The Australian Weather Forum

That news article is scary, Johnno.
For as much as some of us enjoy winter, i imagine that in those European countries where the cold can be relentless and deadly that they would rather do without all that snow and cold. I know a very old lady in a town called Jaworzna in Upper Silesia who will be living through her first Winter without her husband. Not a nice prospect for her, the house is heated by a coal burning central heating boiler in the cellar.It is a lot of work to stay warm. I hope that she is ok.
Imagine being homeless in Ukraine? Unbearable.

Yeah not good not good at all.

The news is starting to filter through into the Australian media now

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/wo ... 6259076777" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not directly as a result of this but some parts of the Ukrain wheat crop has been killed due to a cooler start than normal and crops not developing to the stage of being able to deal with a winter. Wonder if this cold snap will kill more of the crops in that area? Sounds nasty and could be a lot worse for people if this high does not move on for a while.

30+ people have just reported being dead in the ukraine with the figue for Europe up to above 50 I think

Some more reports
Here is one from RUSSIA
http://www.worldweatherpost.com/2012/01 ... in-moscow/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and here is a top down look at temperature anomalies for the northern hemisphere.. : January 2012
source
http://www.worldweatherpost.com/2012/01 ... ing-bogus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2012/0 ... f=HREC1-70" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A photo gallery of the snow in Italy

The photo of the piazza in Siena is lovely.
Tonights ABC news completely ignored this event that is unfolding in Europe. Shameful really.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/ ... 6260049789" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Death toll rises to 71

-83 dead now in Europes cold snap
-43 people dead in Ukraine alone & 20 in Poland
-Some Bulgarians towns recording there coldest tempertures ever in 100 years of records
-Up to 5 Metres of snow in Serbia with people being rescued from roof tops in Villages
-Black sea has frozen near the Romanian Coastline
-Rare snow fell on Croatian islands in the Adriatic Sea


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/ ... 6260049789" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Eastern European Cold Snap Death Toll Exceeds 100

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z1lFzsVqGc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Europe cold snap claims 160 lives

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-03/e ... es/3809650" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

218 Lives lost so far in this European severe cold outbreak

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/de ... 6261983741" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I doubt -15C is ever 'humid'. It may get close to 100% RH but that still translates to a DP of -15C, (roughly the same as the driest day in central Aus in the middle of summer). The air contains very little moisture at these temperatures, this is the main reason why places like Antarctica are so dry and most of Siberia is also very dry in winter.

As for the extreme cold temperatures, I would have thought it was fairly normal too, especially for eastern and central Europe.

These type of tempertures this low haven't happened for many decades Andrew infact in Bulgaria its been 100 Years (since records began) since they have seen these tempertures so this is definetly not normal what Eastern Europe has experienced over the past week

for anyone interested, I have been updating Italian temperatures and conditions in the Italian Weather thread of the forum

here are some photos from Italy's La Repubblica newspaper
http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2012/0 ... ef=HRER1-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


check out this Rome webcam
http://www.romexplorer.com/rome-webcam.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and also

http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/ar ... 14825&vId=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... ly-in-rome" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Amazing for Rome which although gets light snows every few years, came to an almost standstill yesterday

and I think if I read correctly, about half a metre of snow fell on Rome!

-221 people dead

-101 from Ukraine alone

-Worse cold spell in decades

-Temps as low as -37c in Northern Slovakia

-In Romania, 80 per cent of the Danube river was frozen over

-The Serbian government has so far declared a state of emergency in 19 municipalities in the south and east, where six people have died from cold

-Croatia's Adriatic coast and many of its islands were blanketed in snow - rare so far south - covering palm trees in the port of Split and bringing some residents out on skis. The island of Solta, just off Split, saw 30 cm (12 inches) of snow

-Snow fell on the northern tip of Africa, dusting palm trees in the Algerian capital. Locals said it was the first time they remembered snow falling in Algiers in eight years. Temperatures fell to about minus 1 degree unusually low for the port city on the Mediterranean Sea.

-In Italy, the heaviest snowfall in the capital Rome since the 1980s closed tourists attractions including the Colosseum and the Forum.


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... king5.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.starafrica.com/en/news/detai ... 16669.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

260 dead

droughtbreaker » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:17 pm wrote:

droughtbreaker wrote:I doubt -15C is ever 'humid'. It may get close to 100% RH but that still translates to a DP of -15C, (roughly the same as the driest day in central Aus in the middle of summer). The air contains very little moisture at these temperatures, this is the main reason why places like Antarctica are so dry and most of Siberia is also very dry in winter.

As for the extreme cold temperatures, I would have thought it was fairly normal too, especially for eastern and central Europe.

Thats exactly right Andrew, and was used recently by an idiotic warmista as an argument for more rain over certain areas.

As Johnno and i mentioned weeks ago, this is one for the books, and will start to spread to other areas of the NH with AO sharply negative.

Also funnily enough, dont think that heat killed this many people, and nor will it. In the next 20 years if we dont come to our senses and wake up a fair slab of the population will die as we enter a new solar minimum that will make the Little Ice Age look like the modern warm period.

droughtbreaker » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:17 pm wrote:

droughtbreaker wrote:I doubt -15C is ever 'humid'. It may get close to 100% RH but that still translates to a DP of -15C, (roughly the same as the driest day in central Aus in the middle of summer). The air contains very little moisture at these temperatures, this is the main reason why places like Antarctica are so dry and most of Siberia is also very dry in winter.

As for the extreme cold temperatures, I would have thought it was fairly normal too, especially for eastern and central Europe.

Thats exactly right Andrew, and was used recently by an idiotic warmista as a reason for more rain over a certain area.

Also funnily enough, this many people did not die in the heat waves, nor will they. If we dont come to our senses, in the next 20 years millions will be wiped out as we plunge into a new solar minimum that is going to make the Little Ice Age look like the modern warm period.

All the alarmists days, and indeed the governments who fund them, are severely numbered.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/07 ... rbian-ice/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

400 deaths