Winter in de V.S. (2009/2010)

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Europa raakt in de ban van de kou, in de VS is dat proces al volop gaande. International Falls, Minnesota rapporteerde vandaag -26,7 en North Platte, Nebraska -27,8º (28 november nog 20,6º) en de 'next bitter blast' van arctische kou uit Canada is onderweg. Dinsdag wordt voorlopig het dieptepunt verwacht met in de noordelijke staten maxima beneden -18º. Door de wind doet het nog veel kouder en is het ronduit gevaarlijk om lang buiten te zijn. Het onderstaande kaartje (bron: AccuWeather) laat aan duidelijkheid niets te wensen over.

jan visser

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60 cm sneeuw in VS

Ook in de Verenigde Staten zal extreem winterweer de kerstplannen van veel mensen verstoren. In het noorden van het land zal naar schatting 60 centimeter sneeuw vallen. Het zuiden krijgt dan weer te maken met hevige regenval. Er werd zelfs een tornado gesignaleerd. Ook op veel Amerikaanse luchthavens viel het vliegverkeer stil. Er vielen al zeker 18 doden door het extreme weer in de VS. (gb)

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Kolossale storm trekt over midden VS

Grote delen van de VS zijn donderdag getroffen door een zeer zware sneeuwstorm

Zeker negentien mensen kwamen om door de slechte weersomstandigheden in onder meer Nebraska, Kansas en Arizona. De nationale weerdienst (NWS) waarschuwde voor hevige sneeuwstormen in onder andere North en South Dakota, Wisconsin en Minnesota.

,,Er trekt een kolossale storm over het midden van het land, van de noordelijke Canadese grens tot het zuidelijke Texas en van Colorado tot Illinois'', zei een woordvoerder van de weerdienst. ,,De storm spreidt zich uit over twee derde van het land.'' De ijskoude regen in combinatie met stormachtige wind maakt de weg opgaan volgens hem extreem gevaarlijk. Tientallen kerkdiensten op kerstavond gingen niet door.

Het gure winterweer begon woensdag en houdt naar verwachting aan tot zaterdag.

Bron Trouw

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Nearly the entire eastern half of the United States is enduring bitterly cold temperatures not experienced since 1985. Even Florida, which has been hovering around freezing levels overnight recently, is also feeling the almost-nationwide chill.

"It'll be like the great winters of the '60s and '70s," said AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist and Expert Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi.

The last time a large swath of severely low temperatures struck the nation was in January 1985. That historic arctic outbreak had below-zero temperatures Fahrenheit stretching from Chicago eastward to New York City, and all the way south to Macon, Ga.

While Bastardi says the upcoming days will bring cold not seen since 1985 or 1982, he believes this winter is shaping up much that of like 1977-78. That winter, nearly all of the United States east of the Rockies had a cold October followed by a warm November, with the cold returning in December.

What is most interesting in this case is what followed, where the months from January through March can all be classified as very cold, relative to normal.

"If it stays this cold for this long, will the groundhog even want to come out on Feb. 2?" wonders Senior Vice President and Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams.

This winter has already been rough for many areas of the country, with several blizzards dumping high accumulations of snow upon the Plains, mid-Atlantic and New England.

The cold air currently streaming across the Upper Midwest into the East and South will only compound the winter problems of the nation, especially since these depths have not been experienced across such a wide area simultaneously in decades.

Over the past 20-plus years, when below-normal cold periods have arrived in the winter they tend to have been limited to one region, according to Bastardi.

Temperatures have not been this low since the winter of 2002-03, which is known as the benchmark for frigid conditions in the last decade. However, that year the cold was not as widespread as what is happening now.

With the entire eastern half of the country in the throes of this arctic snap, this is shaping up to be the coldest winter in many people's memories.

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Pythons and citrus and iguanas, oh my! Frigid Florida copes

(CNN) -- Ordinarily a sunny playground that mocks the rest of winter-suffering America, Miami, Florida, was in sore need of a giant Snuggie on Sunday.

There wasn't a scantily clad beautiful person at any of the outside tables at South Beach's tony Balans restaurant. Everyone was crammed inside to assuage their Saturday nights with pancakes and Cuban coffee, chuckling at the heat lamps that waiters had scrambled to put up outdoors.

"Yeah, the lamps were not so good. So we brought inside all the tables to make sure our customers could manage," said manager Mike Fernandez. "I'm from Chile and living here, you know, it's not supposed to be like this."

Temperatures in Miami barely got into the 40s on Sunday; normally, they'd be in the 70s.

Cold is so relative. In Aberdeen, South Dakota, the thermometer registered a low of 31 below zero Sunday. Connecticut officials opened shelters in anticipation of bitter cold. Following a rare snowfall last week in Atlanta, Georgia, temperatures hovered in the teens and drivers lacking snow savvy skidded around very small patches of ice. How is the weather where you are? Share your pictures or video

But the biggest news about the big chill is coming from the northern part of Florida, where a hard freeze watch is in effect, CNN's meteorologist Bonnie Schneider said. That could be bad news for citrus trees that rarely survive when temperatures remain in the mid-20s or below for four hours or longer, according to Kristen Gunter, a spokeswoman for the association of companies that pick and process the oranges.

Florida citrus is a $9.3 billion industry. The state produces three-quarters of the United States' orange crop and 40 percent of the world's orange juice supply.

"[Sunday night] will be the night to watch, because if things don't go well, the entire economy will be affected, jobs could be lost if fruit on the ground cannot be harvested, workers will go elsewhere in the U.S., and Florida will lose," Gunter said.

The citrus harvest is at its peak right now, she said, and workers are already grinding away seven days a week as it is. "I'm not sure we can work any faster," Gunter said.

University of Florida wildlife biologist Dr. Frank Mazzotti was also working feverishly on Sunday. As part of an ongoing project, he and other scientists are working to euthanize iguanas, a non-native species that can disrupt the ecosystem. Cold weather makes his job easier: When temperatures drop, the iguanas, many up to 6 feet long, go into into a stunned, catatonic state, stiffen and fall to the ground from tree branches and other perches.

The freeze is also going to be a test for the area's most unwelcome beast -- the Burmese python. The snakes have no natural predators and have been threatening the Everglades, the general ecosystem and even people since they were introduced to Florida through the illegal exotic animal trade, Mazzotti said.

The problem was graphically driven home in October 2005 in Everglades National Park, when wildlife researchers photographed a dead, headless python. It had apparently exploded while trying to swallow a 6-foot-long alligator. Lighter nibbles for pythons include native birds and other crucial members of the ecosystem.

"If pythons survive this cold, then that's going to tell us what a challenge it will be to get rid of them," Mazzotti said, adding that his team inserted transmitters on 10 of the snakes and will be monitoring them tonight.

More popular creatures at the Miami Metrozoo are huddling under extra blankets. Ron Magill, zoo spokesman, said staffers removed chimps, gorillas and other primates from their cages Saturday and placed them in little beds with blankets, which of course they ripped.

"They did a little of that but it keeps them warm," he said.

Galapagos tortoises and Komodo dragons were also kept warm. And while the zoo closed for the first time in 30 years due to cold, it reopened Sunday with everyone at the ready to bundle the animals up again and shut the zoo if necesesary.