Wintry weather brings chaos across the northern hemisphere. by Susan Powell
Biting cold, heavy snow and torrential rains have been taking their toll on the northern half of the globe in the last few days.
Yesterday our news brought details of how the Middle East has been badly hit by a big winter storm recently, however they are certainly not the only ones feeling the force of winter.
Much of Pakistan has been hit by persistent rain in the last few days, and this has been falling has heavy snow across the mountains to the north and west. Wednesday brought half a months rainfall to Islamabad - 32mm in total (0.9 inches). Meanwhile some parts of the north are now sitting under an accumulation of nearly 4m (11 foot) of snow from this season. In the next couple of days it may well be the southwest which is worst hit though - Pakistan's meteorological department is warning of flooding and mudslides here as a result of heavy rain and snow forecast for the end of the week.
Neighbouring India has seen some of its heaviest snowfall in 25 years in the last two weeks. The northern hill resort of Manali in Himachal Pradesh is under a meter and half of cover at the depth may well increase further in the coming days with more snow forecast. Here temperatures have hovering as low as -12C (10F).
If you think that is cold spare a thought for the Balkans.
Temperatures fell to -34C (-29F) at Sevlievo in central Bulgaria on Wednesday. The average minimum for this time of year in the area is about -5C (23F)! Over the rest of the country temperatures have been hovering around -20C (-4F) and 40% of the Danube which flows through Bulgaria is frozen!
Bosnia-Hercegovina has had similar temperatures in the last few days. In Banja Luka the main hospital was forced to cancel all surgery on Wednesday after failed heating led to temperatures in the building plunging to -10C (14F). Surgeon's fingers became just too cold and stiff to operate!
The cold may well be set to quit here for the weekend though with warmer air forecast to push up from the Mediterranean - but the transition may be a tricky one with the potential for very heavy snowfall.
Staying with the white stuff now, the Northeast USA is bracing itself in the face of a massive winter storm as we speak! An area of low pressure is set to rapidly deepen here during the day and run across New England, New Hampshire and Maine. Some areas may see up to 45cm (18 inches) of snow - good news for ski-resorts, but expect significant problems from the blizzard conditions elsewhere! We will keep you posted!
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