BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum
Our BetterMost Community => Chez Tremblay => Topic started by: Penthesilea on January 09, 2010, 10:36:12 am
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Depression "Daisy" has Europe under icy control. It has been snowing almost everywhere in Europe, and more is in store for us. Especially GB and Ireland are hit hard, because they normally barely get any snow.
Snow, freezing temperatures, hindered traffic, cancelled flights, closed airports, people are stocking up on canned food, schools are closed, British parents fight over the last sleds in shops, and so on. Yep, it's winter everywhere in Europe :).
Cold snap blankets Europe, Britain
http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/01/09/12401561-sun.html (http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/01/09/12401561-sun.html)
PARIS -- A European cold snap -- awfully cold in some places -- saw snow clog roads and airports yesterday, knock out electricity and induce hoorays from schoolchildren kept home from school. The low temperatures, prompted by an Arctic weather system, are set to continue through the weekend.
Britain, already deep in its longest cold spell in nearly 30 years, registered its chilliest night yet this season: -22.3C in the Scottish Highlands village of Altnaharra.
British authorities have used up so much grit on icy roads that yesterday they started to run out, leaving thousands of secondary roads and sidewalks untreated.
Gatwick Airport officials said 18,000 tonnes of snow had been removed from runways in recent days. A dozen flights were cancelled out of Marseille-Provence airport in southern France. France's busiest airport, Charles de Gaulle, planned to cancel 25% of its flights today.
SHIVERING
In France, snow piled up from Normandy to Marseilles on the Mediterranean shore. Some 30 cm of snow fell on Arles and Avignon in southern France, and snowdrifts piled higher than a metre. Snowstorms cut electricity to thousands of homes.
Much of Spain was also shivering. And heavy rains caused flooding across central and southern Italy. Northern Italy was blanketed by snow, while Venice faced the "acqua alta" phenomenon -- exceptionally high tides which cause flooding.
In Sweden, temperatures dropped to -38.7C. In Norway, the mercury dropped yesterday to -42C at Roros airport, in central Norway -- the coldest temperature measured since 1987.
For parents from Britain to Berlin, the biggest challenge hasn't been snow-choked roads but finding a sled.
Manufacturers of all types of snow-slipping vehicles, from wooden-runner sleds to plastic bobsleds with breaks, are thrilled at the boom.
"There hasn't been a run on sleds like this since at least 25 years," said Michael Ress, owner of a sled factory in Schwebheim, Germany.
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(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47484-galleryV9-qror.jpg)
Knutsford, GB
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47481-galleryV9-pfuk.jpg)
St. Boswell, Scotland
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47480-galleryV9-kxjg.jpg)
San Hilari de Sacalm, Spain
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47478-galleryV9-ppnp.jpg)
Kahler Asten, Germany
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47476-galleryV9-cism.jpg)
Versailles, France
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(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47475-galleryV9-pnhm.jpg)
Sliznevo, Russia (well, no surprise there)
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47471-galleryV9-sdij.jpg)
Hamburg, Germany What a tragedy. Every day we get news about homeless people having frozen to death :(.
(Just to be safe: this man is not dead and he got help. I wouldn't post the picture otherwise. Doesn't make the horror any smaller though :-\)
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47470-galleryV9-wqqp.jpg)
Autobahn near Stuttgart, Germany Those who ever have been on a German Autobahn know how extraordinary this picture is
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47573-galleryV9-ftvr.jpg)
Campomanes, Spain
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(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/image-47588-galleryV9-phem.jpg)
Steinhuder Meer, Germany
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/HBXXPkTg_Pxgen_r_467xA.jpg)
London
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/HB3EEByJ_Pxgen_r_467xA.jpg)
Paris
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My little village in the Palatinate, south-west Germany :):
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/CIMG7351.jpg)
Mäxi is enjoying the snow
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/CIMG7354.jpg)
17 centimeters (6.8 inches) in my backyard. It's more in the open fields.
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/CIMG7363.jpg)
Walking the dog in winter wonderland. The kids were having fun with the sled, pulled by their daddy and the dog.
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/CIMG7366.jpg)
(http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss192/Penthesilea09/Familie/CIMG7368.jpg)
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Wow Chrissi, you've been busy travelling the last couple of days!! ;D
But seriously, it's terrible conditions in those places where the infrastructure isn't prepared
to deal with all the snow and the low temps. And for people who aren't either.
Love the pic with Mäxi's white snout! And 17 cm, wow!!
Here, in very southern Sweden, we only have a little snow, like a few cm in the town where I live, but it's colder than normal. Nothing extreme though.
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Oh yes, I forgot to mention:
I had a ticket to go to London on Wednesday, to meet up with some of the UK brokies.
But alas, Gatwick was closed and the flights were all cancelled.
So no brokie meet for me..... :'( :'( :'( :'(
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They're lovely pictures. Thanks! :)
Of course, being originally from Timmins, where nearly every Christmas the temperatures don't get much higher than -30c (even though it's below the 49th parallel), I have difficulty feeling for ya all. This year, though it snowed a little nearly every day, the temperatures were quite mild - even getting above freezing on a couple of days.
Vancouver has frequent small amounts of snow falls (as little as 4cm) that usually closes down the city!
A few years ago, Toronto had record snow fall amounts (as did the American northwest). I was a teacher in a school where most kids are bussed in (not a lot of francophones in Toronto). There must have been as many as 5 days when there was no bus service (but teachers had to show up anyways). A normal winter, in the previous 10-15 years had not had more than one 'snow' day per year.
No matter how pretty it all is (and I love the looks of all your photos), come February we're all pretty sick of it all.
Concerning Mäxi, yea, it's been my experience that dogs can't get enough of the fresh white stuff (but Tache, my cat, just hates it when I {even rarely} put him outside, even for just a few minutes.)
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Oh yes, I forgot to mention:
I had a ticket to go to London on Wednesday, to meet up with some of the UK brokies.
But alas, Gatwick was closed and the flights were all cancelled.
So no brokie meet for me..... :'( :'( :'( :'(
S*it! But you did get your money back??
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S*it! But you did get your money back??
Hopefully.
They gave me a choice between rescheduling withing 30 days, which I can't because I don't have any free weekends the next month, and getting a refund. I ticked the refund, so hopefully will get it soon.
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My little village in the Palatinate, south-west Germany :
Mäxi is enjoying the snow
beutiful pictures chrissi. and what a lovely dog.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention:
I had a ticket to go to London on Wednesday, to meet up with some of the UK brokies.
But alas, Gatwick was closed and the flights were all cancelled.
and i feel so sorry for you sonja, missing out on brokiemeeting, and london as well. hope you will get a another chance soon. now i know, its not far to the prince of persia, so that will be fun!
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Thanks Sophia. Yes, it was a disappointmen for us all, but we'll probably try to do it later in spring instead.
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Wow, great pictures, Chrissi!
Here in the Rocky Mountains, we've had snow since Christmas, but with the thermometer about to hit 60 F today, it is starting to melt!
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Great Photos Chrissi.. there has been snow on the ground here for over three weeks now, which is unheard of! (I was expecting it to be all gone after being away fro ten days but no, its still here!)
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Thanks everybody for your FB :).
Sonja, what a bummer that you missed a Brokie meet due to the weather! Hope the refund will go quick and smooth.
We didn't get any more snow, in contrast to the forecasts. Now they predict temps a few degrees above the freezing point, so it'll thaw here, too.
Yesterday all schools were closed in the federal countries of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. My children were jealous! :laugh:
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Heh, I'm obviousy beomcing a facebook addict.. I was like FB = Facebook. Eh!? But then I realised you meant feedback!!!