Weather: Rising degree of separation

Indications that this winter wasnt really going to be pleasant for Europeans came early. English experienced their wettest November,with an average of 217.4 mm of rain,since 1951. Their cousins up north,the Scots,were soaked deeper. They got 256.7 mm of rain,more than the 244.8 mm recorded in November 1938. On the other end of the continent,in Russia,thermometers seemed to have forgotten that winter had arrived. On the second afternoon of December,thermometers in Moscow read 8.5 degrees Celsius,1.4 degrees higher than the previous record set in 1898. Usually at this time of the year,Alexey Lyakhov,director of the citys weather bureau,told the ABC,the average temperature was -6.1 degrees C. The weather in the rest of the continental Europe wasnt much different. And just when it appeared Europeans wouldnt get to make snowmen on Christmas,the skies opened up. Heavy snow blanketed the ground,halted trains and flights and turned cars into snails. The accompanying cold wave sent people shivering inside their homes and killed several people,including 80 in Poland alone. Avalanches and skiing accidents,AFP reported,killed at least 10 more in the Alps. In January,Russia was 4-5 degrees C colder than the January average of the past 30 years. Floods caused extensive damage in Italy and southern Spain.

NORTH AMERICA

On the other side of the Atlantic,more weather records are melting. Toronto in Canada experienced its first snow-free November in 162 years. When the ground did turn white in December,many probably would have wished it hadnt. Snowstorms destroyed many homes and shut down many roads and trains. Some areas north of Toronto received as much as 100 cm of snow and temperatures in western Canada plummeted upto -50 degrees Celsius. Down south,the coldest winter in the US in 25 years began with a blizzard that led to vehicle pile-ups,disrupted power supplies and rail and air services and killed at least 24 persons.

CHINA

Beijing and the nearby port city of Tianjin have experienced heaviest snowfalls since 1951. Snowstorms have killed at least 32 people in north China,destroyed nearly 300,000 hectares of winter crops and led to the collapse of more than 15,000 buildings. Scores more have died in snow-related traffic accidents. The East China Sea has witnessed the worst ice conditions in 30 years,with several fishing vessels frozen in. On Monday,a blizzard swept the troubled and currently freezing-at-minus-43 degree C Xinjiang province,killed four people,leaving half a million snowed under,flattening or damaging some 1,00,000 homes and killing more than 15,000 livestock,AP reported.

SOUTH KOREA

Seoul,the South Korean capital,is blanketed with more than 10 inches of snow,the heaviest snowfall since records began in 1937.

WEST ASIA

In much of West Asia,temperatures have been 10 degrees Celsius above the midwinter average. Israel is experiencing July in January conditions as mercury has gone as high as 29 degrees Celsius. Normally chilly in January,Jerusalem and the West Bank are bathing in balmy 25-degree weather.

AUSTRALIA

Weather-wise,Down Under is in a mess,literally. Capital Canberra sweated through the warmest night in 27 years with temperature at 31.5 degrees at midnight. Strong winds mangled 40-metre high electricity towers in northern Victoria and intense heat wave which Australian Bureau of Metrology said was one of the most extreme on record damaged wheat crops in south-west of the state. Melbourne recorded its hottest night at 34 degrees Celsius since 1902. On the other hand,Darwin had the wettest summer in 13 years,with more than 880 mm of rain since December. And if that isnt extreme enough,parts of Victoria and New South Wales states have received snowfall,the first-ever summer snowfall since the countrys weathermen began keeping records in 1965. The snow melted but left a chilling reminder that all was not well with the weather.

BRAZIL

In Brazil,where it is summer,floods have devastated many parts of the country. Mudslides brought on by floods killed at least 85 people in Sao Paulo,Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states.

AFRICA

Millions of people in drought-stricken East Africa are facing hunger and poverty after seasonal rains failed again,withering crops,killing livestock and drying up ponds and streams. Some areas have received less than 5 per cent of normal rainfall. War-ravaged Somalia is in the midst of the sixth failed rainy season and the worst drought for 20 years. Failure of short November rains in many pockets of East Africa after several dry seasons compounded the problem as heavily used and polluted water sources were not replenished,putting millions of people at risk in Kenya,Ethiopia,Somalia,Uganda and Tanzania,according to Oxfam. When the rains finally came,they caused flash floods,killing at least 20 people in Kenya and rendering thousands homeless. 2009 was the hottest year in history in most parts of Central Africa.