This cannot be normal? The weather is changing!!

I just read this story on cnn.com and it only adds to my suspiscion that sometahing extra ordinary is happening to the global weather patterns. What do you think ATS i just picked this story as a starting point but there are many examples that we are heading towards an apex what will this apex be?? I can only imagine but it looks more like a hollywood doomsday movie and the world governments are more concerned with war and money wich may all be useless if the earth stays angry at us !!!!

Paris, France (CNN) -- Western Europe was dealing with the aftermath of violent weather Monday after a winter storm dubbed "Xynthia" battered at least six countries, leaving at least 58 people dead, authorities said.

Hardest hit was France, where at least 47 people were killed, according to the Interior Ministry.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited the departments of Charente-Maritime and Vendee on the nation's west coast Monday, where the extra-tropical cyclone hit.

"It's a national catastrophe," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Sunday. "Many people drowned, surprised by the rapid rise of the water."

The combination of hurricane-force winds and high tide inundated parts of the coastal region.



Video: Xynthia batters Europe

Video: 'Xynthia' batters France

Video: Storms take toll on Europe
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"It was rushing in, it broke down the walls around the garden and the gate," a resident of Aiguillon-Sur-Mer, in the department of Vendee, told CNN affiliate BFM-TV.

Hundreds of people had to be rescued from their rooftops overnight.

Were you affected? Send your pics, videos to iReport.

"The water was up to the gutters," said one woman, who spent the night on the roof with her children.

By Monday rescuers in boats and helicopters continued to search to find the missing in homes overrun by flooding, Agence France-Press said.

Residents of the village of Aytre, in Charente-Maritime, saw a wave of water measuring one-meter high come into the center of town.

"It was unreal," Aytre Mayor Suzanne Tallard told BFM-TV.

At least 500,00 households were without power Monday morning, said Electricite de France. The utility said all power should be restored by Wednesday.

President Sarkozy said he was making €3 million ($4 million) of emergency funds available for the victims and promised that electricity would be restored by Tuesday, AFP reported. The agency added that the European Union was ready to offer support for the countries affected.

French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux told the affiliate that 350 soldiers and 3,250 firefighters have been mobilized to assist in the aftermath.

The high winds -- at times spiking to 200 km/h (124 mph) -- reached inland as far as Paris. Gusts of up to 175 km/h (108 mph) were measured at the top of the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, said Eboni Deon, CNN meteorologist .

As many as 100 flights were canceled at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle International Airport on Sunday because of the blustery conditions, the affiliate reported. All major French airports were back to normal schedules Monday.

A the storm's peak, Hurricane-strength winds stretched from Portugal northeast to the Netherlands.

The storm killed five people in Germany, officials said. Four of them died after being hit by falling trees. A fifth, a 2-year-old boy near the town of Biblis, drowned when he was blown into a river.

Train service was slowly returning to normal in Germany on Monday after massive disruptions and a partial shutdown of services in the states of North Rhine-Westfalia, Baden-Wuerttemberg, and Hesse a day earlier, railway Deutsche Bahn reported.

Crews spent the overnight hours clearing tracks of debris.

In Spain, at least three people were killed by the storm, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Sunday. Two children died in a car accident and one more person was killed in northwestern Spain, the minister said in a news conference on CNN sister station CNN+.

A 10-year-old child was killed by a falling tree in the high winds in Portugal, said Patricia Gaspar, national operations assistant with the Portuguese National Authority for Civil Protection.

There are also some power outages in the country, Gaspar said. Some residents have reported roofs blown off and smaller houses collapsing, she added.

A man was killed by a falling tree in Belgium, Peter Mertens, a spokesman for Belgium's Interior Ministry, said.

Eastern Belgium saw the worst of the storm, Mertens said.

"They've had problems with fallen trees, roofs blown off and electricity cables not working. But it seems the worst part has passed now," he added.

The storm also reached England, where one woman was reported dead when the vehicle she was driving became submerged and washed down a swollen creek in the northeastern part of the country.

The body of the 53-year-old woman was recovered downstream, North Yorkshire Police said in a phone message to the media.

Be Well


[edit on 1-3-2010 by triplescorpio]

[edit on 1-3-2010 by triplescorpio]

[edit on 1-3-2010 by triplescorpio]

reply to post by triplescorpio


The weather is always changing,

Has always been changing

And will always be changing.

Weather patterns and climate have fluctuated a great deal on Earth in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Fluctuation would be the norm. If the weather stayed exactly the same for an entire year that would be the exception to the rule.

There have always been storms..

One of my earliest memories is from getting the tail end of a massive storm while holidaying in Majorca with my parents as a toddler.. we couldn't go to the ground floor for two days because it was under a couple of feet of water.. Half the bay was washed away including hundreds of Yachts..

And that was in September.. 20 years ago.

These things have always happened.. they are just reported more easily and visually these days.

Sounds like a classic hurricane to me. Obviously hasn't been called such- but the description fits. Question is, have these storms hit these areas before? Chances are, yes. If one has never been in this area- EVER, then maybe I would be alarmed.

Then again, freak storms exist.

We only notice it more now because the planet is more populated, they cram houses anywhere these days. Not only that they don't upgrade things like sewer and drainage systems, well this is the case for the UK and the result is everything backing up and flooding.

Well, I have lived in Northern Ontario, Canada for most of my 54 years and can never remember a milder winter than we are getting right now. Also I cannot remember ever having less snow than we have had this year.

It's like spring here and I have been thinking about the storms in the States lately with all the snow and am sure that something is up. Whether or not it's cyclical or not I don't know, but it sure is strange here.

There have been dramatic changes to the planet that we all know about: ice ages and the like. But these are more of macro-cycles. They take thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of years to complete.

That doesn’t preclude the possibility of micro-cycles however. These micro cycles are probably the transition periods between the macros. They may even just be anomalies that occur periodically. It seems we may just be in one of those micro periods just like the medieval warming period.

Go ahead and worry about it, but like Mark Twain said (in paraphrase): “We all complain about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it”. I would emphasize that it’s because nobody can do anything about it. The weather is like any other geological phenomena such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. The Earth does what it does when it’s ready. We just have to live through it.

East coast of Australia here. Just talking to people I know, and we all agree that the days are getting hotter later in the afternoon. Used to be the hottest part of the day was around 1ish, and now it seems to be around 4pm. Anyone else noticed this?

Also, I think there has been more rain than usual, (at least in Tassie there has, a lot of our hydro stores are pretty much full after last winter.)

Don't worry. 5 minutes later it will be sunny again.

Originally posted by cjcord
Sounds like a classic hurricane to me. Obviously hasn't been called such- but the description fits. Question is, have these storms hit these areas before? Chances are, yes. If one has never been in this area- EVER, then maybe I would be alarmed.

Then again, freak storms exist.

Its not a hurricane, its a deep, arctic low pressure system. Its nothing unusual for winter in Europe, althought the severity of this one was quite impressive.

Originally posted by MissMegs
East coast of Australia here. Just talking to people I know, and we all agree that the days are getting hotter later in the afternoon. Used to be the hottest part of the day was around 1ish, and now it seems to be around 4pm. Anyone else noticed this?

Also, I think there has been more rain than usual, (at least in Tassie there has, a lot of our hydro stores are pretty much full after last winter.)

Actually 3pm is usually the warmest, and its always been that way. The reason why the maximum temps are later, is simply the fact that its summer. Coming out of 5 or so months of early maximum temperatures will obviously feel like the days are hotter, at a later time than normal.

Originally posted by OzWeatherman

Originally posted by cjcord
Sounds like a classic hurricane to me. Obviously hasn't been called such- but the description fits. Question is, have these storms hit these areas before? Chances are, yes. If one has never been in this area- EVER, then maybe I would be alarmed.

Then again, freak storms exist.

Its not a hurricane, its a deep, arctic low pressure system. Its nothing unusual for winter in Europe, althought the severity of this one was quite impressive.

Thank you for the info
I would have no idea where to begin even finding that out on my own!
Just the description of people spending the night on rooftops brought on PTSD flashbacks of Katrina for me. My thoughts are with the victims of this storm.

reply to post by cjcord


You werent actually far off

If the system originated in the tropics, it wouldve actually been called a hurricane

In January 2007 Kyrill made about 43 victims in western Europe. I remember quite well, we were advised not to go outside, and I remember also seeing the damage it made to the Main Station in Berlin.

So yeah, storms happen. They're quite common during the winter months. They're not really hurricanes, although they're called something similar in many languages (Orkan in German).

Edit: for more details and list of storms, en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 1-3-2010 by Wallachian]

Originally posted by tribewilder
Well, I have lived in Northern Ontario, Canada for most of my 54 years and can never remember a milder winter than we are getting right now. Also I cannot remember ever having less snow than we have had this year.

It's like spring here and I have been thinking about the storms in the States lately with all the snow and am sure that something is up. Whether or not it's cyclical or not I don't know, but it sure is strange here.

Here in the states has been very strange weather. Only the younger ones think it is normal, because that is all they experience these days. As for those who have seen more of the bizzare weather patterns, and know the difference between then and now, can actually say for certain. So you are right tribe. Here, it is usually Spring-like, we are still experiencing and feeling the bitterest cold. Those who are used to the cold weather, are getting more and more severe storms! I used to live up North (close to Canada) and have seen nothing as we are now. The weather patterns are getting more and more treacherous. This is NOT normal. I don't care what others say when it comes to what we know as "not normal". There is a definate change going on. And the animals are what we definately need to be watching as well! They know too. All too well.

The system was a result of a Barocyclonic Leaf system being fed by the same Jetstream which gave Madeira flash-floods only a week ago. The origins of the tropical air combined with dry-air feeding in from Northeastern Europe is what gave the Low a "boost" as it made its way over Portugal, a phenomenon known as a Sting-Jet developed (when convection within the Low-Centre brings the upper jet into the lower regions and can increase windspeed along its path.)

the Sting-Jet is what gave the Bay of Biscay and coastal area's of France the "Force 12 Hurricane" shipping forecasts, not a Hurricane in the meteorological term as the system is (and always was) still in its late Low Pressure development stages, even as it eventually "filled-in" passing across Paris and out across Denmark.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
reply to post by triplescorpio

 

The weather is always changing,

Has always been changing

And will always be changing.

Weather patterns and climate have fluctuated a great deal on Earth in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Fluctuation would be the norm. If the weather stayed exactly the same for an entire year that would be the exception to the rule.

Oh well - that explains it....

I think you are missing the point - what we are experiencing is rapid climate shift - as distinct from daily weather patters - two totally different things - the rapid shift in climate is the problem - not the fact that it is shifting - der



[edit on 1-3-2010 by audas]

reply to post by audas


There's nothing rapid about it, heck there's not even anything abnormal about it. It is the perception that it is abnormal, an opinion. Even if we were sinking into an ice age it wouldn't be abnormal, though certainly plunging into one overnight would be odd. That's the thing though, extreme weather happens and just because we have bad storms suddenly every one panics like its an omen of the apocalypse when if they looked into the history of the planet they'd realize its just another day on our pale blue dot.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
reply to post by audas

 

There's nothing rapid about it, heck there's not even anything abnormal about it. It is the perception that it is abnormal, an opinion. Even if we were sinking into an ice age it wouldn't be abnormal, though certainly plunging into one overnight would be odd. That's the thing though, extreme weather happens and just because we have bad storms suddenly every one panics like its an omen of the apocalypse when if they looked into the history of the planet they'd realize its just another day on our pale blue dot.

I have looked into it - extensively - you clearly haven't. The rapid shift in climate experienced this century is absolutely unprecedented on our planet. Sorry but those are the facts supported by thousands of studies. If you have a study which undermines this - something which would be one of the greatest revelations in scientific history - then lets have it.

You are conflating weather and climate - to absolutely, utterly disparate things. The mere fact that you are not aware of the fundamental differences illustrates exactly how ignorant you are on this issue -

cheers.

Originally posted by MissMegs
East coast of Australia here. Just talking to people I know, and we all agree that the days are getting hotter later in the afternoon. Used to be the hottest part of the day was around 1ish, and now it seems to be around 4pm. Anyone else noticed this?

Also, I think there has been more rain than usual, (at least in Tassie there has, a lot of our hydro stores are pretty much full after last winter.)

And my question to you is
How old are you?

Weather works in cycles, just as we have 4 seasons in 1 year, those years should also be broken up into seasons etc......
we have a 7 cycle with weather, 7 years, 70 yeras, 700 years abd so on.

what we notice in our life time is unreliable, our memories remember certain aspects and just blur the rest, the time you will remeber 1 hot day is if something happened on that day to make it memorable, same for a cold day.

The other reason we seem to notice the difference has more to do with our life styles, 20 years ago, fewer cars had airconditioning, fewer houses had airconditioning, we had to put up with the heat, you got used to it, now you spend all day in artificially lit areas with aircon blasting at sub arctic temperatures, is it any suprise we think the world is ending when you walk outside and get hit with the heat?
Of course the opposite applies to the northern hemisphere at this time of year.