Let it snow!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Let it snow!

I guess you are going to get a lot of this from this blog over the winter, as we see it shaping up for an unusually cold one.

The news is that the first big snowstorm of the season in the Northeast USA shut down sections of major highways this morning and blacked out thousands of electricity customers. The National Weather Service posted a winter storm warning for parts of New York state, in effect until 8 a.m. Wednesday, and issued winter storm advisories for parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Vermont.

"It looked like a mini blizzard in October," said Joe Orlando, spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. "We're salting the roads and we haven't even gone trick or treating yet."

Up to a foot of snow was possible in parts of upstate New York, with wind blowing at 25 mph, and gusting to 40 mph, and as much as 9 inches of snow was forecast in Vermont's mountains, the weather service said. Eight inches of snow had fallen by late morning in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. Schools closed or delayed their opening in parts of Pennsylvania and New York state.

And yes, we know weather is not climate, but this unseasonably cold weather has not come as a surprise to watchers of Watts up with that and other "climate sceptic" sites. The severe winter last year - which ran well into the Spring - the "quiet sun", the shifts in oceanic current patterns, the behaviour of the Arctic ice and the global temperature trend all point inexorably to one thing – it is going to be cold this winter.

I suppose watching the snow through the window will make a change from worrying about the global financial crisis, even if we have to do it in the dark, when the lights go out – as they most assuredly will if the winter really bites. But then, we can amuse ourselves spotting the rats scavenging and watching the media and the politicos squirm as they try to explain (not) that this is just a temporary break in the upwards march of global warming.

Thus, just for the fun of watching them squirm – proving once again that the consensus is invariably wrong – let it snow!

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Come here and say that …

Lord Puttnam says the government is still failing to make the most of an untapped resource - local communities – in dealing with climate change.

"Engaging communities," he believes, "involves a lot more than simply asking for sacrifices ... like turning the heating down".

Given that it has been snowing here, intermittently, for the past hour – in October – and it is so cold that we have the heating going full belt, I am sure that if Lord Puttnam would like to come up and "engage" with our local community, we would be more than happy to discuss with him how he could reduce his own carbon footprint – permanently.

Failing that, we could suggest for him a more direct and economic form of (carbon-free) central heating for him ... something like a red hot poker placed centrally about his person?

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Redesigning the architecture

Norman Tebbit thinks it is time for the euro-sceptics of all kinds to design the architecture of a European home in which there is a place for states seeking ever closer union as well as for those upholding national sovereignty.

We repeat the offer we made in the New Year. Click the pic to see what we have in mind. And don't even begin to think I'm joking.

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Apart from that Mrs Lincoln …

General Sir Michael Rose, former commander of UN forces in Bosnia,is telling us he believes the war is being won in Afghanistan - at least on a military level - for now. 

But he warns that any security gains will not endure without more soldiers, good governance and swift reconstruction.

Now, let's see. We have a corrupt, dysfunctional government in Kabul, creaming off foreign aid and building itself luxury mansions while the people starve. They are building luxury shopping malls in Kabul and planning to open a world class luxury passenger terminal at the airport - yet there are no modern cargo handling facilities and the ramp space is so limited that the aircraft have to queue or divert to Kandahar and use the military facilities.

Much of the reconstruction is going backwards. Road building has stalled, much of it poor quality and there is no money in the maintenance budget. Thus, roads are deteriorating faster than they can be rebuilt or repaired.

The same goes for the much vaunted school building programme. They are putting up buildings, opening them with much fanfare, but there is nothing in the budget for repairs. Books and equipment have to come out of the local budgets and there is not the money to cover them. There is no money to pay the teachers properly so more than 60 percent are untrained and schools are being closed for lack of staff. 

But, apart from that Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

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