Ice floes on the Danube in Budapest, as seen on February 11, 2012.
Image: Flickr/adambotond
The Best Science Writing Online 2012
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Just how extraordinary has this winter been in Europe? The Danube river has frozen, for one.
Europeans have been shivering under a blanket of cold air that has sent temperatures plummeting and snows drifting. Across the continent, hundreds have died from exposure to the cold.
The Danube's freezing is just one of many severe winter events in the continent this year. Heavy snowfall has blocked roads and stranded towns in central Italy. A train in Montenegro was stranded on the tracks for three days due to heavy snow. Even Venice's famous canals froze, a rare feat.
At least four Balkan nations suspended shipping on the Danube today (Feb. 14) because of heavy ice on the river, according to news reports.
Keeping Europe frozen is a climate pattern called a "Russian Winter." In this pattern, a strong Siberian anticyclone hovers over northern Russia and triggers intense cold and snow, according to a NASA statement. That cold has lingered long enough to freeze stretches of the Danube, the second longest river in Europe.
The Danube flows through 10 countries, so precise records of its last freezing are not easy to come by. But an obvious reason for this year's freeze is the teeth-chattering cold. Taking Belgrade, Serbia, as one example, this year's cold streak is the worst in decades, said Jim Andrews, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.com.
"I looked back over 20 years and found a few significant cold snaps, but I didn't find anything quite as strong as this one," Andrews told OurAmazingPlanet
On Jan. 13, 2003, the weather in Belgrade dropped to a low of minus 11 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 24 degrees Celsius). But two days later the temperature was back up to 47 F (8 C).
"I think that one was too short to turn the trick," Andrews said.
Belgrade's present cold wave from Jan. 29 to Feb. 13 shows temperatures at least 11 degrees F below normal for each day, Andrews said.
The worst of the stretch was a high of 10 F (minus 12 C) and a low of minus 11 F (minus 24 C). That was nearly 40 degrees F below normal for the day.
"We're talking pretty darn cold here," Andrews said.
- Fascinating Images of the Frozen Danube River
- The Coldest Places on Earth
- Weirdo Weather: 7 Rare Weather Events
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21 Comments
Add CommentThe boundaries between the Earth's climate zones, in this case the arctic and temperate, have been stable within a defined amount for a long time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMore energy is now in the atmosphere causing larger variations between these zone boundaries - meaning cold air can cover farther to the south and warmer air can move farther to the north.
Eastern North America had a very cold, precipitous winter last year yet is having a very warm winter this year. Next year this could possibly reverse, for both North America and Europe, again.
It got cold?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat really bothers me about your post is the unequivocal way you present your conjectures as facts. Stable? Since when? Even accepting the idea that there is a strong warming trend doesn't support ANY conclusions. Weather is complicated and unpredictable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMillions of peoples live in cold climates as that, and they don't cry about it, and their society does not crawl to a halt at -20C. It's life as usual.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt takes "southern sloth" to cry about such things. Southerners are also ill prepared for other conditions: floods, storms, earthquakes, and surprisingly even heat waves.
The question remains: WHY?
H.G.Wells referred to it as "the indolence of the temperate mindset."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo what was predicted?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-change-impacts
Unfortunately the IPCC supplied interactive map has been disabled or something.
Scientific American Climate Coverage (1960-present)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=clash-climate-change-coverage&page=2
It makes interesting reading.
"It is AGW of course." - Carlyle
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCertainly it fits the pattern that has been long anticipated by climatologists, and long denied by Denialists such as yourself.
In the recent past sault has claimed that the oceans are warming. Proof of AGW. But they are not. In the recent past he has claimed that sea levels were rising from thermal expansion & glacial melt. Proof of AGW & Co2 as the prime cause. Sea level is not rising. Were they weather or climate?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnthony Watts is paid thousands of dollars a month by the Libertarian propaganda organization the "Heritage Foundation" to lie to you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Sea level still not cooperating with predictions
Posted on February 14, 2012by Anthony Watts"
You can get the real data for envirosat and Topex/Posidon and Jason1 and Jason2 here.
They clearly show that Watts is a liar.
Link for above.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.aviso.oceanobs.com/en/news/ocean-indicators/mean-sea-level/products-images/index.html
Link showing that Watts is paid by the Heritage Foundation here...
http://www.skepticalscience.com/denialgate-heartland.html
"We have also pledged to help raise around $90,000 in 2012 for Anthony Watts..." - Heartland Institute
Watts has other funding sources as well.
You can argue about the reasons that the sea level rises have levelled off but you can not argue that it has not happened. The link I gave has the same graphs that The university of Colorado produced. Are you disputing their findings? The link you provided did not lead to the latest data used by the university. The latest Raw data here: ftp://ftp.aviso.oceanobs.com/pub/oceano/AVISO/indicators/msl/MSL_Serie_EN_Global_NoIB_RWT_NoGIA_NoAdjust.txt
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFurther acknowledgment that there was a dip in 2010 can be seen here: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-262
http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-cooling.htm
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStrange how your favourite site is still quoting a 2010 study which in turn was based on even older data to try & discredit current data.
It is time the blowtorch was turned on this site.
When people turn to discrediting the source instead of the information they have already lost. Since the data does not fit the model there must obviously be something wrong with the data. I mean don't let facts get in the way of a good story.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am also intrigued by the fact that according to tyhe AGW crowd weather and climate apparently have nothing to do with each other. Seriously?!?!?! This is just a lie that is an attempt to cover up the fact that the beloved global climate models are nothing more that curve fitters (which incidentally can be done in Excel ... I have done it myself) and therefore they cannot 'predict' short term variations which are apparently not all that important, once again according to the AGW folks, in the grand climate scheme.
Here is a simple postulation: 'weather', or the daily/weekly/monthly variation in the atmosphere (or climate) is the short term (and high resolution) climate. The climate that the GCMs are attempting to model is the smeared out long term trends in the 'weather'. The only problem is that the models are not sophisticated enough, nor is there enough computing power, to actually run a GCM that can produce daily 'weather'.
It would appear that your post would bring into question your intellectual capacity.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor the record see my last post. There is no difference between climate and weather. They are measurements of the same thing but viewed at different time scales. I know this is a difficult concept to grasp but what you are saying is exactly like saying that the daily movement in the markets has nothing to do with the long term trends. This is 100% bogus and if you actually believe this then you have bought a bill of goods.
I'll go with Gaga without proof (which I also thought might be a sign of the apocolypse)!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, I might have to see the other evidence in a peer reviewed article in some esteemed journal for me to believe it;)
Re your post #17
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou try to show that WUWT is receiving huge financial support. It is miniscule compared to the AGW funding: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/02/logic-gate-the-smog-blog-exposes-irrational-rage-innumeracy-and-heartlands-efficient-success/
Also I suggest you look at: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/02/15/some-notes-on-the-heartland-leak/
Let us hear your comments on the facts. You will not find many of them at your favourite anti sceptics site
Which pattern is that? That the temperature will change?!?! This is a pretty safe statement to make and it certainly is not proof of AGW.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnusual natural disasters are becoming very common these days, and this one is just one of them. It seems like at least one huge natural disasters hit every continent every year: like the volcanoes disasters that happened in Europe last year, and the big tsunamis that took out nearly half of Japan.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMore CO2 makes the planet warmer. Global warming makes it colder. Very simple.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow send me money.
I don't know about Europe, they do seem to have some cold weather going on.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut, here, in Michigan, I'm glad I didn't buy that new snow mobile this year. Whew! That was close.
Have yall seen this?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-08/venice-freezes-over/3817186