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Marco Sabadin / AFP - Getty Images
A small boat passes on a canal covered with ice on Monday in Venice, Italy. Temperatures fell to 14 degrees Fahrenheit in Milan on Monday as 59,000 households remained without electricity in Italy and officials declared a gas supply emergency.
Luigi Costantini / AP
A view of the Cannaregio channel, partially iced because of unusually low temperatures, in Venice on Monday. Schools will be closed in Rome on Tuesday, as Italy copes with unusually heavy snow for the Mediterranean country. So far, ten deaths have been linked to winter weather, including two people who were crushed under a collapsed roof south of Rome, and a 91-year-old woman in the northeast port of Trieste who was knocked down by strong winds. In the north, rescuers had to pluck people from their homes, as piles of snow reached 3 meters (10 feet) in some areas. In Milan, Italy's fashion and financial capital, temperatures fell to 10 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday, and the authorities opened a section of the city subway to shelter some 100 homeless people.
Manuel Silvestri / Reuters
A boat floats in a frozen lagoon in Venice on Monday. Bitterly cold weather sweeping across Europe claimed more victims on Sunday, brought widespread disruption to transport services, and left thousands without power with warnings that low temperatures would continue into next week.
More images from freezing weather in Europe in PhotoBlog.
Related story: Venice rebels againts cruise ship intrusions
Leave a Comment:
Maybe the Mayans were onto something.
No, they weren't. Climatologists clearly are, however.
Mayans rock! So do the Hopi!
Maybe the Climatologists of the Carter years.
Hey phine,
Did you give up on FR?
yeah but global climate change just can't be real...rrright.
It was global warming until that was debunked now it's climate change so that no matter WHAT happens the libs can cry and whine.
And here in Spartanburg, SC, it was 72 deg. yesterday...short sleeves and shorts weather. Highly unusual for us.
At the beginning of last week it was 70 degrees, but by Friday night we had a freaking blizzard! There's a foot of snow now in Lincoln, Nebraska. We just shake our heads and say, "Typical Nebraska weather. Don't like it? Wait 5 minutes." ;)
Global warming wasn't debunked, it was simply bad terminology. Do you really think the global weather has been normal? Ask the polar bears how their doing. Here in northern Wisconsin it's been 40-45 degrees lately, nothing normal about that!
The thing about science is that when current theories and ideas no longer adequately describe the natural world, usually because of new data or research, they are modified or abandoned. "Global Warming" isn't necessarily wrong, "climate change" is just more right. The fact that it keeps changing doesn't mean that older theories were wrong, they were just incomplete.
Also, is there anywhere on the internet where intelligent news discussions can occur? Like this, but without all the personal attacks and mindless political parroting? It's becoming a bit tiresome.
Ironic. Yet "We are getting hosed" is the one in here whining. Typical.
I believe in Global Climate Change! BUT... The climate has been changing, warming then cooling then warming again, since time immemorial. Here on the Oregon/Washington border we have the Columbia River and I've seen old pictures of the river completely frozen over in the winter with cars driving across it from one state to the other. There is not one native Oregonian or Washingtonian I have met who can ever remember the Columbia river with ice chunks floating in it, let alone completely frozen solid. So yes... The climate is changing. It's all part of a natural cycle. Are we, the human race, exacerbating or hastening this climate change? Probably to at least some degree we are, but to what degree we are affecting the climate is a subject of hotly contested debates and always will be.
freecascadian,,,, I'm afraid not.
Climate change is real!!! Has been real since the beginning of time and will continue until the end of time
Climate is always changing, just like the weather does. How those mammoths and saber tooths doing? Not to mention those Hopi.
Yes, it is now global climate change!!! Now it is impossible for the libs to be wrong! Brilliant!
no matter WHAT happens the libs can cry and whine.
Actually when the climate is so crazy that crops fail maybe then everyone will cry and whine.
The Earth is on its third atmosphere. All these changes without Man. The only Constant is Change. A manufactured crisis will never be wasted by the left.
Calvin, to what degree are we are we affecting the climate? Does it really matter? The point is, we are the only being on earth with the ability to affect change, good or bad. 7 billion people and you think we don't have a huge impact? We should and can figure ways to keep our environment clean and healthy AND see to it industry makes money and drive the economy. All I can see from the far right is their misguided belief that industry should be allowed to fowl the air and water because if they can't we will close up shop and fire all the workers. It takes very little climate warming to make crops fail and weather patterns to create larger and more unpredictable storms, as we are seeing it happen globally.
Just to put our 7 billion in perspective:
Then there's the algea and bacteria.
I am sorry Grinspoon97, I fail to see your point. You think the insects and algae will figure out how to fix our mess? It is more likely they will thrive in our man-made filth and do even more damage to us humans.
What's to fix? - sit back and enjoy it. As Chauncy Gardener said, "In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again."
Change is the only constant.
People can pooh-pooh global climate change all they want but it sure seems to be happening. I live in snow country but we don't have any snow. By all rights, where we live, when it doesn't snow the temp. drops to 30 and 40 below 0. That's not happening this year. Whether it is man-made (what I believe) or just a natural cycle, things are really screwed up and I think we are in trouble.
One theory is if Greenland ice melts, the Gulf Stream would slow or stop, no longer bringing tropical warmth to Europe (it will freeze) and keeping the US warmer. It's just a theory of course... I hope a few scientists are out there actually measuring it.
Global warming, eh? Whatever floats your boat. Global warming - pretty lame!
Likely do to shifts in the airstreams and the ocean currents. Quite a few areas here that normally have snow every year have had little more than a dusting while other areas have had record snowfalls. No need to think apocalyptic Mayan predictions. Besides, the Mayan calender was cyclical. 2012 only means the beginning of a new cycle in the calendar.
I don't dismiss global climate change. It's historically happened before throughout the planet's history. Has mankind accelerated the change? Probably. Would the change have happened without intervention? Likely.
Shut up, Pyrine...
Mayan Apocolyptical Survival Kits, right here!!! Get your's here and be a survivor!!! Only $199.99. Not like that paper money is going to be any use on Dec 22nd.
Pyrinic, correct, Mankind has accelerated the change absolutely. It would have happened without it, maybe. One huge point is, are we affecting the climate to warm faster than humans can adapt? Probably. Volcanoes also affect climate. The natural world cleans that affect up in time. Humans are spewing gasses in the air faster than the natural world can clean it. THAT is the problem.
Global warming is the biggest hoax of all time--
Global warming is about a rise in the average temperature of the whole planet. The most obvious local changes from this will be melting polar ice caps and receding glaciers in mountains.
Global warming also causes climate change, which are local phenomena that may be all over the map, colder sometimes, warmer and drought at other times. All scientists have been saying that you cannot link one time events directly to the overall trend, but need to view changes on a somewhat longer time scale.
It can, admittedly, be difficult to grasp these relatively simple concepts when one's head is so deeply buried in the sand.
The professional climate folks are here in vast numbers, as if they have a clue to what they are talking about. I have a saying in my profession that a "mark of a true professional is to know when you don't know". Glad I came up with that line. Great photos of a very strange weather pattern causing things one just see too often.
William, you have absolute proof that human activity isn't causing change of any kind, right? Do you have a clue? Are you a climate scientist, or a scientist of any kind? Did dinosaurs roam the earth 4,000 years ago? I mean the dinosaurs of the T-Rex kind.
Oh Red,
I was making a joke that those who think they know what they are talking about probably don't and you just joined that group gladly.
2 years ago was el nino, this year it's la ninya
To each and every person on either side of the climate change/global warming issue, the proof either way depends on years of carefully measuring temperatures worldwide. It's the average for the entire planet that matters, not whether Europe and Alaska are having unusually cold weather, or if the lower forty-eight is having one of the mildest winters on record. If you want do see for yourself, try looking up the twenty warmest years on record. That's just a starting point, but it's a good one.
OK--- WHO wants to bet everything they own against man-catalyzed Global Climate Change ? ( Venetians ineligible)
Earth is on its thrid atmosphere. Dweeb - in the old Soviet Union, they had a name for people like you - "Useful Idiots".
Man-Made Global Warming can not be proven. If the atmosphere of earth were represented by the length of a football field, CO2 would only account for the width of a pencil. Anyone who believes Man is impacting the climate of earth by messing with a molecule that makes up so little, it believing the myths propagated by those very people who depend on getting funding because of those beliefs.
The great mythical being "Santa Clause" and his son the "Tooth Fairy" are playing games with us until we ascend to LaLa land.
That's pretty amazing. When I was there in October, the Venetians were walking around bundled up in parkas, scarves, hats and gloves - like they were in Siberia. Seemed perfectly balmy to me, from Colorado. I imagine that about now, they're holed up in their homes like it is the end of the world.
Some useful info to digest
29% of Earth is land mass. Of that 29% humans occupy less than 1% of that area. Of the remaining 28% about 40% is pure wilderness. 14% is true desert and 15% has desert like characteristics. 9% is Antarctica. Most of the remaining 22% are agricultural areas. There may be other areas with a human footprint of some kind but it is insignificant in any relation to global warming.
What percentage of the earth is land?
By the most common criteria used (which includes swamps and seasonal dry land), the Earth has a land surface of 144,940,000 km2, which is about 29.2% of the total surface area of the planet.
How much space do cities take up of inhabited land of earth;
Urban areas (1.5%) (148,940,000 km2 land) =2,234,100 km2 Urban areas -------------------- Earth Surface area 510,072,000 km2
148,940,000 km2 land (29.2 %)
361,132,000 km2 water (70.8 % ------------- Land use Percentage
Arable land 13.13%
Permanent crops 4.71%
Permanent pastures 26%
Forests and woodland 32%
Urban areas 1.5%
Other 30%
#Natur… ---------- For instance, in 1990, 50% of the human population inhabited less than 3% of the Earth’s icefree
land area What percentage of land on earth is dominated by humans? 29% of Earth is land mass. Of that 29% humans occupy less than 1% of that area. Of the remaining 28% about 40% is pure wilderness. 14% is true desert and 15% has desert like characteristics. 9% is Antarctica. Most of the remaining 22% are agricultural areas. There may be other areas with a human footprint of some kind but it is insignificant in any relation to global warming.
What percentage of the earth's land has a temperature climate;
Ice covers 3%, earth covers 70%, therefore 27% of the earth's land has a temperature climate.
the deepest part of the earth's oceans is;
The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the world's oceans, and the lowest elevation of the surface of the Earth's crust. It is located in the western Pacific Ocean to the east of the Mariana Islands, near Japan. It reaches a maximum known depth of about 11.03 kilometres (6.85 mi)
Projections of population growth over the next 50 years;
According to current projections of population growth, the world population of humans will continue to grow until at least 2050, with the estimated population, based on current growth trends, to reach 9 billion in 2040,[1][2] and some predictions putting the population in 2050 as high as 11 billion.[3] World population passed the 7 billion mark on October 31, 2011.[1] According to the United Nations' World Population Prospects report, [4] the world population is currently growing by approximately 74 million people per year. Current United Nations predictions estimate that the world population will reach 9.0 billion around 2050, assuming a decrease in average fertility rate from 2.5 down to 2.0.[5][6] Almost all growth will take place in the less developed regions, where today's 5.3 billion population of underdeveloped countries is expected to increase to 7.8 billion in 2050. By contrast, the population of the more developed regions will remain mostly unchanged, at 1.2 billion. An exception is the United States population, which is expected to increase 44% from 305 million in 2008 to 439 million in 2050.[7] In 2000–2005, the average world fertility was 2.65 children per woman, about half the level in 1950–1955 (5 children per woman). In the medium variant, global fertility is projected to decline further to 2.05 children per woman.
So how in the world can 1% population of land on earth change the climate like the climatologist say it does?? Pure BS!!!
by the wind spreading excess co2 from cars, factories, waste dumps and power plants, not to mention the melting of millions of years old glaciers releasing even more co2, the melting caused by the millions of tons of co2 human activity is creating that nature can not keep up with.
Red, co2 can be eliminated if humans stopped breathing.
good point. Or factories and power plants to curtail more of their their emissions. Or to make cleaner running vehicles. Or stopping cutting down forests. A combination of many things can be and should be done. Or we can throw in the towel and throw our arms up in the air and admit humans are too ignorant to do anything about anything. I am just wondering now, is there anything to reincarnation and will we suffer the consequences in the future or will it be just future generations because of our wasteful and filthy habits.
I personally like to think humans are intelligent enough to solve problems and create a cleaner and healthier environment. I don't blame anything that has happened in the past, but I am progressive enough to know we can move forward in more sustainable ways and conservative enough to know industry and citizens can both create winning ways of doing it.
If you are right and there is nothing to climate change, then the worse that comes from more progressive thinking is a cleaner healthier place in which to live and more employment. If you are wrong and succeed in keeping progress from happening...well..what can one say.
Where is Al Gore? Paging Al Gore.
Climate change or global warming - I think not!
WOW Dolly! You have got to be the most intelligent one amongst us.
Red, you obviouly missed my attempt at humor -- ROTF LMFAO!
i got the fact you thought to bring in a liberal politicians name as humor, I just didn't think it was funny. So to counter that, I added my own little brand of humor, which I am sure you didn't find all that funny.
During the industrial revolution until the mid 20th century people made the same arguments about polluting the oceans. "It is so vast and humas so insignificant, we can't possible contaminate the oceans to any measuable degree." But, it turns out we can. Rather small amounts of industrial pollutans - measured in th parts per million have been found to accumulate in the fatty tissue of fish. Not to mention the millions of tons of degrading plastic waste floating around disintegrating and geting ingested. Go up the food chain and it gets more concentrated. So now humans can't eat large quantities of most ocean fish due to mercury and pcb contamination. The atmosphere is no different - ultimatelythe earth is a closed system - the pollution has to go somewhere and will accumulate. It is not a question of if - but when. Some say decades, some say centuries. Take your pick, but humans are having an impact - it is unescapable logic.
Good points Works for me. To expand on your comments, humans are the only mammals that not only cause unsustainable pollution, we are the only ones who are smart enough and equipped enough to correct our past mistakes.