Unusual weather in UK (1 Viewer)

[locustella]

maybe caused by global warming or other human activities ?

http://feeds.theguardian.com/c/3470...Ethousands0Ehomes0Ewithout0Epower/story01.htm

UK's second major storm in days leaves thousands of homes without power
Environment news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk|Peter Walker
Yet more strong winds and rain are expected to hit south-east England next week, forecasters warn

Is that harmful also for birds ? I doubt.

There was also on Christmas very heavy wind in Tatra Mountains (up to 176.5 km / h), so called "halny", the strongests with the exception of 1968 (up to 288 or 280 km/h). There is also no snow in Warsaw.
And very heavy wind was blowing earlier in Europe, especially in west.

 

[citrinella]

Is it that unsual ?

We have had windy weather in the last quarter of 2013 but we also had windy weather a few decades ago, recent winds have not neared let alone beaten windspeed records for the top of Cairngorm. The government database of windspeeds compiled at a one kilometre square level and formerly much used by turbine developers has been criticized because the data were historical and compiled at a time when our climate was windier (period included 1980s but not sure how long either side of that decade). This database has apparently been archived and access is much more complicated, though a map
https://restats.decc.gov.uk/cms/annual-mean-wind-speed-map
based on it is available this is not suitable for site selection at the local level.

As for whether the windy weather is harmful for birds, I too am not concerned. I expect many individuals will suffer, but this is winter and that is normal. The mild temperatures brought by this windy weather will also benefit many individuals.

Mike.

 

[locustella]

Is it that unsual ?

Do you have snow or rain this winter ?

 

[Farnboro John]

My brother has just returned from Christmas with his outlaws in Finland, where they had their first "black Christmas" - i.e. ice and snow free - since 19971. Do we consider 40 years a significant period? In world terms, probably not.

BTW he's quite disappointed. Didn't find any Hawk Owls, either, but he is a non-birder.

John

 

[MJB]

My brother has just returned from Christmas with his outlaws in Finland, where they had their first "black Christmas" - i.e. ice and snow free - since 19971. John

19971? Back to the future, eh? I always thought you had a time machine, John!
MJB
PS Another drawback of stuttering digits is the closing of two tabs instead of one...:-C

 

[Farnboro John]

19971? Back to the future, eh? I always thought you had a time machine, John!
MJB
PS Another drawback of stuttering digits is the closing of two tabs instead of one...:-C

gnaargh...

John

 

[citrinella]

Do you have snow or rain this winter ?

Rain, and not too much of it. Again, for us, this is not unusual. Typically our coldest winter month is February. Even so we have had many winters since 1970 (about as far back as I can remember) with little or no snow. Two consecutive years in the early seventies saw no snow in winter at all but snow lying briefly on the 1st or 2nd of June.

In the UK we have a maritime climate, not like Poland at all. Our weather is driven by the Atlantic and is much less stable, unpredictable, inconsistent, variable or whatever than a continental climate like in Eastern Europe. That does make it very difficult for short-lived humans living in the UK to detect trends in changing climate reliably.

Mike.

 

[locustella]

I was getting so many rss news about this like it were cataclysm.

 

[JTweedie]

That's the British media for you. They love nothing better than a good old disaster waiting to happen, especially when it's the weather that caused it.

Here in Glasgow it has been wet and windy for many weeks now, with just the occasional day of calm in between.

A couple of days ago when it was really windy, there were still plenty of birds out feeding, especially the crows and gulls which seem to be quite hardy.

 

[pppppvvvv]

The frequency of storms hitting us over the last month or so is very unusual

 

[Zheljko]

In my country we have a very warm winter now (6-12 degrees Celsius this week). This resulted in an unusual mixture of winter guests from the North (Goldeneye, Scaup etc.) and supposed long-distance migrants which are still here instead of in Africa (two different Black Storks were reported on local forum, and nobody even mentions the Blackcaps on their day lists any more).

 

[pppppvvvv]

Southern England has been mild temperature wise. Just unbelievably wet.
As far as birding goes, its probably a good time to look for the regular waders turning up in flooded fields, adding them to local patch lists perhaps, but it is so boggy everywhere, I suspect many birders aren't bothering to go out.

Not aware of any conservation issues, our populations are pretty resilient to wind and rain

 

[Cristian Mihai]

An unusual warm winter in Romania too. There is a very thin snow layer only on the top of the mountains.

 

[alan_rymer]

As said by other UK BF'ers, It is incredibly mild, but very wet. My local patch is on a flood plain so its not unusual for it not to be accessable because of flooding, its just that this winter the water is not going down quickly and when it does, its back up after a few days. The photo is of Bittern hide at Lavells lake on the 4th Jan, its usually about 120cm above the water level. The footpath to the hide was under about 90cm of water. I was using chest waders to get to the hide. The water is about another 15cm higher since I took the picture!

 

[locustella]

But in turn in the USA very heavy winter is going on.

Edited later:
Here someone tries to explain what is causing the extreme weather in the UK:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25629481#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

 

[Minto]

But in turn in the USA very heavy winter is going on.

Edited later:
Here someone tries to explain what is causing the extreme weather in the UK:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25629481#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

I wouldn't base anything on what the BBC say especially regarding weather.There is no link between extreme weather and climate change/global warming/ climate disruption, whatever they call it now. It's just weather

 

[paul Robinson]

There is no link between extreme weather and climate change/global warming/ climate disruption, whatever they call it now. It's just weather

Big call!
Paul

 

[locustella]

They write that it the Chicago ZOO even a polar bear had to stay in.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/07/us/winter-weather/index.html?eref=edition

 

[jurek]

Mild in Netherlands and Germany, with an influx of long-awaited northern twitches: Snowy and Hawk Owls, Parrot and Two-barred Crossbills.

Interestingly, many people believed that warming climate in recent decades made many northern vagrants much more scarce in C Europe compared to the previous decades/centuries. Now they all happened during rather mild winter.

I wouldn't base anything on what the BBC say especially regarding weather.There is no link between extreme weather and climate change/global warming/ climate disruption, whatever they call it now. It's just weather

Interesting how the official doublespeak evolves, isn't it? Long ago it was "greenhouse effect". After no warming occured for 15 years, BBC quietly changed "global warming" into "climate change". So first an "unbearably warm" climate, then just "warmer" climate and now "any change" in climate...

In German media it went even further into "Klimaschutz" or "climate protection". So nothing needs to happen to climate at all, but Germans need to pay lots of subsidies to "protect" it just in case...

 

[pppppvvvv]

There you go:

http://www.skepticalscience.com/climate-change-global-warming.htm

That might help regarding some of the terminology.

I think any implication that the BBC is conspiring here is wide of the mark to be honest. They just report quotes from Scientists and Politicians on this subject. They aren't setting the agenda. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree.