Hardrada]

16. I used to live in Minnesota and we had blizzards at Halloween

now and then and I recall winters when it seemed to be snowing perpetually. And temps were sometimes -40 Fahrenheit. Tell us about a nippy London!

[Thor_MN]

20. At -40, you don't have to say which scale

Living in Minnesota my whole life, I have experienced straight up -40 a couple times. -40 wind chill, especially before they changed the calc is not that uncommon. We roll our eyes when Washington, DC gets "paralysed" by 2" of snow. 2"? That's not a storm, that's Monday.

[Odin2005]

23. LOL, my sentiment exactly!

"That's not a storm, that's Monday." :rofl:

[hatrack]

28. Aren't they the same at -40?

:shrug:

[CatholicEdHead]

32. True, except for maybe the first one of the year

Before people relearn they have to slow down to drive in the snow.

[Odin2005]

22. I was 5 when the Great Halloween Blizzard of 1991 happened.

And it 1996-1997 it seemed like it snowed constantly.

[Hardrada]

31. Halloween blizzard in 1966 also and that winter it was remarkable

to have a day without snow!! My car got stuck in snowbanks or encased in sleet various times. Don't forget the sleet!

[Ichingcarpenter]

29. Danish National News said the BP oil spill is partly to blame

Said it helped cut down the flow of the Gulf Stream


and helped slow the Gulf Stream and is causing Northern Europe to have a harsh winter.

I know it caused some problems in July but this is the first time I heard it on a National News.
I just heard it so I can't research it but found this on the Gulf Stream almost quitting in July


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/212458-Gulf-of-Mexico... -

I have to go to work tonight so I can't work on this.
Anyone else heard about this?