Brrrr... China Suffers Coldest Winter in 100 Years
G-G-G-Goodness, it's Ch-Ch-Ch-Chilly!
A motorcyclist passes a snow-covered region in Pingshi, China's northern Guangdong province, more than 300 km (186 miles) north of Guangzhou, China, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008. Workers rushed to restore power Tuesday to regions of China hard-hit by snow and ice storms, in a struggle that state media said has already cost the lives of 11 electricians. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Reuters reported:
Millions remained stranded in China on Monday ahead of the biggest holiday of the year as parts of the country suffered their coldest winter in a century.
Freezing weather has killed scores of people and left travelers stranded before the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival -- the only opportunity many people have for a holiday all year.
It has also brought China unwanted negative publicity six months before the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
President Hu Jintao chaired an emergency Politburo meeting on Sunday for the second time in a week to discuss rescue efforts.
"We have to be clear-minded that the inclement weather and severe disaster will continue to plague certain regions in the south," said a statement issued after Sunday's meeting. "Relief work will continue to face challenges, posing a tough task."
The China Meteorological Administration said the weather was the coldest in 100 years in central Hubei and Hunan provinces, going by the total number of consecutive days of average temperature less than 1 degree Celsius (33.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
People make their way in snow in Chenzhou in China's southern Hunan province Monday, Feb. 4, 2008. The city of four million has been without electricity for ten days. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Previously:
Brrrr... Antarctica Records Record High Ice Cap Growth
Brrrr... South America Has Coldest Winter in a 90 Years
Brrrr... Iraqis See First Snow in 100 Years As Sign of Peace
Brrrr... Worst Snowstorms in a Decade in China Cause Rioting
Brrrr... Jerusalem Grinds to a Halt As Rare Snowstorm Blasts City
Brrrr... Worst Snowstorms in 50 Years Continue to Cripple China
posted by Gateway Pundit at 2/05/2008 11:46:00 AM
8 Comments:
Yeah, but can you imagine how cold it would be in China (and all those other places), if it was not for the reality of manmade global warming?
Since the science is settled about manmade global warming, we can only be thankful for it. Stop manmade global warming! Oh-oh! Will that mean it will be even colder? Oh-oh!
It would seem that global dimming has re-asserted itself; or maybe sun spot cycles; or anti-global warming. It's so hard to keep up.
Methinks the Doctor has misdiagnosed the whole 'Global Warming' cause.
Could it be that reduction in pollution has caused the observed warming trend over the last 30 years instead of CO2? This explains the China Paradox and seems to match observed shorter term cycles like the Weekend Effect.
I took on the topic last year here:
Particulate Reduction
Actually it was exactly 1 year ago today... lol.
I haven't seen one media source yet mention that Shanghai, which is among the farthest places north that had snow, is situated near the same latitude as New Orleans.
Guanzhou is a little north of Cuba.
The weather patterns are different, but still.
jimmy: "Could it be that reduction in pollution has caused the observed warming trend over the last 30 years instead of CO2?"
No, it has not to be that at all!
Actually the man made global dimming is an hypothesis (okay, volcanoes can result in a cold earth, but do we know how much and for how long? ...historically large volcanoes are also on another scale) not unlike the hypothesis of large man made global warming I think.
First look at temperature variation last 1500 years in the diagram here. This is from the northern of Sweden, but i shows that the variation in temperature often has been very large in a short period of time several times 1500 years back in history, and that is also shown in the very good Loehle diagram. The first diagram from northern Sweden is tree ring proxy data. The (I think quite sensational) Loehle diagram consists of several of the best non-tree ring data around the world (posts with details about Loehle at ClimateAudit). (The Loehle's graph is reconstructed and commented by Gavin Schmidt at RealClimate, and then corrected.)
Actually the sun activity has a quite good correlation to climate tha last 50 years (despite a bad done article from Lockwood and Fröhlish recently). I believe there is a very high possibility of two weak sun cycles the coming 25 years, which will cool the earth significantly. 0,5 degrees or more.
I live in northern Hunan Province and thought I would share my personal experience. From my point of view the problems do not come from extreme weather but from no one being prepared for it, me included.
Usually we have snow once or twice a year, we wake up and see the white and it is lovely but it is usually gone by the afternoon. This time we had only 3 or 4 inches of snow at any time but the ice was bad. There is no snow/ice removal equipment. Drivers do not know how to drive in these kinds of conditions.
I had no water for 8 days because of frozen pipes. I finally got desperate/smart and poured 2 small kettles of hot water on the pipes and water flowed. From then on I left it dripping. A simple solution for a very uncomfortable situation.
In the north of China everyone has coal powered central heat. In the south we don't. I have an air conditioner that makes some heat, but not enough for 2 rooms and the kitchen and bathroom. My bathroom and kitchen were 4c, another room 6c, another 9c.
My windows were very leaky. I put plastic on one and it bubbled out into the room about 18", showing how much north wind was coming in and how much warm air was going out. I then convinced a company to install another set of windows. I had to really make them feel sorry for me. They did not want to do it. It really made a difference.
I was still cold enough to have to wear 4 layers of woolen clothing.
Finally I bought a space heater and it helps a lot. Temps have gone up a little and I can feel the difference with the new windows. I am comfortable now.
In other places ice pulled down power lines. One city of 4 million in Hunan have not had power or water for 2 weeks now. But poor people burn bricks of coal in their homes and would not use the electricity for heat anyway.
They do not have the knowledge or resources to buy space heaters or windows. But they are resilient and patient.
I used to live in Guangzhou, about an 8 minute walk from that train station where 800,000 people were gathered. I'm so happy to now be cozy in my little home in Hunan.
Stay warm JFarreast.
It sounds like a horrible mess.
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