Weather Watch 2008

Well I guess it might be time to start up the 08 version of this thread.

Salvage bids assessed amid storms

Rescuers airlifted 23 passengers and crew from a ferry which was beached by a freak wave off Blackpool's coast.

A helicopter winched 14 people to safety from the stricken trawler off St Kilda, in the Outer Hebrides.

...

Gales and snow

Meanwhile motorists across the country have also been hit by high winds which have caused several accidents, and two filling stations in Cumbria have had parts of their roofs blown off.

Durham police have launched a rescue operation in Teesdale after 100 vehicles became stranded in the snow west of Bowes village.

Drivers are being moved to a nearby village hall and pub. Officers are warning those stranded to stay with their cars until the emergency services can reach them.
LINK [BBC News]

Sounds like a good old North Sea/ Irish Sea storm.

China warns of 'grim' situation

Chinese authorities are warning that the continuing snow storms would still crush the hopes of many people desperate to see their families during their only break of the year.
...
Xinhua said 400,000 people were stranded at Guangzhou Railway Station on Friday, down about half from the height of the crisis.

The winter storm -- China's worst in 50 years -- has already been blamed for at least 63 deaths around the country, including at least 25 when a bus plunged off a slippery mountain road in the southwestern Guizhou province. The government has reported $7.5 billion in damage from the storm.
LINK [CNN]

This is slightly more unusual. This amount of cold and winter weather sounds very unusual for this area of china and shows just how fragile the infrastructure in china really is. See this thread for more discussion.

Meanwhile most of western canada (where i live) has been in a deep freeze for most of the week. We had windchills approching -55C, temperatures at the -44C mark. So cold in fact that the Light Rail switches failed twice this week alone. This is some of the coldest weather we've had in a few years, but its not that unusual more typical then not.

I think we will see more wacky weather around the world this year. If you experence some unusual weather or find news articles relating to unusual weather please post below with comments/ first hand accounts.