Weather Variance - climate change ?

[Muz]

I dont know how much climate change is really a significant factor, but Scotland has experienced a very extreme (for us) weather system of late, where weve seen temperatures vary by 25 Deg in just one week. Any one else across the world finding his to be the case ?


Its a fact that the polar regions are experiencing receding ice , whereby shipping companies are now able to use more polar routes previously denied by ice form, which has made some journey times considerably shorter for them. so that should cut down on some emissions eh ?


Because of the big push for ever more green energy, our power bills are rocketing. So .. in the quest for cleaner more eco friendly sources of power , we end up paying more for it ? .. Which in turn means it cant be that efficient is it ? ... surey a better route would be to focus on improving the insualtion of old buildings and encouraging better use of electronics for exmple and trying to lower our consumption generally.

Theres not a day goes by in our house hold that I dont have to shout at the kids to turn off something that they've just walked away from and dont need Some times I come home at night and the whole house is lit up, now I'm tryin not to be grumpy here but I do think this whole green thing gets a bit misguided sometimes, heck, even the greens are turning to nuclear power as the answer .... wheel gone full circle or what ?

[Wee Jim]

well up till today that global warming has been working for me.

I got sunburt last week and snowed in today. We had 10 inch of snow here overnight! I had to go to the dentist this morning (18miles) and it was chaos it was like they didnt know how to cope with the snow on the roads! what made me laugh was by the time i got there i was 25 miutes late and my dentist was not there. When she phoned to say she couldnt get in they said well your patient is here and he came from further up the valley than you! needless to say after an hour she appeard! which was good as she is an excellent dentist.

I just dont know whats going to happen with the summer though? will it be another heat wave or a washout??

[Stock]

Me thinks this green energy is only a means of governments screwing money out of us. See the Germans are pulling out of Nuke power and from what I read the so-called expansive in the UK is now under threat....................

As yet there is no way of controlling the weather and 50 years ago March was as warm and dry as this one ........................
Did the dentist excavate or place a shutter or was it a case of dig it out by the roots.............

[Wee Jim]

Did the dentist excavate or place a shutter or was it a case of dig it out by the roots.............

She excavated and then placed a shutter!! I think she had a small breaker on at one point!!

[Stock]

Had something similar done about two week ago.............on a back tooth still a tad sensitive...............

[Muz]

I think she had a small breaker on at one point!!

lol .................ouchy

Well actually I remember that despite the variance this year, I have a photo of snow in my yard being 13 inches deep at the end of March last year. Now the last 2 winters in Scotland were B@st@rds long long frozen spells before it finally warmed up .. and this one has been a breeze by comparison, so the snow we got now is actually pretty much on a par with last winter only we didnt get the frozen tundra for three months before hand

[245dlc]

Well I for one think I have more to say about snow and cold weather than anyone here. Most winters here can last well into April but usually the snow starts melting the last week of March or so. Well winter was late to arrive we really didn't get much snow at all we usually get lots by Christmas sometimes starting as early as Halloween and we can get about 3-4 feet at the most. We usually get about 2-3 weeks of on again off again -30 to -40 (not including windchill) starting as early as New Years and usually ending about last week of February sometimes middle of March. Well this year we had maybe a day of -30 degrees celsius and we had maybe 6 inches of snow until the last two weeks of February when we got maybe close to a foot. The last week of February this year it got quite warm hardly dipping below zero at night and I think within a week in this region all the snow was pretty much gone except for the big piles of snow...the few that we had. And a week after that we started getting reports within the region of the seasons first grass fires. Last week it got a little colder going down toe -10 at night for at least one night and around zero the following nights. We Were suppose to get something like 20mm of rain over the course of a couple days at which point we probably got 10mm. Environment Canada is horrible at predicting weather we commonly joke 'they can't predict yesterday's weather' I live maybe within an hour from the American border so sometimes we get more accurate reports from our neighbours in Minnesota. Oh and because we hardly had any moisture leading up to winter and over the winter a number of peat fires burned right through the winter screwing with a number of logging operations, sometimes we saw huge plumes of smoke coming from an area nearby where there was a fierce grass fire last October pushed by a 90km/h wind storm and unusually warm weather around 25 degrees celsius I think. The glow from the fires could be seen for tens of miles and I guess because of its heat and the lack of rain the it started the peat beds burning and they smoldered all winter and once the weather warmed up and last years long grass was dry and there was some wind the whole situation started up again. These areas are sparsely populated and the local municipalities including mine have limited wildland fire fighting capabilities so the province finally sent in it's crews with heavy equipment like bulldozers and water bombers and finally got these stubborn fires out cold last week. In my municipality we had very little snow as well so for me that was kind of a good thing as even though it was milder than normal the below zero weather and low water in the creeks and river here froze over quite well allowing ATV enthusiasts such as myself a great winter of roaring up and down the river it was almost like an ATV highway on the weekends. lol My town is on a fairly busy two lane highway and most winters there are quite a few motor vehicle accidents but I think this year because the roads were in pretty good condition we had maybe one early in the winter. The bulk of our calls being grass fires one of which was near a town that we have a little rivalry with a local volunteer firefighter was burning garbage in a barrel and some embers from it started a 15 acre grass fire which turned into a mutual aid call and we managed to keep it from jumping the highway, it almost burnt down a house but we managed to cut it off before hand. And so far this week it looks like all the poplar trees are going to pop out their leaves and maybe even the willows which will be nice, my lilac hedge is starting to get pretty green and my mum says I might be able to seed some radishes, lettuce, and sweet peas in the garden. Usually we can't do this until LATE MAY!! Either way I'm not complaining I love this weather and I hope the big guy in the sky is giving us a few years without flooding and the miserable weather associated with it. lol

[Stock]

German withdrawl puts Nuclear programme in jeoprady
£15bn of construction work has been put on hold at a stroke with the decision by RWE npower and E.ON UK to scrap plans to build nuclear power stations at Wylfa and Oldbury.
Above: Wylfa, where Horizon had planned to build a new plant
The two companies will try to sell their joint venture, Horizon, established in 2009 to develop the nuclear plant in Anglesey and Bristol.
Both companies have said the move was based on strategic grounds and that they regard Horizon’s projects as still excellent development options – for the right owner.
Horizon chief operating officer Alan Raymant said: “We are grateful for the support and backing of E.ON and RWE npower since the company was formed in 2009. This has enabled us to bring our projects forward to an advanced stage. We are also very pleased to enjoy broad public and political support, in particular from the communities around our sites. This continues to make nuclear new build an attractive proposition in the UK.
“We have made good progress in developing our sites, in particular our lead site at Wylfa, and a strong organisation capable of delivering nuclear new build in the UK. We will now focus on consolidating the progress made and working with our shareholders as they investigate the opportunities for new ownership.”
EDF Energy chief executive Vincent de Rivaz was quick to restate his own company’s commitment to the UK nuclear market at Hinckley Point, however. He said: “EDF Energy and Centrica remain focused on our project and nothing has changed with regard to that. We are determined to make UK new nuclear a success. With our partner Centrica we are progressing a strong and credible new nuclear project.
“We are making progress on all fronts towards taking the Final Investment Decision at the end of this year, as planned, on the UK’s first two new nuclear plants at Hinkley Point.”
He added: “We cannot comment on the factors behind the decisions of EON and RWE, which they themselves say relate to the specific financial positions of their two companies and to the consequences of the decision by the German government regarding nuclear.
“Indeed EON and RWE have said that they believe that nuclear power has an important role to play in the UK’s future energy mix. We are confident that the projects at Wylfa and Oldbury will be part of this mix.”