Forse sneeuwval ontregelt delen ChinaChina heeft te maken met forse sneeuwval en winterse omstandigheden. De winter heeft daarbij ook de zuidelijke staten bereikt. Het winterse weer duurt nu zeker al sinds 6 januari.
Het winterse weer treft de zuidelijke staten Hubei, Hunan en Jiangxi, die liggen op vergelijkbare breedtes als Egypte of de Westelijke Sahara. In Hubei waar de sneeuw vorige week begon te vallen is sprake van de zwaarste sneeuwval sinds 1992. Vele waterleidingen zijn bevroren en het dagelijks leven is ontregeld.
In Hunan is sprake van de zwaarste sneeuwval sinds 5 jaar. Hier zijn ongeveer 120.000 auto’s vast komen te zitten in het verkeer. Ongeveer een half miljoen automobilisten wachten sinds donderdag in de koude op redding.
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China was a blur of white when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on January 21, 2008. Unusually heavy snow had fallen over central and eastern China, reported BBC News, and this combined with a light pall of haze and the thick bank of clouds that covers the lower edge of the image left the landscape an indistinct white. Cities form tiny dark spots in the snow, and water in the Huang (Yellow) River and the Weishan and Luoma Reservoirs similarly stand out against the field of white.
The snow, clouds, and haze all testify to the severe winter conditions that paralyzed much of central China. Storm clouds linger over much of the region, and indeed, meteorologists forecast two more days of snow as of January 22, said BBC News. Extremely cold temperatures drove up the demand for electricity, much of which comes from haze-producing coal-fired power plants, said BBC News. Coal is also used to heat individual homes, and this contributes to haze during the winter.
The lower image shows the same scene in both infrared and visible light. In this type of image, haze seems to disappear. The false color image (so called because it is not what the human eye would see) also makes it possible to distinguish between cloud and snow. Clouds are pale blue and white, while snow is dark turquoise. The image reveals that the snow stretches east to the shore of the East China Sea, and extends beneath the clouds to the south.
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Kwart miljoen Chinezen zit vast in sneeuw (6 januari)
PEKING - Ongeveer 250.000 mensen in het noordwesten van China zijn van de buitenwereld afgesloten door hevige sneeuwval. De regio kampt met de strengste winter in zeker twintig jaar. In delen van de provincie Xinjiang zijn temperaturen gemeten tot minus 43 graden Celsius, berichtte de Britse omroep BBC vrijdag.
De autoriteiten evacueerden tot dusver 100.000 mensen uit wel toegankelijk gebied. De meesten hadden volgens Chinese media geen huis meer. Die zijn onder het gewicht van de sneeuw ingestort.
Zeker 5000 mensen zijn behandeld aan ernstige bevriezing van ledematen. Bij talrijke personen moesten vingers, handen, tenen of voeten worden geamputeerd.
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Extreme Cold and Snow in Central Asia ![]()
Afghanistan was one of many countries in southern and central Asia suffering through extreme cold and snow in January 2008. Most of the country was covered with snow when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this photo-like image on January 20. It is not unusual for snow to blanket the peaks of the Hindu Kush, which run down the center of the country like a spine, nor is it unusual to see snow in the rugged northeastern corner of the country. However, in January 2008, the snow extends south to the Pakistani border and west into Iran. Only the low-lying deserts in the southwest escaped any long-lived snow cover.
The bitter cold and heavy snow left more than 300 dead throughout Afghanistan, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on January 22. Hardest hit were the southern and northwestern provinces where snow and extreme cold are less common. Western regions were experiencing their harshest winter in nearly 30 years, with temperatures that fell below minus 25 degrees Celsius (-13 Fahrenheit) and unusually heavy snow, said OCHA. In addition to causing human fatalities, the extreme cold killed thousands of livestock, the main source of livelihood of many in the region, said OCHA. The heavy snow cut off access to many communities.