From storm force winds to spine chilling winds. by Louise Lear
Cyclone Ingrid is still flirting with northern Australia and shows little sign of weakening; it has now been upgraded to a category five storm, the most dangerous. Residents of Darwin battened down the hatches awaiting its worst cyclone threat since Tracy devastated the city thirty years ago. (Incidentally Tracy was a category 4 cyclone)
Ingrid is currently 450km east of Darwin and it’s current wind speeds are around 290km (180 miles) an hour. So far Ingrid has battered small, isolated outposts in the eastern Arnhem Land region on Australia’s northern rim on Friday into Saturday. Fortunately damage was mainly limited to fallen trees and power lines and no one was reported hurt.
From storm force winds to chilling winds, A Siberian cold front brought a drastic temperature plunge to northern China over the last couple of days. The daytime high temperature only reached zero yesterday, whilst the night time low was -7C. The cold front also brought with it heavy rainfall in southern China, especially in Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.
Many locals feel that this winter has been among the coldest in recent years and they may be right. Statistics show that the average temperatures early this month have been about ten degrees lower than the same period last year.
Finally, a little closer to home, there’s no sign of the recent cold spell in Eastern Europe releasing its grip. The temperature at Kasprowy Wierch in Poland fell to -19.1C on Thursday night way below their average for the month of -8C.
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