Press Association – January 8, 2010
Temperatures in big-freeze Britain are on a par with the South Pole after the country suffered its coldest night of the winter so far.
The mercury sank to minus 21.6C in the Scottish Highlands early on Friday - close to the minus 22.9C currently at the southernmost part of the globe.
With bitterly cold temperatures everywhere else in the UK, there is more widespread disruption on the roads, trains and at airports, with thousands of schools also shut once again.
The remorseless cold has also created new havoc as dozens of big companies have had their gas rationed after domestic demand soared to record levels.
Ninety-five major firms were ordered to switch from gas to alternative fuel on Thursday, though that figure has now been reduced to 27 after the order saw the critical gas position ease.
Meanwhile, highways authorities have been forced to grit more thinly on Britain's roads as the cold snap continues. Gritting in many areas has been scaled back to only the busiest roads and council staff have been diverted from other jobs to help clear snow and ice.
In Hartlepool, in the North East, officials have adopted a "1st priority" policy that means only key routes such as the A689, A179, York Road and Marina Way are now being treated. Gritting of less busy "2nd priority" roads has been temporarily suspended.
Britain's coldest temperature on Friday morning was in Altnaharra in Wester Ross. Manchester and parts of the Brecon Beacons in Wales saw temperatures fall to minus 16C, with Glasgow reaching minus 10C, Cardiff minus 5C and London hovering just below zero.
And there will be little respite during the day, with more snow for eastern England and temperatures likely to be pegged at or below freezing in all areas. The wintry conditions are also expected to last well into next week as the coldest spell for more than 30 years grinds on.
The death toll caused by the big freeze rose again on Thursday after the body of 45-year-old Philip Hughes was recovered from beneath the ice in a frozen lake in Surrey. At least 22 people have died since before Christmas in incidents thought to have been related to the weather.
www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hSdUj85dOiZ9moe9olxWwliddp-g
Comment – January 8, 2010
Climategate is rapidly turning into the latest instalment of a story that began with
Saddam Hussein’s Weapons of Mass Destruction.
In the weeks and months prior to the U.S. led attack on Iraq, the corporate western media was full of stories about Saddam’s WMD’s. Most were speculative but they helped pave the way for the 2003 invasion.
In its aftermath it was discovered that there were no Iraqi WMD and the media quickly fell silent on the matter.
Now in the aftermath of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, which was convened to hammer out agreement on ‘global warming’ and agree new taxes to counter the supposed threat, the northern hemisphere is being gripped by some of the worst winter weather in decades.
Reports of extreme cold and record amounts of snow are coming in from
Japan,
South Korea,
China,
Europe,
North America and now Britain.
That hasn’t deterred the BBC from trying to explain how
the big freeze fits theories of global warming though.
They must really think viewers are gullible to swallow this. Or maybe they are just desperate. After all, in the months and weeks after the invasion of Iraq the BBC continued to cover the search for Saddam’s WMD. Until it dawned that there were none.
What’s the betting that coverage of ‘global warming’ is heading the same way?
Last updated 12/01/2010
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