The Continental Cold Snap, Updates and News Reports

darkman2

Hi all,

We have spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure out whether we would be in on the party. We will be on the edge like the UK with icy frosty nights but the Continent is an entirely different matter. Some serious stuff coming from the Northwest of France, to Portugal, to the Med and pretty much all of Central Europe and Northwest parts of Africa.




Post pictures, news reports and updates on these dramatic few days for the Continent.

Here is some pictures from Bologna in Italy







And icicles in Eastern Europe



http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6625/dsc2376x1000.jpg

Victor Meldrew

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/01/extreme-cold-weather-eastern-europe?newsfeed=true

Not always a bad thing, missing a party....

79 Dead and helicopter evacuations.....

darkman2

I have a feeling there will be many more by the time this is out sadly. It's exceptionally cold siberian airmass getting into areas that even though they are well prepared for Winter normally it's much too severe. The problems really arise when it reaches Spain and Southwest France. Be interesting to see how they handle it. I think the authorities will struggle just as badly if not worse then we did in 2010.

hotwhiskey

Winter Freeze Kills Dozens In Eastern Europe -49

Parts of eastern Europe have been subjected to freezing temperatures - killing dozens of people.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/winter-freeze-kills-dozens-eastern-europe-032113141.html

burren

The cold weather also has its fun side.

Skating is a big deal in the Netherlands and skating on natural ice is the real thing. This video, which was recorded this morning, shows two dutch daredevils trying out the ice. There were only about three nights with serious frost and the ice is probably not much thicker than 6cm. Skating clubs are already speculating on enough ice growth the coming days for organising races and tours this weekend. And of course, as always when winter pushes in, people are discussing the possibility of an elfstedentocht

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdXycRsuGiI

patneve2

Italy's NE and E coast to get hammered by lake effect snow in the next few days

aboyro

burren wrote: »

The cold weather also has its fun side.

Skating is a big deal in the Netherlands and skating on natural ice is the real thing. This video, which was recorded this morning, shows two dutch daredevils trying out the ice. There were only about three nights with serious frost and the ice is probably not much thicker than 6cm. Skating clubs are already speculating on enough ice growth the coming days for organising races and tours this weekend. And of course, as always when winter pushes in, people are discussing the possibility of an elfstedentocht

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdXycRsuGiI

love it:D

Su Campu

Just spoke to my mother who is her appartment in the south coast of Spain. She's sitting there with an electric heater, wearing two jackets and still shivering away. She wasn't happy when I told her it will get colder there over the next few days! :rolleyes:

pistolpetes11

What type of temps might they be expecting out that part of the world ?

Su Campu

Central Spain should see as low as -12 °C at night, while the south coast could see as low as 0 °C. Single figures during the day. Not great when an appartment doesn't have central heating!

Sponge Bob

In places like France and Spain where they are ill equipped to handle these extremes the excess mortality could be sobering. The excess heat in 2003 killed 15,000 people in France alone and 40,000 across Europe ...in a month.

This cold could last just as long in Eastern Europe. It shows no sign of abating east of the Elbe whatever about a bit of an Atlantic to the west.

Extremes are nasty. That is why I don't like any sort of extreme, especially when it lasts more than a day or three.

Mountainsandh

I think one of the reasons for such a high mortality in France is the loss of community life/involvement. In the big cities, and even in a lot of rural area, people do not look out for each other as they do here most of the time. And so, a lot of elderly people fell victim to the heat, reluctant, or unable/unwilling to ask for help. Unfortunately that might very well happen with the cold too.
Also, the French are very much suffering the effects of the recession as well as us, and heating costs are an issue for a lot of families. My brother in law has been to-ing and fro-ing this winter with 40l barrels to buy some oil for the coldest stretches. When it's not too bad cold-wise, his family make do with the fire downstairs, and electric heaters upstairs.
I hope they're ok, they are in that band that is due to get -21 Friday night.

up for anything

Another warm day in Oymyakon. It seems mild there compared to other places in Russia. I would have thought it would have been doubly cold there.

Oymyakon

M.T. Cranium

http://www.meteociel.fr/

According to reports on this site, 7 cms of snow at the mouth of the Rhone in south of France, zero deg C. And many other remarkable obs and details, try clicking on the elements (left of the map) after looking at the overview.

Some place in Germany called Kahler Astlen is -16 with a -29 wind chill.

Radar is good on this site, covers most of France, Germany and the Benelux or whatever I'm supposed to call them now.

I was looking at obs in Poland and Ukraine back around 0800h and many stations in the mid -20s with some wind chill.

The high over northwest Russia continues to display a very high central pressure, it has been at least 1068 mbs if not higher.

The Siberian high has split since last week, and the eastern Siberia part is gone for the time being, that part drifted into Alaska where it is also bitterly cold this week.

Snow also falling in many parts of Serbia, Bosnia and Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey ... into northern Syria even. A sort of early spring severe storm set-up over Iraq must be a once-a-year event there, could snow in parts of Iran ahead of that. This is a monster cold outbreak, almost too big and trying to go off in all directions, so Ireland not getting much more than a sideswipe from it. London region might be a different story however.

MizDorry

darkman2 wrote: »

It's exceptionally cold siberian airmass getting into areas that even though they are well prepared for Winter normally it's much too severe. The problems really arise when it reaches Spain and Southwest France. Be interesting to see how they handle it. I think the authorities will struggle just as badly if not worse then we did in 2010.

Well, sitting here in Antibes on the Cote D'Azur it's fascinating. We had some snow on Tuesday - a couple of centimetres on higher ground and temperatures here directly on the sea are about 3-4 degrees at the moment. It is forecast at the moment to be -6 on Saturday.

On Tuesday, school buses were cancelled in the afternoon. At the moment, the post has an apology that due to snow deliveries are delayed. Lorries above a certain tonnage are banned from the motorway. By the same token, the pathways into and out of the car park in the port and other sheltered areas have been salted.

The more worrying thing than the actual cold is that the electricity supply is in danger of being cut off. i.e. it's heading into overload as there is only so much available for the region. erk...

If we get any snow, will post photos.

Mountainsandh

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

http://www.meteociel.fr/

According to reports on this site, 7 cms of snow at the mouth of the Rhone in south of France, zero deg C.

Hi MT, I was born and lived most of my childhood in Lyon, although I am now living in Ireland.
While growing up we knew in the winter time, even as kids, that if the "Russian air" was predicted, we'd get snow/cold. We were always told "Lyon gets all the air from Central Europe/further East, and it follows the Rhone down in winter time to the sea." Kind of like the Mistral, but cold ?
My family now live in the Montelimar area, that's still on the Rhone course, in that corridor.
Another wind that heads down from the North to the South West, from what I read, is the Tramontane.

Nice video on the South's experience of snow here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-YnYko1yMw

milanomosher

Not much happening here in central Spain at the moment, a bit chilly (-4 degrees this morning) although the strong wind makes it feel colder, some light snow, but nothing out of the ordinary for the time of year. Forecast is for -9 minimum temp for tomorrow, again nothing unusual, and very little precipitation, if any. A pity cos we're well overdue a decent snowey period. Let's see how it unfolds.

Tom Cruises Left Nut

Euronews has some great pics of this

Making me mad :mad:

Gonzo

Is there likely to be any snowfall for the very south of Spain?Is there any snowfall forcasted for Malaga city and the tourist resorts of Fuengirola, Marbella etc? Im not sure those areas have ever seen snowfall right down the coast at any stage over past 30 years? Many people who live there do not have any form of central heating, ive spent most of my summers there and the best they normally get is the sight of distant snow high up in the mountains during January and February.

milanomosher

No Gonzo, they're not likely to get snowfall on the far south coast, although minimum temps are quite low:

http://www.aemet.es/en/eltiempo/prediccion/municipios/malaga-id29067

So far Cataluña seems likely to take the brunt of the cold.

M.T. Cranium

-29 C at Bialystok, Poland (0500h local) -- clear and calm.

Pa ElGrande

Even the Black Sea is freezing

http://englishrussia.com/2012/02/02/the-black-sea-got-frozen/

pistolpetes11

101 People have perished in UKraine , 160 in Europe


http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0203/weather.html

eskimocat

Those poor people. So sad to hear about some much loss of life from cold... in this day and age, its really upsetting I know extreme weather will have its casualities but it really makes me wonder if more can be done to prevent this level of death?

TheMilkyPirate

t|nt|n wrote: »

Euronews has some great pics of this

Making me mad :mad:

Making me thankful tbh, I love cold and snow. But -29? No thanks.

Calibos

t|nt|n wrote: »

Euronews has some great pics of this

Making me mad :mad:

The Potential was there.........

........just not the geopotential

geetar

baraca wrote: »

Making me thankful tbh, I love cold and snow. But -29? No thanks.

same. i dont think anyone would like what europe is experiencing at the moment.... except for the snow of course...

drdeadlift

Im in Stavanger right now.It snowed all night last night.Its great to wake up to over 1ft of snow in the morning no matter where you are.

nilhg

Well folks, my daughter has just been taken off her much delayed Ryanar flght home from Rome, Ciampino airport has just been shut because of snowfall. They were originally delayed because their plane was late arriving from Genoa again because of snow.

Harps

-37C in Kuusamo, Finland right now, just 3C off its all time record low if wikipedia is correct

snaps

-11c in some parts of the UK (Midlands & south) currently. Strange comparison to Scotland where some stations reporting 10c (Same as here currently)!!

Harps, I would say Kuusamo must be south Finland is it? As -37c for there seems a bit high for a record low temp in Finland??

Some cracking temps in Sweden/Finland at the moment, -41c in Lungby currently, then on west coast of Norway its well above freezing at a balmy 3c!!

My In Laws area in South Poland, currently -26.9c, Poor buggers, live fairly well isolated but for them its no big deal, only risk is the water going, but they have Storage tanks in the middle of the house for emergency water supply, wood fired central heating.