April 02, 2013 - EUROPE - The UK has recorded its coldest Easter Sunday for more than 50 years, with overnight temperatures dipping to below -12C in
Scotland. The Met Office confirmed it had registered a temperature of -12.5 in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, in the Scottish Highlands. With modern records dating back to 1960, Sunday's freezing
weather beat the previous record of -9.8, set in 1986.
Easter Sunday Coldest On UK Record.
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| The weather on Easter Sunday was in sharp contrast to last year, when a
temperature of 22.9C was recorded in Aberdeenshire. Photograph: Richard
Bowler/Rex Features |
The freezing temperatures, deep snowdrifts and bitter easterly winds stand in stark contrast to
last year's mini-heatwave, when the mercury in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, reached 22.9C on 26 March.
The Met Office said the month of March
still looked set to be the coldest since 1962 and the fourth coldest since 1910.
From 1-26 March the UK mean temperature was 2.5C, three degrees below the long-term average.
March is likely to be the fourth coldest on record for England, joint third coldest for Wales, joint eighth coldest for Scotland and sixth coldest for Northern Ireland.
The week ahead is likely to remain extremely cold but snow is likely to hold off in most places.
Greg Dewhurst from the Met Office said: "We've got high pressure remaining in charge throughout this week so most places will be dry with sunny spells. But we stay on the cold side, especially for this time of year."
In most places maximum temperatures would be between 6C and 8C with a blustery easterly wind in southern and eastern areas to be expected, he said. Wintry showers are expected to be "few and far between". -
Guardian.
Blizzard Grips Poland, Leaves 100,000 Without Power.
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Over
100,000 people in Poland have been left without power as the country
battles with a paralysing blanket of snow that also brought chaos to its
transport system.© Getty Images.
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Heavy snow falls dumped as much as 10 inches across the country on
Sunday, and more is forecast for Monday as an unusually prolonged winter
maintains a severe grip over the Central European country.
In an Easter address to Poland Bronislaw Komorowski, the Polish
president, described the weather as a bad "April Fool's Day joke".
Engineers from electricity companies struggled to restore power to towns
and homes after the weight of snow brought power lines down and caused
tree branches to snap and bring more lines down. The worst affected
regions were to the east and south of Warsaw where as many as 80,000
people were left without power.
Dorota Gajewska, a spokeswoman for the PGE
Dystrybucja, the local power company, described the situation as
"serious" and said that many homes will remain without electricity at
least until Monday night.
The weather also took its toll on Poland's airports with hundreds of flights either cancelled or delayed.
Poland's roads authority reported that driving conditions across the
country remained difficult despite the deployment of over 1,100 snow
ploughs. Sixteen people were killed in traffic accidents over the Easter
weekend and 232 left injured.
Local authorities in Poland warned that the continuing battle with
winter weather was putting an intolerable strain on budgets, with the
mayor of the southern town of Bytom proposing that they might have to
follow the "Scandinavian example" and leave some roads covered in snow.
The blizzard conditions stretched into the neighbouring Czech
and Slovak republics where snow falls up to 15 inches deep in mountain
regions blocked roads and cast an icy blanket over attempts to celebrate
Easter.
Further south in Hungary melting snow coupled with rain made rivers in
the west of the country burst their banks. The Hungarian armed forces
helped evacuate 20,000 people as over 296,000 acres of land near Lake
Balaton disappeared under flood waters.
Local farmers reported that the combination of snow, frost and floods will result in "huge losses". - The Telegraph.
Austria's Ice-Cold Weather Paralyzes Agriculture.
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| © Wikipedia. |
Farmers and drivers are worried about winter returning to Austria. As
fields are covered in snow, farmers cannot plough the fields. This will
lead to problems with summer crops. A Siberian cold front is sweeping
over many parts of Europe. Heavy snow is falling in Moscow, there are
winter storms in the Ukraine and the ice-cold weather has paralysed the
agriculture in Styria.
The long winter is stopping farmers from working on the fields. Summer
crops are especially affected by this. According to Karl Mayer of the
Styrian Chamber of Agriculture, the harvest could thus be severely
affected. Under normal weather conditions, the summer crops are sowed at
the end of February. The latest possible time in the South is the first
week of April and the second week of April in North Styria. But even
these dates will not be possible this year.
The wet and cold weather also leads to the fact that fields cannot be
driven on by tractors at the moment. This is why not only the sowing has
to wait but also the fertilisation.
The farmers are also worried about the early
potatoes, which have to be in the ground by the beginning of April but
cannot be planted when there is frost.
The current negative affects of the weather have not had a big effect of
the wine industry in Styria. It could even have a positive effect as
the wine will grow fast if it is warm in April. Many diseases could thus
be prevented, said Anton Kremser of the Chamber of Agriculture. -
Austria Times.
Welsh Hill Farmers Reel As Melting Snow Reveals Carcasses Of Ewes And Lambs.
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A
heat lamp keeps a one-day-old lamb warm on a farm in Wales. Others
though have not fared as well. The frozen carcasses of thousands of
heavily pregnant ewes and new-born lambs have been found as the snow
melts. © Chris Jackson/Getty Images
|
Hill farmers in Wales face one of their worst crises in 60 years as the
melting snow reveals the carcasses of thousands of heavily pregnant ewes
and new-born lambs. Many animals remain buried under snow drifts,
farmers have been unable to get food to starving survivors and the
bitter weather forecast to continue for at least a fortnight.
"It's the worst we've known at this time of year since 1966 when I left
school," said Emyr Jones, president of the Farmers Union of Wales, who
keeps 1,000 ewes on la nd near Lake Bala on the edge of Snowdonia in
north Wales."We won't know exactly how bad the situation is until the
snow goes finally, but we know losses will be high. The lambs are being
frozen to death before they can even stand. It's impossible for farmers
to find some sheep in the mountainous areas," he said.
Farmers who were digging sheep out of 20ft
snowdrifts across north and mid Wales throughout the holiday weekend
predicted higher prices for Welsh lamb and said many hill farmers could
be forced to give up because of the extra costs.
Gareth Wyn Jones and his family, who farm 2,000 acres in the Carnedd
range, have so far dug out 70 ewes but fear they have lost many
hundreds. "Some sheep are trapped in catacombs under the snow, so can be
pulled out. We found two ewes that had lambed, but their lambs had
frozen to death. We found another eight heavily pregnant ewes and
managed to save them and they were able to lamb."
He and other hill farmers called for the Welsh government to suspend EU
rules to allow them to bury dead animals where they fall, instead of
having to pay up to £20 to have each dead animal collected and disposed
of by knackers' yards.
Welsh food and natural resources minister Alun Davies said: "I [have ]
asked my chief veterinary officer, Christianne Glossop, to look urgently
at what the Welsh government can do to alleviate the burden on farmers.
I will respond early next week."
Ten days after one of the worst snowstorms in 50 years to hit north and
mid Wales, farmers reported that they were taken by surprise by its
intensity which saw three feet of snow fall in some places in under 24
hours.
Glyn Roberts, who keeps sheep on the Arunweg mountains south of Bettws y
Coed in Snowdonia, said he was one of the lucky few who managed to get
most of his sheep into the farmyard before the storm hit. His sheep
mostly survived because he managed to build a temporary shelter for
them. "We have been flat out. Every shed is packed out and we cannot get
any back on the mountain. I have lost some but there must still be
thousands still there. Its impossible to find them.
"There are still 20ft high drifts. Lambs are being frozen to death
before they can even walk. Ewes are walking away from their lambs. The
snow is just beginning to melt and we are starting to see the full
extent of the disaster. But the drifts are so bad we don't know what's
under them. Its a case of hoping for the best."
Many farmers are now desperate for animal feed but costs are spiralling,
said Helen Davies, manager of the Welsh region of the national sheep
association.
"The hill farmers have had it bad. It's going to have serious knock-on
effects. The cold weather came right at the height of the lambing
season. The shock of the cold made some of the ewes lamb earlier. The
animals caught in the storm sheltered below walls but were quickly
buried by snow," she said.
As the drifts begin to melt in the lower areas and farmers get access to
their fields, they are being met by the horrific sight of animals who
survived the snow and ice but have had their eyes pecked out by crows
and been half eaten by foxes, she said. "It's not unheard of to have
snow drifts at this time of year but usually it lasts for only two days
or so. It's now 10 days, roads are still shut and it is still freezing,"
said Nick Fenwick, policy director of the Farmers' union of Wales.
"It comes on the back of the collapse of lamb prices last year,
torrential rains that have reduced harvests, very little grass on the
sodden hillsides. Hill farmers are always on the edge. Something like
this could push people over," he said.
"There must be a fall in the lamb crop and an increase in prices.
Whether the higher prices will be enough to cover the costs of providing
extra feed we don't know," he said.
"Wales is now the only country in the EU that no longer gives extra
payments for 'less favoured' areas. The ending of the upland grant last
year means that for the first time in 60 years the cheque that people
used to rely on to pay winter fodder bills is not there."
"It's been catastrophic. It's survival of the fittest now," said David Pittendreigh, chair of the Sheep Association of Wales. -
Guardian.
