ABC 7 | Jan 6, 2010

WASHINGTON – Somebody turn the heat up outside. Gusty 20 mile per hour winds continue to keep Washington D.C. In a deep freeze.

Below average temperatures and wind chills in the 20s make a brief walk outside nearly unbearable.

“I enjoyed the big snowstorm in December. It was fun to have it…but this is not a lot of fun,” said resident Kim Green.

“Just layer up and prepare yourself for a long winter,” added resident Rhonda Chase.

The season is less than a month old and already the region has endured a blizzard that dumped two feet of snow in our region and a lengthy cold snap.

Malcolm Taylor, 49, is homeless and trying to warm up this afternoon in a drop in center in south Arlington.

“It hasn’t been pleasant at all. I’m trying to stay out of the wind as much as possible and just trying to stay dry and warm,” Taylor said.

And the weather is only going to get worse this weekend, prompting some homeless shelters to stay open around the clock.

“What we see is that people are obviously coming in because they need to get out of the cold, they need to get warmer clothes, they need to get some food and they need shelter,” said Kathy Sibert with the Arlington Street People’s Asst. Network.

ABC 7 Reporter Suzanne Kennedy spoke with tourists from Australia who left summer down under for a cold visit to the nation’s capital.

“It’s just freezing. Everyone said it would be cold but we weren’t prepared for actually how cold it is,” said Nikki Rose, a tourist.

“I’m pretty good that I bought some thermals…it would be pretty tough without them,” said Hamish Wyllie, a tourist.

Blowing smoke (from the tailpipe of a nearby truck), a “Frozen Gore” sculpture parodies the former Vice President in Fairbanks, Alaska — ice sculpture capital of the U.S. Photo: Craig Compeau

A two-ton ice sculpture of former Vice President Al Gore is back in front of a Fairbanks liquor store.

AP | Jan 6, 2010

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Another two-ton ice sculpture of former Vice President Al Gore is back in front of a Fairbanks liquor store.

“Frozen Gore” is a dig at Gore’s beliefs about climate change.

The first statue went on display last year. This year’s version is hooked up to the exhaust of a pickup truck to make it appear Gore is spouting hot air.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the smoke drew laughs from a crowd Tuesday as a Gore speech on climate change played over a loudspeaker.

The sculpture was commissioned by two businessmen, Craig Compeau and Rudy Gavora, who want Gore to discuss global warming in Fairbanks.

“We don’t agree with his theories — we’re suspicious of the financial motivation behind them,” Compeau said.

Last year’s inaugural Gore ice sculpture got national attention, including mentions on The Drudge Report, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.

Compeau said his Web site with photos and information about the sculpture attracted 1.7 million visitors. He also was swamped with mostly positive e-mails from people who found the sculpture entertaining.

Climate change scientists say Alaska has warmed by 3 degrees Fahrenheit during the past 50 years. The average temperature for 2009 was 27.8 degrees in Fairbanks, about one degree warmer than normal, said Rick Thoman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Stuck: A farmer with his stranded tractor in Denshaw near Oldham, Greater Manchester

Daily Mail | Jan 7, 2010

By Vanessa Allen and Steve Doughty

Arctic weather is tightening its stranglehold on the country, with forecasters predicting sub-zero temperatures beyond the weekend.

It could mean more of the snowstorms which brought chaos to large parts of the country yesterday.

Hospitals cancelled non-essential operations and the Army was drafted in to rescue motorists as a further 18in (47cm) of snow fell in some places.

Business leaders said three million people missed work in the worst-hit areas, an absence rate of about 50 per cent.

Many were parents forced to take time off because more than 10,000 schools were closed.

The freezing weather has already cost businesses an estimated £690million, and experts fear economic output could be hit by as much as £14billion over the next three weeks if the bad weather continues.

More than a foot of snow fell across the Home Counties as temperatures dipped to –10c in the South and to –13c in Scotland.

Forecasters said the cold spell was the worst for almost 30 years and warned that temperatures could drop to –20c in parts of Scotland this weekend.

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Going nowhere: The A3 in Horndean, Hampshire was closed this morning after 1,000 motorists were stuck in their cars overnight and hundreds of vehicles were abandoned

Army drafted in to rescue 1,000 stranded motorists

Councils warn they have little more than a day’s grit supply

Daily Mail | Jan 6, 2010

By Sophie Freeman

Up to 1,000 stranded motorists had to be rescued by the Army today after some of the heaviest snowfalls in 20 years left drivers trapped in their cars overnight.

Among those stranded without food and water on the A3 in Hampshire was a heavily-pregnant woman and her baby daughter.

Millions of people across Britain were unable to get to work this morning as snowstorms caused massive disruptions on the roads and railways.

Thousands of schools remain closed, while major airports have been forced to ground flights as snow ploughs try desperately to clear runways of snow and ice.

More than 16 inches (40cm) of snow has fallen in the hills of north east England and the Scottish borders, while 12 inches (30.5cm) was recorded in Berkshire. Parts of the Northern Highlands recorded 18.5 inches (47cm).

The Met Office said southern England could see another six inches (15cm) this afternoon, with the ‘treacherous’ weather lasting for up to ten more days.

The Army, drafted in to save 1,000 drivers stranded on the A3, used military trucks and Land Rovers to rescue those trapped in a ten-mile jam on the trunk road at Waterlooville.

But some of the trapped motorists claimed they received no help at all and that ‘no one knew what was going on’.

Carla Holt said she and her 13-month-old daughter Lily-May were stuck for 12 hours in the freezing conditions. She said she received no support from the police overnight and was only able to leave the road when it was partially cleared at 6.30am today.

The 23-year-old said: ‘We went through hell. I am eight months pregnant, I couldn’t go to the toilet all night, I couldn’t warm the bottle up for my baby daughter. It was very frightening.

‘There were loads of cars parked up, just on the motorway. No-one knew what was going on – there was no-one to help.

‘We didn’t see any police, we’ve heard that the Army is out but we didn’t see anyone – it’s not very good really.”

She had set off for Heathrow Airport in West Sussex at 5.30pm yesterday and didn’t arrive until 8am today.

Ms Holt’s father, Mark, attempted to reach his daughter but was prevented from driving up the A3 beause it had been closed because of the weather.

He said: ‘It took my daughter 15 hours to get home and no-one came to help her, they didn’t see anyone.’

Another stranded motorist, named only as Clive, had been trying to travel from Guildford to Locks Heath.

He told BBC Radio Solent that he had been stuck in his car overnight.

‘There must be hundreds and hundreds of cars stuck,’ he said. ‘People have been just turning their engines off and falling asleep.

‘I just pulled a couple of jackets over me and tried to sleep. The worst thing was no-one knew what was going on.’

Other motorists who were rescued took refuge in hotels close to the dual carriageway and Hampshire County Council set up a series of rest centres, which were manned by St John’s Ambulance volunteers.

Military personnel from Thorney Island, near Emsworth, Southwick Park, near Portsmouth, and Aldershot were involved in the operation.

The coldest places in Britain last night were Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, where temperatures dropped to -13C (9F) and Marham, Norfolk, where the mercury dropped to -10.3C (14F), according to forecasters Meteogroup.

The Met Office said its weather station at Odiham, Hampshire, had recorded nine-and-a-half inches (24cm) of snow by 7am this morning. A spokesman said snow was still falling there and was likely to continue until lunchtime, boosting the depth to as much as 12in (30cm).

A spokesman for West Berkshire Council said nearly 12 inches (30cm) had fallen near Reading today, while the Scottish ski resort of Aviemore has had nearly 19in (48cm).

A spokesman for the Met Office said this morning that parts of the South could see another 15cm of snow falling today, with 5-10cm expected in London.

He warned that as night falls the skies will clear and plunging temperatures would lead to ‘treacherous’ icy conditions.

‘We are looking at temperatures of -2C in London with parts of England and Wales falling to -8C or -9C,’ he said.

‘It’s going to be treacherous, with widespread ice. There will be no let up in the cold weather for the next ten days.’

Sleet or snow will continue in the far South East tomorrow, with further wintry showers spreading to eastern England and Scotland.

A woman was killed on the A1 in North Yorkshire this morning after she was struck by a lorry on the snowy dual carriageway. The road was closed for hours after the collision at around 2.30am near Catterick Garrison. The woman is said to live locally and police have yet to release her identity.

An elderly man died after his Morris Minor spun out of control on an icy road in Titchfield, Hampshire yesterday evening.

In Oxford, a six-year-old boy is fighting for his life in hospital after falling though an icy pond at his home. Thomas Hudson is thought to have been trapped in the water for as long as half an hour.

In Preston, Lancashire, a 10-year-old girl had a miraculous escape after a car skidded on ice and flew over her head, missing her by inches.

Emilie Pease was playing in the snow on her drive when the Vauxhall Vectra collided with a wall, flipped into the air and landed next to her last night.

The car then pushed over a neighbour’s Nissan Micra before coming to a halt on its side inches from the front window. Another car then collided with the Vauxhall.

And in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, an eight-year-old boy was airlifted to hospital for a life-saving kidney transplant after the family’s car got stuck in snow.

His parents had received a call in the early hours of this morning informing them that a suitable organ had been found, but they were forced to call police after their journey was halted by the treacherous weather.

The air ambulance landed in a nearby field at 9.15am today and the boy was whisked away for his crucial operation. He arrived at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, seven minutes later and was immediately prepped for theatre.

Millions have been caught up in chaos across the UK in what is now the longest cold spell since 1981. Forecasters have warned that the freeze could go on for at least another week, making it the worst for a century.

Police across the UK are warning people not to drive unless their journeys are essential.

Several forces have also expressed concerns about people phoning the emergency services regarding snowball incidents.

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police is urging residents to only dial 999 in a real emergency.

‘Historically, a large proportion of calls received have been in connection with snowballing incidents which is clearly an avoidable demand on our resources and can easily be avoided with the use of common sense,’ he said.

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Florida Citrus Growers Scramble as Southeast Braces for Second Wave of Cold Air

ABC | Jan 5, 2010

By MATT GUTMAN

MIAMI, Fla. – Arctic air tumbling into much of the Southeast U.S. has farmers in central Florida scrambling to protect crops, and people from Texas to Virginia bracing for a second wave of sub-freezing weather.

In Florida, strawberry, beans, squash and other crops risk significant damage from extended freezes, but most eyes are on the billion-dollar-a-year citrus industry.

The National Weather service has forecast temperatures plunging below the zero mark from the Great Plains to the Northeast, and into the 20s in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, where it has issued hard freeze watches.

It is one of the longest cold snaps in decades, and lows in some parts of Florida tonight are set to break records.

Watch More on the Cold Weather Tonight on ABC’s ‘World News with Diane Sawyer.’

Bob Norberg, the chief economist for the Florida Department of Citrus said, “From the forecast that I’ve seen, we’re right on the edge of crop damaging weather versus not having an impact.”

The $400 million-a-year strawberry industry could also be vulnerable.

Temperatures under 28 degrees sustained for over four hours can cause significant crop damage, said Norberg. The nearly week-long cold spell is the longest endured in Florida since 2001, according to the National Weather Service.

Kay Subick, scampering from plant to plant at her Lucas Nursery in Oviedo, Fla., said she’s sold out of thermal blankets designed to cover plants. She’d taken as many of her own plants as she could indoors and left the rest to the elements. She thinks several types of plants and highly cultivated gardens in the state would likely suffer, along with the crops.

“So we’re taking inside as much as we possibly can. We’re covering, we are also spraying with frost protection.”

Sleep-deprived farmers are doing the same, cranking open their irrigation systems during the coldest part of night — the pre-dawn hours. The developing mist and the formation of ice generate heat, which can insulate large swaths of orange groves. The frozen condensation on fruit and blossoms does the same, encasing the fruit in what farmers like to call a miniature igloo, keeping the fruit inside above 28 degrees — warm enough to survive.

Full Story

Fox | Jan 5, 2010

MIAMI  —  The Orange Bowl is chilled.

Tuesday night’s matchup between Iowa and Georgia Tech is the coldest Orange Bowl ever, with the kickoff temperature 49 degrees and a northwest wind making it feel seven degrees cooler.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service say wind chills across South Florida will be in the 30s by game’s end, part of the region’s worst cold snap in a decade. Temperatures across the region have been about 20 degrees colder than normal for several days.

The previous Orange Bowl low was 57 degrees, set two years ago for the matchup between Kansas and Virginia Tech.

Bloomberg | Jan 5, 2010

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) — Temperatures in northern China may fall to the lowest in half a century, threatening to disrupt transportation system and power supplies.

Beijing temperatures are forecast to drop as low as minus 16 degrees Celsius (3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) tonight, according to the China Meteorological Administration. Northern China may have 50-year low temperatures today, China Central Television reported yesterday.

Schools in the Chinese capital were shut after it was hit by the heaviest daily snowfall since 1951 on Jan. 3, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Premier Wen Jiabao called on local authorities that same day to ensure food supplies, agricultural production and the safety of transportation, Xinhua reported.

Snowfalls have hampered transportation of coal to power plants in the eastern province of Shandong, reducing inventories of the fuel in the region to 2.7 million metric tons, enough for less than nine days of consumption, the Dazhong Daily newspaper reported today. That’s below the recommended minimum level of 15 days, it said.

Reduced coal supplies are threatening the “stable operations” at power stations in Shandong, the daily reported.

Power-station coal stockpiles are falling in northern, eastern and central China because of weather-related disruption to deliveries of the fuel, the China Business News reported yesterday.

Limiting Electricity

Some cities started to limit electricity supply because of reduced coal stockpiles, the newspaper reported, citing an unidentified official from the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Beijing Capital International Airport had re-opened all of its three runways by 12 p.m. local time yesterday, the China National Radio reported. The airport canceled more than 500 flights, CCTV reported. Fifteen highways in northern China remained closed as of 4 p.m. yesterday because of snow, according to the Ministry of Transportation.

Elementary and middle schools in the Chinese capital and the neighboring city of Tianjin were also shut because of snow and low temperatures, the city governments said.

A train from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia’s capital, to Tongliao city resumed operation at 5:53 p.m. yesterday after being stuck for 21 hours because of snow, the National Radio said.

Parts of Hunan and Jiangxi province may be hit by heavy snow today, according to the weather bureau. The provinces of Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning, Hunan and Jiangxi may have snow tomorrow, the administration said.

Beijing is forecast to be sunny today and tomorrow, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

Suburban areas of the Chinese capital received more than 33 centimeters (13 inches) of snow on Jan. 3, the Beijing Daily reported. Tianjin got as much as 20 centimeters of snow, CCTV reported.

Forecast: Coldest winter in 25 years

buffalo.bizjournals.com | Jan 5, 2010

by Thomas Hartley

Western New Yorkers were lamenting last year’s lost summer when a national meteorologist warned that winter 2009-2010 could be the coldest and snowiest for the Northeast in more than five years.

Upon further review, an updated forecast from the same prognosticator, AccuWeather.com chief meteorologist Joe Bastardi in State College, Pa., is worse: It could be the worst winter in 25 years, he says.

With nearly the entire eastern half of the United States currently in the grip of a bitter cold wave not felt since 1985, Bastardi’s long-range forecast does nothing to warm anyone’s heart or body.

“It’ll be like the great winters of the ‘60s and ‘70s,” said Bastardi, who hinted last July that the current winter would be a cold one.

Those words must send a shiver through longtime Western New Yorkers who undoubtedly remember those as the decades when historic snowstorms blanketed the region.

Bastardi says that while the upcoming days will bring cold not seen since 1985 or 1982, he believes that this winter is shaping up much like that of 1977-1978. That winter, much of the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains had a cold October, followed by a warm November and then a cold December — very similar to the pattern for the final three months of 2009.

Bloomberg | Jan 5, 2010

By Ben Farey

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) — U.K. natural gas for immediate delivery rose as Britain remains in the grip of freezing conditions after experiencing its coldest December since 1995.

Gas for delivery today gained 1.6 pence, or 3.6 percent, to 46.5 pence a therm. That’s equal to $7.44 a million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus. The contract jumped as much as 81 percent yesterday to 62 pence a therm when a supply shortfall and high heating demand forced the network manager to issue a so-called gas balancing alert.

December was the coldest since 1995, Barry Gromett, a spokesman for the U.K.’s Met Office, said by telephone from Exeter, southwest England.

“It stays cold for the foreseeable future into next week,” Gromett said. Gas for tomorrow rose 1.45 pence to 46.5 pence a therm.

U.K. gas demand may climb to 448.7 million cubic meters in the 24 hours through 6 a.m. tomorrow, according to National Grid Plc, the network manager. That’s about 97 million more than normal for the time of year. National Grid may issue another alert to signal the need for more supplies or a cut in gas usage if demand is forecast to reach 449.6 million cubic meters.

“There’s no indication we’ll be issuing one today,” Ross Hayman, a National Grid spokesman, said by telephone. The situation will be kept under review, he said.

Average temperatures in London may drop to minus 5 degrees Celsius (23 Fahrenheit) on Jan. 7 from 0 degrees today, CustomWeather Inc. data show. Colder weather will raise demand for heating.

Gas for the rest of the working week climbed 3 pence to 46 pence a therm. The February contract increased 1.45 pence to 37.25 pence a therm.

Baboons at Knowsley Safari Park try to keep warm with hot potatoes. Photograph: Knowsley Safari Park/PA

Guardian | Jan 6, 2010

by Matthew Taylor and Sam Jones

Much of the UK was blanketed in heavy snow this morning as the extreme weather headed south and forecasters warned that the country was on course for its coldest winter in 30 years.

The Met Office issued an alert warning that nearly half a metre of snow was due to fall in some areas, while freezing conditions spread after having brought chaos to the north of England and Scotland today.

Tony Waters, the Met Office chief forecaster, said: “This is expected to cause disruption to transport networks and could lead to problems with power supplies.”

A spokesman for the prime minister said the government was doing all it could.

“The weather is taking a turn for the worse,” he said. “The Highways Agency has kept the vast majority of major road networks running. We are in close contact with local authorities and it is a situation we will keep a very close eye on.”

Forecasters say that the cold snap, which began in mid-December, is the longest since 1981. And they warned there was no end in sight.

“I would normally be loth to look beyond five to seven days, but the way the conditions are set at the moment I think the cold weather is not going to change for some time,” said Stephen Davenport, senior meteorologist at MeteoGroup. “I will stick my neck out and say it will be here for a couple of weeks and possibly longer.”

If the freezing conditions continued for the rest of the month, he said, the UK would be on course for its coldest winter since 1979. The snow was expected to hit southern counties of England, with almost 40cm predicted to fall on Salisbury Plain overnight. Heavy snow was also expected across London and parts of Wales.

Waters said yesterday: “The heaviest snowfall this evening and tonight is expected across parts of Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire – where fresh snowfall of 15 to 20cm is expected widely, and locally in excess of 30cm. This is expected to cause disruption to transport networks and could lead to problems with power supplies.”

The National Grid issued a rare warning to power suppliers to use less gas yesterday after a 30% rise on normal seasonal demand. It has urged power firms to switch to coal, and order more gas supplies from Belgium and Norway.

The business secretary, Lord Mandelson, told the BBC it was “a time of special pressure on the grid” but did not address claims from the Conservatives that Britain has only eight days’ worth of gas storage left.

Meanwhile stockpiles of gritting salt held by councils for roads are running thin. Emergency deliveries were made to Fife council in Scotland, and in Wales Pembrokeshire council warned that gritting lorries were struggling to cope with the “extraordinary” conditions.

Derek Turner, network operations director at the Highways Agency, said: “We are working flat out to keep our roads safe and serviceable for use. However, it is very important to drive appropriately for the conditions; even when roads are treated and appear ice- and snow-free, they should still be negotiated with care.”

Workers at Winsford rock salt mine in Cheshire said they were unable to meet the unprecedented demand despite pre-winter deliveries being completed.

“The worst continuous spell of severe weather for 20 years has led to massive additional demand. We would obviously like to be able to fulfil every authority’s needs in full, but the reality of the situation at present is that that is simply not possible,” the Winsford Salt unions said.

The mine is capable of extracting 30,000 tonnes of rock salt per week, but local councils in England are spreading that amount on the roads every day in an attempt to keep traffic flowing.

A Local Government Association spokesman insisted that councils, which are responsible for gritting many A roads as well as minor and town roads, were prepared: “As far as we are aware there are sufficient supplies of salt in the country to deal with the current cold snap. How much grit each council holds depends on local circumstances and how much bad weather they tend to get.”