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I’ve never seen a snow on the 14th October

Published 14th October 2009 - 11 comments - 1439 views -

What a day. +1° C, Snow was pelting down my face, wind was trying to hike me up until it smashed my umbrella, ground beneath the feet was shaky and slick. A trolley stuck in a traffic jam and I was late for the university lecture. The day ended as bad as it started: I came home with my sneakers all wet, throat soring and body tired of struggling with the wind. The snow stopped, but outside the window is still fussy and the temperature is close to 0° C.

This is not how the weather supposed to be in Lithuania during the middle of October. Usually September and October presents us with days or even weeks, when one can throw on his/her jacket and go outside to watch the leaves turning yellow, to drink tea and say to the friends: "Yes, that is why I love this season". But not this year: autumn has lost it's romance due to coldness and often rainfalls. There were no intermediate period between summer and fall-at-it's-worst. The first snow today was a last stroke which put me in a state of a shock, when I wanted to do nothing but to shout: "Give me my autumn!"

If it looks like this disappointment is based only on emotions, here are some facts about today's situation in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania (source - Lrytas.lt):

  • 10 000 people were left with no electricity this morning.
  • Wind reached 22 m/sec speed.
  • There were terrible car accident this morning (that's why I stuck in the traffic jam) due to slick ice. 25 year old man had passed away, two people had been injured.
  • During the night between 13th-14th October firemans had to move at least 7 trees from the roads.

And this is not something that only our country faces: from Poland to USA, from Germany to China (in Poland now 700 000 people are without electricity, Warsaw airport is not working). It's like one big international nightmare.

It will end tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow. But the point is: seems to be that at first time in my life I fight with snow in the middle of October. However, my memory is not the most reliable source, but still - something is wrong here.

Vilnius in 14th October, 2009

Vilnius today, 14th October, 2009

 


Same Vilnius, same day, only a year ago. With fallen leafs and no rain. A kind of "That's why I love autumn" view.

If I needed to write all this entry in three words they would be "Climate is changing". And that doesn't mean any good.

Category: Climate Reporting, Natural Disasters, | Tags: climate,



Comments

Vitezslav Kremlik on 14th October 2009:

I must laugh. COP 15 wants to fight against “global warming”. What warming? Warming ended ten years ago. Now global cooling has started..

Solar activity is record low, so Earth temperatures are also low.

In the Czech Republic it is cold now too. In fact this is one of the coldest years I remember. The spring was cold and rainy and rainy… And here it comes back again.

Karolis Vyšniauskas on 14th October 2009:

We should stick to the term “climate change” rather than “global warming”.

However, in everyone’s minds there’s a thought that “change = warming” and nothing else.

Vitezslav Kremlik on 14th October 2009:

Karolis, for years it used to be called “global warming”. Why is it being renamed now? It seems to me that IPCC is changing its predictions as the situation changes.

By the way, if you predict “climate change” it is not a prediction at all. If you predict, that it will be “colder or warmer”... I would not give a penny for such empty predictions.

And you certainly cannot stop climate from changing.

guest on 14th October 2009:

Your english is wrong

guest on 14th October 2009:

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.
My point is that, snow in October is not an anomaly. I think this is just a slightly more fancy way to be talking “about the weather”. And when do people talk about the weather?

Karolis Vyšniauskas on 14th October 2009:

Vitezslav, You are right, especially in the second paragraph. But still, if we look at the top-right corner of this web page we’ll see word “change”, not a “warming”. Maybe word “change” is safer in case there is no warming in years?

Guest, when country cannot function properly due to enormous air conditions it is high time to talk about the weather.

Peacemaker on 15th October 2009:

Yeah, that was a really “cool” day. The climate is really changing. However, these consequences are not caused by the human’s behaviour. All those ECO products,  campaigns, etc. is a good way to change people’s mindset - how to save the nature. That’s really good. On the other hand, this can be seen as one more situation, which requires massive investments. During the recession, that’s quite doubtful decission. Anyway, this is a question and every country can treat it differently.

Adomas on 15th October 2009:

A teenager from Lithuania

Adomas on 15th October 2009:

Ok, i understand now. (blush)
Karolis, I don’t think, that this kind of weather or at all, any kind of climate change has anything to do with people. Climate was changing through time, it’s natural and we can’t do anything about it really. There’ve been iceages and warm periods of time, without any noticable human work. It just happens - Mother nature does her job of fixing things. And she didn’t like how climate was, so now we have snow in the middle of autumn.

I don’t say i like it. I just don’t think, anybody’s responsible for this.

Daniel on 20th October 2009:

Regarding climate change/global warming - warmer weather in average will not mean that every single day is warmer. What it will mean, first of all is less predictable weather, at least that what the IPCC “consensus” says.

Paul Montariol on 04th December 2009:

I think we must spend ten years and then we really understand.
Until that we develop new energies and at he time we have the good tools for acting!

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