Tuesday 26 January 2016

Extreme conditions across the globe


Deaths in Japan and Taiwan as record cold snap hits east Asia

At least 95 people die as record-low temperatures in region bring snow and ice cause flight cancellations and leave thousands stranded



25 January, 2016

Snow, sleet and icy winds across east Asia have caused deaths, flight cancellations and chaos as the region struggles with record-low temperatures due to an Arctic cold snap that brought snow to several tropical areas for the first time in many people’s lifetimes.

In Taiwan, the capital Taipei recorded a low of 4C (39F), the coldest in 44 years. Local media said 90 people had died due to the cold weather, mainly from hypothermia and cardiac arrest. Five more died in Japan.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled across the region, tens of thousands of holidaymakers were stranded in South Korea, and freezing conditions in sub-tropical Hong Kong caused mayhem on its tallest peak.

In northern Vietnam, snow blanketed mountain areas as the wave of cold air arrived on Sunday to Lào Cai province. In the capital, Hanoi, it dropped to a milder 6C, although authorities said that was the coldest the city has been for two decades.

The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, which is by the tropic of Cancer, saw sleet for the first time in 60 years, the local meteorological station said. Residents posted photos online of small snowmen they had made, quickly constructed from a thin layer of icy flakes that fell on cars and road.

A Guangzhou driver, Wang Jun, told the South China Morning Post that he had never seen sleet throughout his 20 years working in the city. “I woke up at 6am to work and saw small pieces of ice hit my windscreen. It stopped for a while, but happened again half an hour later. And then there was sleet at about 11am,” he said.

It’s the first time I’ve see that. It’s very beautiful,” he said.

The cold was caused by a polar vortex, a large cyclone that pushed south from Siberia and unusual meteorological occurrence for east Asia.

In Hong Kong, primary schools and kindergartens were closed on Monday after temperatures fell to 3C, a 60-year low. A 100km ultra-marathon race was abandoned as competitors crossing the city’s tallest peak, Tai Mo Shan, slipped on icy slopes buffeted by freezing winds. A race official described the scene as one of “carnage”, with dozens of people suffering from hypothermia; firefighters called in to rescue them were filmed slipping and sliding on the icy road.

In Bangkok, labelled the planet’s hottest city by the World Meteorological Organisation for its mean air temperature of 28C, the mercury dropped to 16C on Monday. Scarves and padded jackets, normally bought only as winter holiday items by residents of Bangkok, appeared in the city as locals dealt with the unusually cool weather.

During the peak tourism season, the sea in many areas was dark and rough as grey clouds hung overhead.

Hundreds of flight cancellations left tens of thousands of holidaymakers stranded in South Korea, after the biggest snowfall in three decades shut the airport on the resort island on Jeju.

In China, 24 weather stations recorded all-time low temperatures. Further north, in Inner Mongolia, the temperature dropped to a record low of -46.8C (-52F) and in China’s eastern city of Qingdao, fishing boats were stuck fast in the frozen waters.

The weather ruined many people’s travel plans for the Chinese lunar new year season, when families normally travel to their home towns.


If you never read any science, or if you're a complete idiot, you might think this was "evidence" of a coming ice age.

Never mind the fact that it's raining and temperatures are 55F higher than what they should be.

Perhaps all the evidence is being fabricated. Lol.



But if you're open to looking at  things rationally and open to a  bit of science, paul Beckwith can put it into context

Arctic Ocean Blowtorch Attacks Sea-Ice

Our climate system has destabilized. Our fossil-fueled emissions have changed the chemistry of our atmosphere and our oceans, changing the heat balance between the equator and Arctic. This has fractured the jet streams, and brings us closer to a new planet with zero snow and ice in the Arctic. Here is what is happening...



Or this...

Blizzard Jonas and the slowdown of the Gulf Stream System




Blizzard Jonas on the US east coast has just shattered snowfall records. Both weather forecasters and climate experts have linked the high snowfall amounts to the exceptionally warm sea surface temperatures off the east coast. In this post I will examine a related question: why are sea surface temperatures so high there, as shown in the snapshot from Climate Reanalyzer below?


Or this... From Jason Box

'If anything, climate sensitivity is higher'-Glaciologist Jason Box on climate sensitivity





Back to the news stories




As Hong Kong emerged into the crisp sunny day today after its record-setting cold snap on Sunday areas around the world were experiencing unseasonal weather. 

In Melbourne, Australia summer’s extreme heat gave way to relatively cold weather, as the United States dealt with record snowfall in a blizzard. Even New Delhi in India battled through a wave of cold weather; the minimum temperature in the often steamy city was just 4.2 degrees Celsius on Friday, below



Japan snowstormTOKYO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) — Five people died and scores have been injured, as swathes of western and central Japan on Sunday saw record amounts of heavy snowfall blanket town and cities.


The snow caused major disruption to transportation networks, with hundreds of flights canceled and bullet trains services suspended. Conditions are likely to worsen

Polar vortex hits Hong Kong: new records as temperatures plummet towards zero, weather bureau promises more cold to come




Blizzard and hurricane winds kill 19 people in north-eastern US states




Some were killed in car accidents, three died shovelling snow in New York City and two of hypothermia in Virginia


While the el-Nino is live and well in the Pacific....


2 comments:

  1. Interesting divergent views [from cataclysmic warming to substantial cooling], but apparently amounting to opinions expressed as facts: not very scientific, just fear mongering.

    Dr Paul Beckwith adds unsubstantiated exaggerations, like the east coast to have serious flooding as the 3 ft [that's a max fall, not the average] of snow melt in a "few days": 3 ft of snow would be equivalent of up to only 3" of water...His presentation is somewhat incoherent and unsubstantiated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting divergent views [from cataclysmic warming to substantial cooling], but apparently amounting to opinions expressed as facts: not very scientific, just fear mongering.

    Dr Paul Beckwith adds unsubstantiated exaggerations, like the east coast to have serious flooding as the 3 ft [that's a max fall, not the average] of snow melt in a "few days": 3 ft of snow would be equivalent of up to only 3" of water...His presentation is somewhat incoherent and unsubstantiated.

    ReplyDelete

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