There seems to be quite a lot of weather news at the moment from around the world, I thought I would start off with the snow stories coming out of America.

I think I have mentioned before that I love the snow, but alas this Christmas was not a white one here in London. In parts of California however it was a very white Christmas weekend. Fierce snowstorms resulted in around 60 centimetres of lying snow on many major highways from California to Oregon. Travellers were stranded for up to 10 hours in some cases and police had to bring food, fuel and water to the marooned by snowmobiles...in this case I suspect that even I wouldn't be welcoming the seasonal flurries.

Staying with the theme of winter, the cold wave continues in northern India, where yet more lives have been claimed. In Bareilly, 155 miles northwest of Lucknow, the overnight temperature dipped to 3 Celsius, the lowest in the state so far this winter. This may not seem a very low temperature to us here in Britain, but the average overnight figures around Lucknow in the north of India are around 8 Celsius at this time of year, quite a shock to the system if you are not used to it. The weather office close by, are forecasting temperatures to fall even further over the next 48 hours...

From too much snow to, too cold, to too little water...

In Vladivostok water reserves may run out by May 2004. The Artyomovskoye reservoir is 71% exhausted and the water is reported to go down up to four centimetres a day as the cold weather has set in. The population of Vladivostok consumes 2.5 times more water daily than the volume coming to the water reservoirs and so the situation here is critical. The forecast for the area is for rain today but then dry into the New Year, and it is on average their dry season at the moment with an average monthly rainfall of 15mm during December and even less of a chance in January that average dropping to 8mm. This will certainly be an area of the world to watch in the early months of 2004.

Finally, I just wanted to mention another piece of winter news...a belated white Christmas for Britain.

There is a 'Weather Watch' out for the higher reaches of northern England and Scotland on New Years Eve for heavy snow and blizzards which may impinge on the celebrations. Gale force winds will affect many areas especially the northwest of Scotland. So it looks as if the year will end with a lot of weather activity and 2004 starts on a wild note...

Related Links :
Met Office forecasts

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Weather News from the last five days:
29/12/2003
28/12/2003
27/12/2003
26/12/2003
25/12/2003

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