Topic: How's the weather?

[Blair]

The United States has had an unexpected, extended cold snap the past few weeks (global warming? Psh!) and here in the south is supposedly coming another big one. The temperature here dropped 15 degrees from yesterday, and the worst hasn't hit us yet, which is supposed to be tomorrow.

Because we aren't used to extended cold temperatures, we are also not used to driving on slick, iced-over roads. A few nights ago there were 11 near-simultaneous wrecks within a few miles of each other. Granted that has been the worst of it, but, again, what is coming up tomorrow is supposed to be worse (so much so that my doctor's appointment north of here and some events both in town and south of here were all postponed.

So anyway... how are things elsewhere in the world?

[Piffi]

I read about that in the news! Be safe you Americans out there! Here in Norway where i live (A small town. 50.000 people here) we've actually had a record warm and dry winter so far. Usually it snows alot and we have between -1 & -8 C, but now the coldest its been here is 1+ C. And almost no snow. And it will be like this for a while. Weird really. But i cant complain tho, i really love summertime and the sun & heat. Not too big of a fan of the snow really :\

[Tom]

(global warming? Psh!)

So anyway... how are things elsewhere in the world?

We have here (Munich) a very mild winter so far. We only had snow for a few days altogether. It snowed again this weekend (the first time since beginning of December) and the snow is already almost gone again.

[Piffi]

Isnt it great when the snow is at a minimum? (or is that just me?)

[Achim]

We have a rather cold winter here in north Taiwan. Temperatures as low as 10°C ().


Seriously though, it is a rather normal winter after all. When it is REALLY, REALLY cold here, we could have down to 5°C; not sure I have had that in the past 17 years. Of course, with many places having no heating, that also means there is down to 10°C inside, which then ultimately makes it all feel colder than it should.

[DSig]

I remember the 3 years i was lucky enough to live in Munich.  Christmas time in the city center, all the booths and the wines .. ummm nice way to live

[Kathy]

We've had a blizzard, an unseasonable thaw that caused flooding and a stretch of cold weather breaking records from 1976. No problems getting around though, Buffalo is well equipped to handle it all.

Here's an amazing video that one homeowner took when his basement started flooding:
http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/local/2014/01/22/wgrz-west-seneca-flood/4789433/

[Blair]

Thankfully it has been nothing like that here, Kathy, nor as bad as they had predicted for this area. I feel bad for people who end up with severe damage to their homes but much more so for the homeless in this type of weather.

Right now it's 22°F (-5.5°C) and I am still walking around in shorts and short sleeves because the wind has been very mild. (I am obviously also a very hot-natured person.) The freeze-over that we got last night is dripping into the gutters, so despite freezing temps it's still melting.

[DJ Doena]

I live in the Rhine valley and so far I haven't seen a single snow flake this whole "winter". In fact so far we didn't have a single sub zero (°C of course) day. Some nights get a bit below 0°C (32°F) though.

[hal9g]

Atlanta has been a complete nightmare since yesterday afternoon after two inches of snow over a layer of ice completely paralyzed the city!  People were stuck on the highways for over 16 hours and some still haven't gotten home from yesterday afternoon!  Hundreds of accidents didn't help. Temperature will barely get above freezing today (33 F) but then low 20s tonight will freeze everything over again. We've had the coldest winter here since I've lived here (31 years).

[DJ Doena]

Winter has finally come.

Last night we had in some places up to 4 meters (13 feet!!!) new snow!!!

See here:

(click to show/hide)

And it's almost 1/10 inch high!

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

 
I just hope your community's winter-service was alerted early enough so they could send someone with a handful of salt.

[Eommen]

Winter has finally come.

Last night we had in some places up to 4 meters (13 inches!!!) new snow!!!

See here:

(click to show/hide)

And it's almost 1/10 inch high!

Confusing thumbs ("inches") with feet?  

Actually, current bad weather spots in Europe are currently Austria (1+ meter of snow in 24h blocking roads, rail, etc. ) and the southwest of England (seriously flooded areas after much rainfall and more rain predicted for the weekend).

On England: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25973344
Some Austrian pictures (it is on a Dutch site): http://www.metronieuws.nl/nieuws/foto-s-zwaarste-sneeuwval-in-100-jaar-in-oostenrijk/SrZnaE!dx0QqQj5BdZVU/

[DJ Doena]

Confusing thumbs ("inches") with feet?  

Yup.

[DJ Doena]

What I always find fascinating about the yearly weather reports from the US is this.

I was born in Berlin and now live in Herxheim.

Berlin is on lattitude 52° 31′ N
Herxheim is on lattitude  49° 9′ N

To put this into perspective:

Vancouver: 49° 17′ N
Montreal: 45° 30′ N
Ottawa: 45° 25′ N
Toronto: 43° 40′ N

So, Berlin is way north of all major Canadian cities (and thus the entire US*), e.g. ~777km = 483 mi north of Montreal and Ottawa.
1° lattitude is 111 km = 69 mi
Herxheim is about the same lattitude than the northern-most major Canadian city.

And yet we've never had such snow storms that were reported from the US.

Let's hope the North Atlantic Current is never actually breaking down.

*Except Alaska of course:

Juneau: 58° 21′ N
Anchorage:  61° 13′ N