Old Man Winter continues to blast Europe, Asia and North Africa

While we enjoyed a 'boatload of sunshine' locally this past week and relatively mild temperatures for early February, much of the rest of the Northern Hemis-phere from Europe to Japan suffered through one of the harshest winter seasons in decades thanks, at least in part, to a chilly, wet 'La Nina' that refuses to die.

The deadly 10-day plus record chill in Europe at the time that I wrote this article on Thursday, had killed more than 400 people and sent another 2,000 people to hospitals suffering from hypothermia and frostbite.

Earlier in the week, rivers swollen by record rains and snowmelt burst a Bulgarian dam killing a dozen people. Thousands were homeless under 10 feet of icy water. The southeastern Bulgarian village of Biser was 90 percent under water. Mayor Mihail Koskov said that many people "were in a state of panic."

Temperatures in parts of Europe plunged to new all-time record lows early this past week. Graubuenden, Switzerland, dipped to minus-35 degrees Celsius (minus-31 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday, Feb. 4. The town of Kvilda in the Czech Republic hit minus-40 degrees Celsius (minus-40 degrees Fahrenheit). In Bosnia, thousands of people remained trapped in their homes by record snowfalls.

Most of the dead in Europe have been homeless and found living in abandoned buildings and unheated homes. In Warsaw, Poland, where temperatures dipped to minus-25 degrees Fahrenheit, homeless shelters were forced to drop a ban on drunken or drugged individuals.

Schools in Rome, Italy, were closed for two days earlier this past week, as authorities battled to clean up snow-choked city streets after more than six inches of rare snow fell over the weekend of Feb. 4-6. This was the heaviest snowfall in Rome since 8 inches fell 26 years ago in 1986.

Some canals in Venice, Italy, actually froze over this past week for the first time in decades. Nearly 200,000 households in south-central Italy were without power. Even normally mild Sicily reported freezing temperatures and crop losses.

The record coldwave by Monday, Feb. 6, had spread all the way south into North Africa. Rare measurable snows fell in Tunisia for the first time in 40 years. At least two dozen people were killed while driving on ice-slicked snowy roads in Algeria. Early Tuesday, snows were reported in the middle of the Sahara Desert as temperatures plunged in some areas to as low as minus-9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit). One Saharan outpost said that temperatures there were the coldest since the 'Little Ice Age' years of the mid-1600s!

The extreme cold and heavy snows have also blasted much of Japan in early February. As of midweek, the town of Uonuma, which is approximately miles 120 northwest of Tokyo, had measured a whopping 14 feet of snow since the end of January. Fearing the collapse of many roofs, the Ground Self-Defense Force of Japan sent hundreds of troops into the area to clean up the heavy snows. On Feb. 3, the mercury fell to an all-time low temperature of minus-32.6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-36 degrees Celsius) at Elsashi in Hokkaido.

Ironically, cherry trees in Nagoya, Japan, were blooming early in the week despite overnight temperatures in 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-11 degrees Celsius). The nearby Ryno waterfall was almost completely frozen over!

Where's that darn 'global warming' when you need it? I guess that it's here in 'Camelot,' at least this winter season.

Next week, when the sun's activity diminishes in the next 3 to 5 years, will we again see more widespread global cooling? (Some believe that it's already occurring in Europe, Asia and North Africa.)

NORTH IDAHO'S WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

The first third of February was mostly dry and sunny across the region under the strong influence of a huge high pressure ridge centered over the Inland Northwest.

But, the meteorological 'worm' may be getting ready to 'turn' back to the wetter side of things during the 60-day span from mid-February through mid-April.

La Nina hasn't died off yet in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It's likely that temperatures will be cooler than usual during the next couple of months. That could spell SNOW at times, depending, of course, on one's location and elevation, especially above 3,000 feet.

The 'good news' is that I predict that the 60-day period between April 15 and June 15 will be much milder and drier than a year ago, as La Nina heads into 'climatological oblivion' later this spring.

The summer of 2012 promises to be quite warm, actually HOT at times, with less precipitation than normal. I'll have more details next week.

Cliff Harris is a climatologist who writes a weekly column for The Press. His opinions are his own. Email [email protected]