Announcement

**sharon sanders** · January 9, 2010, 06:35 PM

Re: Arctic freeze and snow wreak havoc across the planet

It is 36 F in the Orlando area now. I think the high in my area was 37 F today. Tonight will the 2nd consecutive night below freezing.

Local Weather Forecast, News and Conditions | Weather Underground

http://www.wunderground.com/US/FL/Orlando.html

Weather Underground provides local & long-range weather forecasts, weather reports, maps & tropical weather conditions for locations worldwide

**sharon sanders** · January 10, 2010, 10:46 AM

Re: Arctic freeze and snow wreak havoc across the planet

By Sara K. Clarke, Orlando Sentinel 9:52 a.m. EST, January 10, 2010

FHP: Northbound lanes of U.S. 1 in Titusville closed due to ice

Florida Highway Patrol is reporting a road closure in Titusville due to ice.

The agency said the northbound lanes of U.S. 1 near East Cheney Highway in Brevard County are closed because to ice.

snip

Page not found – Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-bk-titusville-us-1-closed-due-to-ice-011010,0,5166961.story

**Pathfinder** · January 10, 2010, 12:40 PM

Re: Arctic freeze and snow wreak havoc across the planet

Louisiana

Homeless, citrus growers among those struggling to deal with cold

By Richard Thompson, The Times-Picayune

January 09, 2010, 7:00PM

Chris Granger, The Times-PicayuneFrank Gordon, far left, squats to take a picture of ice covered landscaping at City Park the morning that temperatures hovered in the 20s on Saturday.

Despite a bitter cold that dipped well below freezing for several hours Saturday morning, David Dunhardt wasn't swayed to pack up his tent and wait for a bed at the nearby New Orleans Mission, one of several homeless shelters in the city that had beefed up their capacity for the weekend cold snap with portable cots.

"If it was good enough for George Washington, it was good enough for us," Dunhardt, 42, one of a dozen homeless people who braved the mid-20s temperatures in a parking lot on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, said about spending the night outdoors.

Forecasters expect the arctic air to remain over the region until early in the week, and the National Weather Service issued a hard-freeze warning for the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain through 9 a.m. Sunday.

Amid the frigid temperatures, the coldest this far south in Louisiana since
February 1996, nearly 9,800 homes and businesses were left in the dark Friday night because of a power outage in parts of St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes, said WST Electric spokeswoman Coylean Schloegel.
Although power was restored Saturday to those affected, an additional 1,500 customers reported they lost power later in the day, said Schloegel, who attributed the incidents to overall strain on the system.
Susan Poag, The Times-PicayuneWorkers at Ben & Ben Becnel,Inc. citrus growers rapidly try to get fruit off the trees Thursday.

Elsewhere across the region, citrus growers in Plaquemines Parish were crossing their fingers after spending the past few days scrambling to harvest the parish's $15 million crop and brace their trees against the unseasonably cold weather.

"Everything seems to be OK," said Sandy Becnel Palmer of Becnel's Stix-N-Stems Nursery in Belle Chasse, where a trio of workers spent three days picking fruit from the nursery's 580 trees, then packing it into 40-pound crates and putting it in a heated barn for safekeeping.

At Ben & Ben Becnel Inc., a major fruit and vegetable grower in Plaquemines that owns about 5,000 trees, 14 workers spent five days harvesting and storing as much as 90 percent of the crop. "Fortunately, we had enough of our workers that we were able to do it just within the normal workday," Ben Becnel Jr. said. "Just picking as fast as we could and stacking them in the barn."

The cold weather also caused a water main to burst Saturday in the Marrero and Harvey area, though Deano Bonano, Jefferson Parish's emergency management director, said no streets were closed as a result.

Two shelters remained open in St. Tammany Parish, operated with the assistance of the Red Cross and the faith-based community at First Baptist Church of Mandeville and Northside Baptist Church near Slidell, parish spokeswoman Suzanne Parsons Stymiest said.

Jefferson Parish hadn't opened a shelter as of Saturday afternoon but might do so should the parish receive a large number of calls for help, officials said.

In New Orleans, caseworkers for the homeless reserved most of their dwindling stash of winter coats on Friday night for holdouts squatting inside the city's thousands of abandoned buildings.

Teams from UNITY of Greater New Orleans and the New Orleans Police Department's homeless-outreach arm were able to take most of the homeless people they found on the streets to shelters. Some normally homeless individuals seemed to have found shelter from the life-threatening cold with relatives or friends. But many of the squatters who remained in abandoned houses were steadfast about staying in their jury-rigged tents and nests of blankets, said Martha Kegel, executive director of UNITY.

Caseworkers were able to coax at least one woman whom they'd never known to sleep indoors to go to a shelter, but about nine out of 10 squatters refused to leave their hideouts, Kegel said.

UNITY estimates that 6,000 people are living out of sight in New Orleans' blighted and abandoned buildings. Many of them are in frail health and have serious mental illnesses -- in many cases worse than those who seek out services at soup kitchens, shelters and drop-in centers.

As part of the city's freeze plan, the city's handful of homeless shelters -- the Ozanam Inn, New Orleans Mission, Salvation Army Center of Hope, Covenant House New Orleans and Bridge House -- were allowed to expand their capacity to 686 beds for the cold spell, but all have been crammed full since Wednesday night.

About 50 additional people slept inside a newly created public shelter Friday night after the city, in cooperation with the Red Cross, set up cots inside the Allie Mae Williams Multi-Service Center at Jackson and Simon Bolivar avenues. That shelter, open to anyone without shelter or heat where they normally sleep, is scheduled to remain open through Monday morning, if needed.

Staff writer Katy Reckdahl contributed to this report.

http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2010/01/homeless_citrus_growers_among.html

**tropical** · January 11, 2010, 06:59 AM

Re: Arctic freeze and snow wreak havoc across the planet

From The Times

January 9, 2010
Weather eye: Cold Arctic weather sweeps across Europe and Asia
...

While one part of the globe shivers, other regions are basking in the sun. The Mediterranean, Alaska and northern Canada are unseasonably warm, and heatwaves are roasting Australia. Parts of the Pacific are 3C above average.

There is a redistribution of warm and cold air around different parts of the world — but the overall global temperature is staying much the same.[/quote]

[size=3]Excerpt:

"How are Global Warming and the Gulf Stream Connected?

If melting glaciers deflect warm Gulf Stream, U.S. and Europe may freeze

By Larry West, About.com Guide
...

Gulf Stream Disruption Could Freeze Europe and North America
Computer models simulating ocean-atmosphere climate dynamics indicate that the North Atlantic region would cool between three and five degrees Celsius if Conveyor circulation were totally disrupted. “It would produce winters twice as cold as the worst winters on record in the eastern United States in the past century,” says Robert Gagosian of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Gulf Stream Linked to Previous Temperature Changes
The slowing of the Gulf Stream has been directly linked with dramatic regional cooling before, says McGuire. “Just 10,000 years ago, during a climatic cold snap known as the Younger Dryas, the current was severely weakened, causing northern European temperatures to fall by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit,” he says. And 10,000 years earlier—at the height of the last ice age when most of northwestern Europe was a frozen wasteland—the Gulf Stream had just two-thirds of the strength it has now"

from:

http://environment.about.com/od/glob...ulf_stream.htm

_____

http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarmingandweather/a/gulf_stream.htm

How are Global Warming and the Gulf Stream Connected?
If melting glaciers deflect warm Gulf Stream, U.S. and Europe may freeze

By Larry West, About.com Guide

Dear EarthTalk: What is the issue with the Gulf Stream in relation to global warming? Could it really stop or disappear altogether? If so, what are the ramifications of this? -- Lynn Eytel, Clark Summit, PA Part of the Ocean Conveyor Belt—a great river of ocean water that traverses the saltwater sections of the globe—the Gulf Stream stretches from the Gulf of Mexico up the eastern seaboard of the United States, where it splits, one stream heading for Canada’s Atlantic coast and the other for northern Europe and Greenland. By taking warm water from the equatorial Pacific Ocean and carrying it into the colder North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream warms up the eastern United States and northwestern Europe by about five degrees Celsius (roughly nine degrees Fahrenheit), making those regions much more hospitable than they would be otherwise.
Melting Glaciers Could Disrupt Warm Gulf Stream Currents
Among the greatest fears scientists have about global warming is that it will cause the massive ice fields of Greenland and other locales at the northern end of the Gulf Stream to melt rapidly, sending surges of cold water into the ocean system and interrupting the flow of the Ocean Conveyor Belt. One doomsday scenario is that such an event would stop or disrupt the whole Ocean Conveyor Belt system, plunging Western Europe into a new ice age without the benefit of the warmth delivered by the Gulf Stream.
Gulf Stream May Affect Climate Change Worldwide
“The possibility exists that a disruption of the Atlantic currents might have implications far beyond a colder northwest Europe, perhaps bringing dramatic climatic changes to the entire planet,” says Bill McGuire, a geophysical hazards professor at University College London’s Benfield Hazard Research Centre.
Gulf Stream Disruption Could Freeze Europe and North America
Computer models simulating ocean-atmosphere climate dynamics indicate that the North Atlantic region would cool between three and five degrees Celsius if Conveyor circulation were totally disrupted. “It would produce winters twice as cold as the worst winters on record in the eastern United States in the past century,” says Robert Gagosian of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Gulf Stream Linked to Previous Temperature Changes
The slowing of the Gulf Stream has been directly linked with dramatic regional cooling before, says McGuire. “Just 10,000 years ago, during a climatic cold snap known as the Younger Dryas, the current was severely weakened, causing northern European temperatures to fall by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit,” he says. And 10,000 years earlier—at the height of the last ice age when most of northwestern Europe was a frozen wasteland—the Gulf Stream had just two-thirds of the strength it has now.
Could Weakened Gulf Stream Help Offset Global Warming?
A less dramatic prediction sees the Gulf Stream slowing down but not stopping entirely, causing the east coast of North America and northwestern Europe to suffer only minor winter temperature dips. And some scientists even put forth the optimistic hypothesis that the cooling effects of a weakened Gulf Stream could actually help offset the higher temperatures otherwise caused by global warming.
Global Warming: A Planetary Experiment
To McGuire, these uncertainties underscore that fact that human-induced global warming is “nothing more nor less than a great planetary experiment, many of the outcomes of which we cannot predict.” Whether or not we can trim our addiction to fossil fuels might just be the determining factor in whether global warming wreaks havoc around the world, or just causes us minor annoyances.
GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
EarthTalk is a regular feature of E/The Environmental Magazine. Selected EarthTalk columns are reprinted on About Environmental Issues by permission of the editors of E.

**tropical** · January 11, 2010, 07:14 AM

Re: Arctic freeze and snow wreak havoc across the planet

4 more years gone ...

____

From The Times
 <script type="text/javascript">  </script><script language="JavaScript" src="http://rc.newsint.newscorp.individuad.net/Get/newsint/JS/GetRcmd.js?ord=70090306436"></script> <script type="text/javascript">  </script>   
December 1, 2005
Britain faces big freeze as Gulf Stream loses strength

Latest news & breaking headlines

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00085/TTH010fgfggffg111CC_85056a.jpg

The latest breaking UK, US, world, business and sport news from The Times and The Sunday Times. Go beyond today's headlines with in-depth analysis and comment.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/js/m24-image-browser.js"></script>  <script type="text/javascript">  </script>

By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent

 <script type="text/javascript"> gSiteLife.Recommend("ExternalResource", "598464","http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article598464.ece"); </script>
     <style type="text/css"> div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited { color:#06c; } </style>   THE Gulf Stream currents that give Britain its mild climate have weakened dramatically, offering the first firm scientific evidence of a slowdown that threatens the country with temperatures as cold as Canada’s. The Atlantic Ocean “conveyor belt” that carries warm water north from the tropics has weakened by 30 per cent in 12 years, scientists have discovered. The findings, from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, give the strongest indication yet that Europe’s central heating system is breaking down under the impact of global warming.
Scientists have long predicted that melting ice caps could disrupt the currents that keep Britain at least 5C (40F) warmer than it should be, but the new research suggests that this is already under way. It points to a cooling of 1C over the next decade or two, and an even deeper freeze could follow if the Gulf Stream system were to shut down altogether.
The British Isles lie on the same latitude as Labrador on the East Coast of Canada, and are protected from a similarly icy climate by the Atlantic conveyor belt, which carries a million billion watts of heat. Although oceanographers still think it unlikely that the currents will stop completely, this could reduce average temperatures by between 4C and 6C in as little as 20 years, far outweighing any increase predicted as a result of global warming.
Even a lesser fall in temperatures could mean that Britain gets colder even as the rest of the world warms up, and would severely disrupt the Government’s plans for mitigating the effects of climate change.
  <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/js/picture-gallery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> function slideshowPopUp(url) { pictureGalleryPopupPic(url); return false; } </script>     Related Links

How long for England's green and pleasant land?

Britain faces big chill as ocean current slows

Despite the rain, this was one of the hottest years

<form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"> </form> <form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"> </form> <form name="relatedLinksform" action="" method="post"> </form>

    
   The Gulf Stream begins in the Gulf of Mexico and carries warm water north and east, through the straits of Florida and across the North Atlantic. Halfway across the ocean, it branches into two, with one current flowing south towards Africa and another drifting towards northern Europe. By the time the northern current reaches the Arctic, its waters have become colder and more saline, causing them to sink. A vast undersea river of cold water then flows back towards the Gulf.
Global warming is predicted to disrupt this process, as extra freshwater from melting ice caps reduces the salinity of the Arctic waters, stopping it from sinking and breaking the circuit. The Southampton team measured current flow across a latitude of 250N. The original Gulf Stream, cold water returning from the Arctic, and the southern branch of warm water all cross this line stretching from North Africa to the Bahamas. Measurements taken last year were compared with data collected in 1957, 1981, 1992 and 1998.
The results, published today in Nature, show that the outward flow of the Gulf Stream has not changed, but the strength of the cold water returning from the Arctic has fallen by 30 per cent since 1992. Over the same period, the flow of warm water branching off towards Africa has increased by 30 per cent. This suggests that the warm waters are being diverted away from Europe.
Meric Srokosz, of the Natural Environment Research Council, which funded the work, said: “If it is persistent or there is a further decline then, yes, it would have an impact on the climate. The models suggest that if the change is persistent we might see the order of a 1C drop in temperature here over a decade or two.”
It remains possible that flows change annually or seasonally and that the 1992 and 2004 data were aberrations. A project is under way to monitor Atlantic currents for four years.

**kiwibird** · January 11, 2010, 08:44 PM

Re: Arctic freeze and snow wreak havoc across the planet

Tropical - very pertinent article - you are right - 4 years down the track!

Britain and China having trouble with food supplies and grit to keep roads clear.

Crop failures, food prices soaring
British Frozen out 5.4 billion a day
(London, United Kingdom ‧ 11 AP) United Kingdom by the super-cold winds, crop failures led to food prices soaring, every day an estimated economic loss of 10 billion pounds (5.4 billion euros).

England Center for Economic and Business Research predicted heavy snow will result in the UK suffer one billion pounds per day in economic losses. But economists and analysts believe that the real impact of snow on the economy can not be measured.

Cold weather is expected to continue for 10 days, food supply, carrots skyrocketing price of 30%. People scramble for food like a festive Christmas Eve as the tense.

Snow road closures, milk, transport difficulties, farmers estimated that as many as 10 million liters, or milk to be discarded down. Surge in demand for natural gas, but reserves are barely enough to 16 days to use.

Is used to clear the roads and snow shortage of salt and coarse gravel, road traffic disruption, the number of deaths related to severe weather has increased to 26 people died of cold this winter to official estimates the number will exceed 4,000.

London's Hyde Park 9 Lake Saturday was forced to close, this is first for 140 years. English Premier League and Super League rugby field and five respectively seven games were canceled.

The Prime Minister held an emergency meeting

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has held an emergency meeting, said that importing natural gas from the North Sea to the public to ensure adequate supply. But the public is faced with ground and air traffic will be almost paralyzed predicament.

China's largest salt company is expected that inventory will run out of salt, has seriously affected the work of clearing the snow, there are thousands of miles of roads will be paralyzed, millions of people trapped.

Roads covered with snow, the Government Zhengchou lack of salt and coarse gravel clear the road, people may be in the "mind your own business", the way the snow clean-up public roads.

However, under the existing legislation, if the clean-up improperly led to slipping injury, or will stay away from lawsuit. Therefore encouraged minding only their own, but experts and officials have criticized the law absurd.

On the other hand, the UK's largest federation of employers said that Blizzard will not be a significant impact on economic recovery, because people just do not go out shopping and to work temporarily.

Confederation of British Industry also said that thanks to the Internet easily accessible, people can shop online at any time, so the snow little impact on the UK economy.

http://www.chinapress.com.my/content...12waa94a20.txt