Today’s Global Warming Updates

Posted on January 2, 2008

AP: New Year’s Snowstorm Smothers Midwest

…the region’s heaviest New Year’s Day snowstorm on record and was unusual for its intensity. During the heart of the storm, snow fell at a rate of at least 2 inches an hour, with periods of 4 inches an hour.

…It followed a storm in the Northeast on Monday that made for the snowiest December in the region in decades. December’s snowfall at Concord, N.H., totaled 44.5 inches, toppling a record of 43 inches that had stood since 1876. Burlington, Vt., got 45.7 inches, far above its 17.2-inch December average, and Portland, Maine, amassed 37.7 inches for its third-snowiest December on record.

AP: Fla. Citrus Growers Brace for Cold Snap

Local 6 Orlando: Daytona Beach, Titusville, Palm Bay May See Snow

Daily Express: NEW YEAR BIG FREEZE IS COMING

BRITAIN faces one of its bitterest winters for 100 years, with temperatures set to plummet to -17C (1.4F), forecasters warned last night.

The New Year will begin with a freezing cold snap that will sweep across the country, causing â€œhavocâ€ in its wake.

And forecasters predict an even icier Arctic blast will strike later in the month to bring the coldest recorded temperatures in 20 years.

National Post: Coldest winter in nearly 15 years ahead: Environment Canada

The Hindu: Kashmir Valley at minus seven degrees

Foster’s Daily Democrat (NH): Early winter of our discontent: More snow, cold than years past

“It’s about 8 degrees below norm â€” 7.7 degrees,” Hawley said. “You have to go back to 1989 to have the last average coldest temperatures in December, where there was a record of 11.9 degrees.”

Washington Times: Year of global cooling

South America this year experienced one of its coldest winters in decades. In Buenos Aires, snow fell for the first time since the year 1918. Dozens of homeless people died from exposure. In Peru, 200 people died from the cold and thousands more became infected with respiratory diseases. Crops failed, livestock perished, and the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency.

Unexpected bitter cold swept the entire Southern Hemisphere in 2007. Johannesburg, South Africa, had the first significant snowfall in 26 years. Australia experienced the coldest June ever. In northeastern Australia, the city of Townsville underwent the longest period of continuously cold weather since 1941. In New Zealand, the weather turned so cold that vineyards were endangered.

Last January, $1.42 billion worth of California produce was lost to a devastating five-day freeze.

What does it mean to GW fanatics when…

1990: December was coldest on record

2001: November, December coldest two-month period on record in U.S.

2001: Record Cold Grips Much of the Nation in November and December: Two-Month Period is the Coldest on Record in the United States

2001: Red Cross Aids Frostbite Patients during Siberia’s Coldest Winter

2003: El NiÃ±o’s Reputed Milder Weather Visited Infrequently During the Long, Cold Winter of 2002-2003

2003: PARALYZING SNOWS, PERSISTENT COLD COLDEST WINTER IN 25 YEARS

2005: Coldest winter for ten years on its way (Sweden)

2006: Moscow Shivers Through Coldest Winter in 26 Years

2006: Japan — coldest winter in decades

2006: Coldest winter in years predicted for 06-07 winter season

2006: Big freeze to sweep over China