Global Warming my foot...

[Vito]

China battles "coldest winter in 100 years"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080204/lf_nm_life/china_weather_dc

CHENZHOU, China (Reuters) - Millions remained stranded in China on Monday ahead of the biggest holiday of the year as parts of the country suffered their coldest winter in a century.
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Freezing weather has killed scores of people and left travelers stranded before the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival -- the only opportunity many people have for a holiday all year.

It has also brought China unwanted negative publicity six months before the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

President Hu Jintao chaired an emergency Politburo meeting on Sunday for the second time in a week to discuss rescue efforts.

"We have to be clear-minded that the inclement weather and severe disaster will continue to plague certain regions in the south," said a statement issued after Sunday's meeting. "Relief work will continue to face challenges, posing a tough task."

The China Meteorological Administration said the weather was the coldest in 100 years in central Hubei and Hunan provinces, going by the total number of consecutive days of average temperature less than 1 degree Celsius (33.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

But it expected brighter weather ahead, though fog could become a problem and temperatures at night would likely still be below freezing, slowing the thaw.

"It is still necessary to remain alert for possible low temperatures, frozen rain, snow, freezing and heavy fog," said administration head Zheng Guoguang.

He added the cold snap had caught the country off guard, in an area unprepared for such heavy snow. But climate change could see more extremes in weather in China, Zheng warned.

Four people died after a snow-laden roof collapsed at a fuel station in the eastern city of Nanjing on Sunday, Xinhua news agency said. One person was killed in a stampede at Guangzhou railway station in the south as people rushed to board trains.

Roads and railways, some of which have been blocked for days, have started to move again, and fewer flights were being cancelled, state media said, offering a glimmer of hope.

The United States and Singapore pledged emergency aid of $150,000 and $500,000 respectively, Xinhua said, as several other countries sent condolence messages.

CAJOLED TO SKIP HOLIDAY

Authorities in the southern city of Guangzhou said their priority was to clear the backlog of travelers, having cajoled millions of migrant workers to stay put and skip the holiday.

Elsewhere, efforts turned to restoring power and water, which some cities, such as Chenzhou in the south, have been without for more than a week, causing some to question China's ability to handle emergencies months before Beijing holds the Olympics.

"Without power the only information we have been getting is by SMS from the government," said Chenzhou resident Zheng Ninghong, tending a fruit stall amid the slush.

"There was one, I think, that said it would get warmer, but what we need is electricity."

China has largely avoided unrest throughout the crisis, in part due to the 519,000 soldiers and more than 1.6 million paramilitary police that have been deployed throughout the country to help with disaster relief and crowd control.

The government continued to lionize those working to restore normalcy, giving three policemen who died during the storms the title of "hero and model of all Chinese policemen."

Pictures from Wuhan, capital of the central province of Hubei and lying at the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers, showed cars blanketed not by snow, but by ice. Riverside barriers and trees were draped in huge icicles.

The China Daily quoted an economic planning official as saying power plants in Beijing and Shanghai had only enough coal for less than seven days.

"But top economic planners said the country had reversed a sharp decline in coal reserves. There was enough coal on Saturday to generate electricity for the entire country for the next eight days," the newspaper added.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Jason Subler in Beijing)

[דוד בן זאב אריה]

Israel had it's worst snow storm in over 10 years.

[abdithefaithful]

Frosty The Snowman must be elated with joy.

[briann]

Its freakin freezing here in Los Angeles.  I can barely type, my hands are so numb.

[דוד בן זאב אריה]

Same here up in Bellingham Washington

[Dr. Dan]

It's only global warming in NYC.

[דוד בן זאב אריה]

It's only global warming in NYC.

That must be because Al Gore live there. But in all seriousness the Global Warming also means change and that can be warmer or cooler.

[Vito]

It's only global warming in NYC.

That must be because Al Gore live there. But in all seriousness the Global Warming also means change and that can be warmer or cooler.

If weather is getting cooler, it would be called "global cooling" as it was 30 years ago. Listen, weather changes.. who said that the weather we have now is "normal"? A few million years ago, Earth was too hot for humans to live on.. Exxon and GM weren't around back then.

[Dr. Dan]

It really makes no difference whether or not it exists.  The bottom line is to make oil worthless...

and to take care of the environment even if there is no danger or global warming.  It's that simple.

[firster555]

Back in the 70's another ice age was on the way. Now, global warming. There is a possibility that there could be global warming but humans have absolutely nothing to do with it, it is just the natural process of the earth's geological history.
I was just recently reading about some astrophysics. It seems the rotation of the earth slows down just a little bit every year. In fact, if anyone remembers, two years ago on New Years eve the whole countdown was delayed by 1 second to adjust to this. So, at this pace, in just a couple of million years or so the earth might stop rotating. Global Slowing must be stopped now! But wait. Also, supposedly the universe is constantly expanding at a faster and faster rate. Once it reaches a certain point, what that point is was not said, the expansion will stop and the universe will start reversing back on itself. This will cause the earth's rotation to speed up without end. I guess people will then start getting ejected off the earth like a bugs on a spinning top. Global Speeding is a dangerous thing and it must be taken care of now or our planet will be lost 500 billion years from now.
I am not 100% sure, but I have read that the Jurassic period was the hottest in earth's history. I don't think there were any SUV's around back then.
I have just seen a story, actually in the Limbaugh Letter, where scientists in Australia are trying to give kangaroo style stomachs to cattle and sheep to reduce their methane emissions. This will supposedly help in the fight against global warming. While, another group of scientists state that Australians should farm fewer cattle and sheep, and just eat more kangaroos.
So, just feed ammonium D to cows and eat a few roo burgers and all will be well. Well, except for those who get catapulted off the earth when Global Speeding kicks in.

[Boeregeneraal]

Mars is heating up, and so are the other planets...i guess Exxon is extracting oil, and exploiting slave labour in their huuuuge factories...or mayby it's the aliens 

Point is, if Mars is warming up as well, it means that it's a milky way thing, and not so much a pollution thing. HOWEVER, pollution needs to be prevented as much as possible...

[MasterWolf1]

Global warming is brought to you by those that claim they invented the internet (GORE)