What's the weather where you are?

[Alana]

Lower Austria and Vienna:

although we had a little snow in November the temperatures are still very high.
Since two weeks we have about 10-15° C which is definitely "too warm" for this time of the year and neither rain nor snow. It is supposed to have around 0°C and should be snow . . .

Might be one of the warmest years . . . .

The same weather here in Southern Bavaria - it is more like Easter than Christmas time. Some narcissus already grew a bit out of the earth.

That's what the Greeks were saying until yesterday, because today the winter came with a sudden drop in temperatures, snow and rains and clouds. But until yesterday it was sunny and warm. Funny, because I remember them during last Easter reporting that then it was like Christmas. They had so much snow and it was too cold for spring weather. It seems that the seasons are shifting everywhere.

Stay safe everyone, and be prepared! Anything can happen!

 

[Chad]

Just to add, since Storm Frank drifted Northwards - and took the worst with it, it seems Scotland hasn't escaped as easily. The article has two videos but i think the pictures do it justice.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14173118.Storm_Frank__5_000_homes_in_Scotland_without_power__60_flood_warnings__120mm_of_rain_expected/?ref=fbshr

Storm Frank hits Scotland: 5,500 homes left without power, flooded areas evacuated, Dundee v Celtic called off

Herald Scotland:

Jonathan Coates, Digital Content Editor / 2 hours ago / News
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Scotland has been battered by gale-force winds and heavy rain from Storm Frank, leaving more than 5,000 homes without power, causing major disruption to roads and leaving communities at risk of major damage.

Met Office amber "be prepared" warnings have been in place covering all mainland regions, with the exception of the Highlands, where there were yellow "be aware" warnings.

Some areas of Dumfries have been evacuated after the River Nith bursts its banks, while the sporting programme has been affected with the live televised SPFL encounter between Dundee and Celtic postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

As dawn rose, pictures and videos began to emerge of the effects of the continuous overnight rain.

HeraldScotland has compiled a gallery of the most dramatic still images.

Our photographers Mark Gibson and Kirsty Anderson, together with George Munro from our sister title the Greenock Telegraph, also captured the video footage that you can see in the carousel at the top of this article.

A Twitter user, Tracy Armstrong, posted this dramatic footage from Straiton in Ayrshire.

Much of Scotland was immediately put on flood alert with more than 60 flood warnings and 14 alerts issued, covering Aberdeenshire, Moray and Speyside to the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.

Roads authorities and the coastguard were urging people in the areas that experience severe weather to avoid unnecessary travel.

A motorist stranded in south Glasgow gets a push from the emergency services. Picture by Mark Gibson

Herald Scotland:

A spokesman for Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) confirmed this morning that a total of around 5,500 homes in Scotland were without power.

The areas affected include Shetland, the Western Isles and the west, north and north-east of Scotland.

In Aberdeenshire, around 1,700 homes are without power in areas including Fraserburgh, Kintore, Durris, Cruden Bay, and New Deer.

The spokesman said power would be restored during the day when it is safe for engineers to work.

Another motorist is the subject of a rescue bid in south Glasgow at Haggs Road. Picture by Mark Gibson

Herald Scotland:

He said the strong winds caused by Storm Frank had disrupted the network.

He added: "Our apologies for the disruption and the inconvenience caused. Our engineers are working as hard as they possibly can to restore supplies where it's safe to do so."

The chairman of the Environment Agency (EA) Sir Philip Dilley is due to visit flood victims today in north England after he returned from a Christmas holiday to Barbados amid criticism at the timing of his break during some of the worst storms in decades.

Communities in the Borders were told to prepare for up to 120mm of rain and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) currently has 18 flood warnings in place for the region, covering areas such as Peebles and Hawick.

Back in Glasgow, a Twitter user, Liberty T180, posted this picture of the junction of Kings Park Road and Cathcart Road shortly after dawn.

More than 20 warnings have been issued for Tayside, while residents in the Dumfries and Galloway, Aberdeenshire and Central areas have also been warned of flooding.

Dundee FC warned that tonight's Scottish Premiership clash with Celtic at Dens Park might fall victim to the weather and scheduled a referee's pitch inspection for 1.15pm at which it was decided the game could not go ahead.

Motorists battle the floods at Ballater in Aberdeenshire

Herald Scotland:

Meanwhile, road teams from BEAR Scotland were monitoring north-east and north-west trunk roads for any issues caused by the storm, warning of a landslip at the A835 at Garve in the Highlands.

Richard Brown, the head of hydrology at Sepa, told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The situation is still very much deteriorating. Although we have the 62 flood warnings in effect, we expect a big increase in that number as the morning goes by. Some of the smaller water courses have shown signs of peaking but the rain is going to continue and larger rivers are continuing to rise."

Scottish Transport Minister Derek Mackay added: "We expected challenging conditions and that's turning out to be the case. One of the ongoing issues will be the flood risk because the persistent rain will calm down later on in the day but we're still dealing with the risk of flooding to the transport system and indeed people's homes and businesses.

"Ministers met last night and will meet again today. We help coordinate and share information and ensure that all our agencies and partner organisations are connected and doing everything we can to both be resilient and keep the country moving."

He urged anyone travelling today to check weather information, plan their routes and drive to the conditions.

Flooding forced the closure of roads across the regions and bus, rail and ferry services were all suffering disruption this morning.

Key routes including the M8 and the M74 had lanes and junctions shut due to surface water.

East Ayrshire Police tweeted this video of a surging river just after midday

In East Ayrshire, travellers were asked to avoid New Cumnock and there were reports of cars stuck in water at Newark roundabout in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde.

The A83 was closed at Rest and Be Thankful due to a landslide and the A85 was shut after flooding at Crianlarich.

CalMac ferry sailings between Mallaig and Armadale and Oban and Craignure were cancelled, with the Largs to Cumbrae service also suspended.

ScotRail said services between Glasgow and Inverness, Carlisle and Kilmarnock were affected.

A number of properties in affected areas have been evacuated as floodwaters rise.

Ballater in Aberdeenshire was one of the areas hit due to flooding of the River Dee, and people in the village of Straiton in South Ayrshire were also being helped by the fire service to leave their properties.
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The A77 south of Girvan at Maybole in Ayrshire was shut due to surface water.

Elsewhere, Glasgow's busy Great Western Road has been closed to eastbound traffic near Gartnavel Hospital due to "severe flooding" and Aikenhead Road in the city's southside was closed to all traffic with several feet of water on the road at one point.

 

[sitting]

On the NW coast of England and further inland - including the north east coast - there was extensive flooding due to Storm Eva.

This world infra-red weather map shows the severity of the pattern. Intense amounts of (electrical?) energy. I've never seen anything like it, and I've watched these things for years. Needless to say, It looks ominous.

(As of 4:30pm Eastern time)

http://www.intellicast.com/Global/Satellite/Infrared.aspx?location=default&region=hiusa

FWIW.

 

[Chad]

On the NW coast of England and further inland - including the north east coast - there was extensive flooding due to Storm Eva.

This world infra-red weather map shows the severity of the pattern. Intense amounts of (electrical?) energy. I've never seen anything like it, and I've watched these things for years. Needless to say, It looks ominous.

(As of 4:30pm Eastern time)

http://www.intellicast.com/Global/Satellite/Infrared.aspx?location=default&region=hiusa

FWIW.

I checked out the map yesterday and for the most part the worst seemed to have passed Ireland and Britain with the worst spots looking like they were making their way to Norway and Russia... i guess we'll see what Storm Frank/ that weather system, does there... (if i'm understanding the map!)


I remembered something after posting about the storm, and that was my friend mentioned that she saw Daffodils had began to rise and bloom - i noticed same the other day when i went for a walk. We remembered Daffodils are more often seen in March, so a few months early.

This article is from around Dec 15th, it's now NYE and there's been another article from the same outlet but that talks more about El Nino (which could be attributed but it may also just be because they have no other explanation). Sott has already run articles about the strange migrations of birds in UK recently.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/16/daffodils-england-northern-ireland-unseasonal-december-weather
Daffodils bloom across UK during unseasonal December weather

Flowers usually more associated with Easter than Christmas seen around the country in a week of above-average seasonal temperatures

Guy Barter, the chief horticultural adviser at the Royal Horticultural Society, told the Telegraph that it was the earliest he can recall seeing daffodils in bloom. “I have always scoffed at the idea of flowers before Christmas but I will have to eat my words,” he said. “We are in unknown territory in many ways. What consequence it will have, we don’t know.”

He explained: “Daffodils have a mechanism to sense temperature and after a defined period of cold (generally about 2-10C) they are triggered to flower, and they will then flower according to ambient temperature.”

Wirral Bird Club posted a photograph of daffodils flowering in Chester on Twitter, saying: “The weather has gone mad,” while another user showed a picture of daffodils in full bloom in Downpatrick, County Down. Another Twitter user posted a photograph of a field of daffodils in London’s Olympic Park, with the hashtag #climatechange.Even in Cumbria, which suffered the brunt of recent flooding, daffodils have been spotted, with Kendal Gardening tweeting: “After floods have come the Daffodils! In the Lyth Valley in mid December! Madness!”

diamond geezer
‏@diamondgeezer

Olympic Park, 12th December #climatechange

edit: grammar

 

[lilies]

Clear skies, amazing sunshine and -1/-2 °C, no rain or snow (at latitude 47.8) in the Carpathian Basin, west of Ukraine. We are having a beautiful winter weather for a couple of days now.

Cold measurement methods:
I was curious of how grounding - standing barefoot on wet grass - will go below freeze temperatures. The 'freeze burn' started to be palpable in my soles, but the toes remained fine. Drinking in the sunlight helped a lot too. After that the cold water felt good. "Thawing out" inside under blankets was exhilarating. These days I have to turn the heating on around 17:00 usually, because my fingers will start to freeze and I have to work.

 

[sitting]

... there's been another article from the same outlet but that talks more about El Nino (which could be attributed but it may also just be because they have no other explanation).

I think the power source for most (if not all) this weather activity is electrical. Other factors may be secondary effects.

These enormous patches of yellow & red (in the infra-red map) I've seen before. But almost always in the region of Antarctica. It's exceedingly rare for it to show up in the Arctic region.

This recent appearance (a day ago) is an anomaly -- but could be a portent of what's to come.

FWIW.

 

[casper]

Croatia, finally real winter

Županja

Zagreb

Koprivnica

Viškovo(Rijeka)

 

[Konstantin]

And some snow in Macedonia too. There is about 30 cm of snow on the ground and temperature around 0C Degrees . 2016 starts with a snow.

 

[Arwenn]

Been sheets of rain and wind on the Mid-North Coast of NSW, past two days now. Gone from 30 degrees C to 22 degrees. We have many tourists that come up from Sydney and many people camp. Really feel for them right now - the rain just hasn't let up.

 

[Solie123]

@Casper

Those are some beautiful pictures! :D

Here on the East coast of the US, we have just started to feel the chill of winter. Due to the recent development with el Nino, we've had a pretty warm winter up until this point. No snow yet though! Right now it's -1 C with the possible low of -9 C.

Not excited about the cold :(

 

[Mr.Cyan]

In Hong Kong, and it sheets of rain as well today - dull grey and misty as well with more rain to come. Its been a mild winter so far with temperatures between 16-23 degrees C - when it should normally is between 12-16 this time of the year. The rain though is unusual, but I guess its in keeping with the heavy rain that's occurring globally now.

 

[Xico]

Well it's finally here in California/San Fernando Valley, we are getting some much needed rain, it is not that heavy yet but it looks promising, seems like it will be raining all through Thursday...

 

[Andrian]

North of Italy, no rain for almost 3 months, air pollution very high for almost 3 months, in the south of Italy during month of December the temperatures were so high that it felt like spring time, finally a couple of days ago it started to rain here in the North of Italy, the air has changed, it feels a little better, possibly in the next days the weather may change and we will see the first snow of this winter.

 

[Gwenllian]

Last Friday I was working in the garden with a clear blue sky and the sun in my face. Since Sunday we have had a powerful eastern wind blowing and a bit of snow and lots of treacherous black ice in the North of The Netherlands. Because of the wind there must have been a wind chill factor, because it was cold especially after a few nice and sunny days. Unfortunately, my hot flashes (due to the iodine protocol) have disappeared. Just when I need them! :D

Nos weather forecaster Gerrit Hiemstra said it is extremely unusual for freezing rain and black ice to continue all night and into the morning. Although conditions will improve during the day, the black ice is likely to return on Tuesday evening, he said. The ice layer is up to five centimetres thick in places, Nos says.

_http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/01/black-ice-leads-to-code-red-weather-alarm-in-northern-dutch-provinces/

Added: I also think the seasons are shifting.

 

[Lindenlea]

Spent the last 3 days in Sydney where it's supposed to be summer and it was continuous rain, the heavy kind and very cool temperatures of low 20's C, where is should normally be high 20's and more, there was no sleeping through the night for the constant noise.

Today I left for the Northern Rivers (700K+ north of Sydney) and arrived late pm to a lovely warm sun on my back whilst walking from the tarmac to the airport terminal (provincial airport), however 2 hours later we had another literal sheet of rain come up from the town, but luckily only lasted around 15 minutes, crazy weather indeed.

Talked to my sister in the UK and they have been very lucky with all the rain there, they are in an area between Scotland and Yorkshire on the North East coast and despite all the rain, and still raining, they have had no flooding even though they are a low lying seaside town. It seems to be the luck of the draw with this weather pattern.