Gale-Force Storm Hits Europe, Leaving 7 Dead

New York Times

Gale-Force Storm Hits Europe, Leaving 7 Dead

By MARK LANDLER
Published: January 18, 2007

FRANKFURT, Jan. 18 — A howling winter gale churned through the British Isles and Northern Europe today, killing at least seven people, snapping tree branches, flooding beaches and forcing the cancellation of several hundred flights at airports from London to Frankfurt.

The storm, dubbed Cyril by German meteorologists, generated gale-force winds and pelting rain in Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The fierce weather hampered efforts to rescue 26 sailors from a container ship after it began sinking in the English Channel.

It also prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to cut short a visit to Berlin, where she conferred with Chancellor Angela Merkel about the Middle East. Ms. Rice left an hour early for London to beat the weather, and her plane made a bumpy landing there amid gusts of 80 miles per hour.

Looks Europe is getting the weird weather too. You have to wonder if it is global warming or is it something else.

Here in ireland the weather is deadly

Already today about 10 slates have fallen of my roof and the roof blown off my shed ..the local park has also flooded since it is beside the shannon ...disgraceful

We haven't had any snow in Michigan it has been extremely warm a till about a week ago. I have lived here for 40 years and never have I seen this type of strange weather patterns.

I hope everything starts to calm down, because we've lost many many crops here the US in the past 6 months which is not typical.

Maybe Mother-Nature is pissed at all of us? Don't know but things are odd for sure.

P.S. I hope you are all ok over there in Ireland. It's good to be able to get first hand news right from the peoples mouth's instead of the media machine.

[edit on 18-1-2007 by Realtruth]

wow..

Here in Ohio this is the second cold snap of the year. The cold snap is actually our normal temperatures lol but it was 60 degrees the past several weeks ..actually since before Christmas.. which is over 35 degrees above normal.. not to mention we have had flooding and not a single snow storm.

In the American desert states it is iced over.. 3/4ths of the citrus crops are now wasted.. snow in Las Vegas and in Texas.. back to back blizzards in the plains states.. ice in calli, flooding in the northwest..

Weather is weird all over the place.. I learned a few weeks ago in ATS chat from a few UKers that you guys even got storms like that! .. I am planning to be in Ireland for school next fall or next winter.. now I have to worry about hurricanes!

But is it global warming? ... It certainly is warm here.. well not today but this has been the warmest ever recorded winter..

But it is freezing in the west....

Gale force winds in the English Channle .. second time this month isnt it?

Heres what I think..

Something happend.. perhaps it was the 2004 earthquake that created the tsunami.. something has affected the wobble of the Earth and the weather patterns are now adjusting to it? .. Or perhaps water currents have moved? .. Perhaps jet streams have moved?.. Global climate change. It happens. Global warming does to.. in the middle ages there was a mini ice age where global temperatures droped then rose in a few decades.. a cycle or a freak incident.. who knows.. we know very little about our planet apparently.. but I do not like "global warming" because it sounds like we are blaming the most obvious source: Humans.. when we have no proof.. when we know it has happend before..

Besides.. its better then global cooling.. terrible things would happen if the Earth accelerated its cooling... like become a deserted rock like mars who internal mechinisms have failed and solidified.

10 dead in England today from the high winds. The weather has been on the news all day and IS being linked to global warming. Apparently something to do with the jetstream pushing winds up to record breaking levels. 'Experts' say that this is a taste of winters to come in the UK.

I've heard that at least 12 are dead in Europe so far in this storm. Germany and Holland got the storm after it hit UK.


edit to add:
Whoops, make that "at least 25"...

BBC: Huge storms sweep northern Europe

[edit on 2007/1/18 by Hellmutt]

Hellmutt

Thanks for the update. I just spoke with some family in Scotland they say it is really bad over there. They said they have never seen the weather like this.

What the hell is going on?

Here's another link. At least 27 dead...

AFP: Severe storms batter northern Europe, 27 dead


There are pictures in the article.


Photo: AFP / Philippe Huguen

Thoughts go out to anyone thats lost loved ones due to these storms.

Allthough the winds were strong, and deadly, we are still in winter here in the Europe, storms DO happen un-announced at this time of year, its natural.
Lets please not read too much into this.

What exactly is it going to take for people to finally accept that global warming is real, and the weather IS changing!

Do we need the sun to expand and SWALLOW the earth before people say
'' wow, somethings wrong''

I mean far out.

Having 1 'sevre/unique' weather/earth event in 5 years, yeah thats normal, 2 its probable... 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.......

its becoming common now to hear the words '' worst on record ''

so much so, its become a joke when those words are replied with
'' its nothing, just common weather patterns ''

I swear, the ignorance of man is our worst trait.

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
What exactly is it going to take for people to finally accept that global warming is real, and the weather IS changing!

Do we need the sun to expand and SWALLOW the earth before people say
'' wow, somethings wrong''

I mean far out.

I think everyone knows global warming is happening, but what is the cause of it?

Nature? Man? or something else?

The Earth has cycles.
Every so many years its elnino or what not.

The earth has a cycle some 1000yrs or something.

Well, a 1000 yrs ago, when man wasnt on the planet. Im sure the temp increased, occeans increased, polar caps melted and drought occured.

But since that last major cycle, we have changed the elements DRASTICALLY.

Removing rain forrests.
Polluting the atmopshere.
Polluting the SOIL
Polluting the water
Nuclear Weapons

The cycle we are going to experience, isnt going to be a 'normal' cycle.
We humans created this mess.

Originally posted by Agit8dChop

The cycle we are going to experience, isnt going to be a 'normal' cycle.
We humans created this mess.

Ok I agree with you on that one. I don't know what is going to be worse humans pissing in our own bed or a few humans ready to start a nuclear war.

I think that mother nature is going to school us all very soon on who the real boss is. I can feel it in my bones.

Yep!
I say, buy a big boat..
Fill it with food n supplies.
Setup a solar panel battery system.
have lots of seeds/fresh water..
and live like kevin costern, wild adventures battling sand pirates across oceans..

........ yer orite its a dream..

but clearly the people sending us to this reality obviously believe it wont affect them.

More News about Powerful Storm

Seven fishermen from Ireland, Poland and Ukraine are missing and presumed dead off the Irish coast, while Latvian rescuers were unable to attempt to salvage a cargo ship that ran aground Tuesday off the Baltic port Ventspils and has been leaking oil.

Here is another story in regards to the crazy weather they are having in Europe.

Absolutely a gale-force storm.
I'm living in germany and yesterday i thought my
windows are being pushed from outside in by the
the wind....
But i think thats nothing compared to Florida Hurricanes!!!
[edit on 19-1-2007 by D0MiNAT0R 1OOO]

[edit on 19-1-2007 by D0MiNAT0R 1OOO]

Whilst it is a tad on the windy side, I would hardly call this weather unprecedented or even strange. As far back as I remember we have had a severe storm in Europe every year, usually around Jan-Feb. Sometimes we get really crappy October/November too.

This is not to say climate change isn't happening, but people have short memories and tend to forget what came before in favour of something sensationalist.

It's just a storm, peeps. You might want to make sure your tin foil hats are tied on well under the chin, but it is nothing to cry about.

Now, if it was a week or two's worth of extreme weather, then fine, but it is due to pass in a couple of days. In fact, today is a bit blusstery but rather sunny. BBC weather reports seem like any other winters day. No wind above 20mph.

Originally posted by fiftyfifty
10 dead in England today from the high winds. The weather has been on the news all day and IS being linked to global warming.

Not by meteorologists it isn't

It was a perfectly normal January storm, the sort which affect parts of Europe every year. This particular one happened to run directly eastwards across the UK into Europe, unlike, say the much more severe storm which affect only NW Britain in 2005.

It's claimed that such storms may become more common in future under some global warming scenarios, but this does not mean that yesterday's storm was itself a result of GW - any more so that the 1990 'Burns Day Storm' or the 1987 'Hurricane' was.

Strange thing happened yesterday evening. It was dark already, we had left to enjoy "Kyrill", see what's going on downtown and count broken umbrellas :-)

As we went through the well-lit streets, the sky suddenly went bright as if there was a flash, but no thunder, and at the same time, all lights went out. Then it was pitch black, and that in the middle of the city! Spooky. It took them less than 20 minutes to bring the power on; later we heard in the news that the blackout had affected the whole city. Strangely though, noone else seems to have noticed the flash...

The flash could have been the local substation getting a dose of tree, or a power line coming down. Been plenty of them, I know...