Tuesday 8 January 2013

Siberian winter killing people in India

Icy Siberian winds are chilling  northern India - with New Delhi having the coldest day since 1969 - and will according to weather forecasts intensify in the days ahead, making the winter even more severe:
For companies selling beverages, winter-wear and heaters, business is booming with sales rising up to 40% in one of the coldest Indian winters in decades, but farmers are getting anxious about the impact on vegetables, pulses and oilseeds although the wheat crop is secure. The weather office says there is no quick relief in the offing.

"There's no respite from the bone-chilling cold. A high-pressure system created over Siberia is pushing cold waves to India. The system doesn't phase out and persists at least for a couple of weeks once it is created," said Laxman Singh Rathore, director-general,India Meteorological Department.


Thee BBC reports that more than 170 people have already died in the cold snap sweeping across northern India.


China is experiencing the coldest weather in almost thirty years:

Ice swimmers were taking their shocking plunges in north China through the thickest ice in years, but most Chinese nationwide are shivering through the coldest weather in nearly three decades.

Freezing weather has sent temperatures diving to a national average of 25 degrees Fahrenheit since Nov. 20, the lowest average temperature in 28 years, says the China Meteorological Administration.



"Nobel laureate" R.K. Pachauri of course knows the reason for the Siberian winter in India: Global warming! 
Precipitation in the form of heavy rain and snow could worsen the winter," said RK Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Pachauri said the frequency of extreme weather events is bound to rise if no action is taken against greenhouse gas emissions.


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