I understand they have been having BIG wind storms in Europe and it has closed part if not all the German rail system.

Yes, here's an article about a two-ton steel beam falling off the building onto a outdoor staircase, at the new main train station in Berlin!

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,18720,00.html

Luckily no one was hurt. I know PalQ was visiting Berlin right about now, because it had a mild winter so far. I guess he is having a different experience than planned, if he's there now.

Lowest bidder.

blew my tree down

Past tense. Thursday was an intesting day. Red alerts all over Germany, businesses closed, employees sent home early. Having lived in TX (home of many powerful storms) for many years it was curious to see the reaction in Germany.

Front blew through Dresden about 7pm knocking down some trees and blowing things around. That lasted about 30-60min. Followed by heavy freezing rain for 15min. Tail end of the storm went through a few hrs later with winds blowing in the opposite direction. By 3am the whole thing had blown over.

Flights around dinner time Thu were cancelled, but later Thu flights were getting back to normal.

This morning, planes were flying no problem, but a lot of equipment was mislocated so today was a catch up day for LH.

All in all the storm's bark was bigger than it's bite.

Tell that to the 29 who died.

29 died? When did the toll skyrocketed? I had a horrible semester studying here (in Russia) and was so looking forward for a trip to Berlin when I heard about the news. Yesterday, BBC was reporting possibilities of another storm brewing up? In texas too, I heard and oklahoma, US.

Hopefully by next week weather would be fine...

I'm in Russia by the way, where it's been one of the hottest winters ever in history (I'm not a local, so I'm really happy over this fact). No snow on the streets, no cold breeze through my window, no changing into 3 or 4 layers everytime I step out of the house.

... Signs of global warming?

29 is - sadly - past : the toll is now of 41 deads and ther are still winds overs 200 km/h in Poland.
The previous toll of 37 was as : Germany :11, UK : 12, Poland : 6, Netherlands : 6, France : 2

We saw nothing in Slovenia but it has been a wacky weather winter for sure.

the winds were some of the strongest that i've experienced in london...signs, fences, trees, etc were damaged all over. i fixed my tree and other than that had no personal 'horror stories' and was able to get around without issues. there were some flooded minor roads that were closed but no big deal.

others didn't get through so well...the head boss of the manchester airport was among the dead in the UK (killed by falling branch whilst in his car) and and a child was killed very close to central london (kentish town to be precise). i'm not implying that was all...i accept norween's overall death numbers. with such strong winds and trees/fences/signs fluttering violently about, it's not a surprise that so many were injured or killed.

yesterday was calm but winds kicked up a little bit overnight.

13 in the UK as of last night.

It missed my bit of Scotland altogether but we have another storm today- not so ferocious, but still very breezy

BBC reported 43 deaths now. That the wind is still strong over Poland and Czech Republic, where at least 5 people were reported dead.

Apparently the storm passed by Russia, 2 nights ago the wind was really scary, but thankfully that was the only thing- wind.

My prayers go out to all who are affected by the storm.

Big storms in Uk just gone and maybe moer to go. Trains speed limited to 50mph for past of the night before last and flooding pretty bad in the north.

Maybe all this travel is upsetting Gaia in some way?

Walkinaround - I got you beat....we lost two trees. Our only two!

Here's a good summary of the storm from the Expatica Germany website:

http://www.expatica.com/actual/artic...story_id=35678

Here in Stuttgart we didn't bear the brunt of it, although we had pretty strong gusts at times, and only a little rain. So far it has been an unusually warm and snowless winter.

Sorry, I didn't mean to minimize the overall widespread affect of the storms and was only speaking from my own, very local experience having been in the middle of it in Dresden.

Deepest sympathy to the families of all those who perished.

The last time there was a big storm like this it was called a "hurricane" because it was so unusual. I believe 9 people died.

It was 1987. My kitchen windows blew out; the power was off and the phones too. Trees down all over the place.

This was in central London.

I think we should start to take note. And Americans, get your act together.

You had some of the foremost ecological seers. Rachel Carson, and then Paul Erlich. His "Blueprint for Survival" was published in 1972 for heaven's sake.

So we have all had ample time and ample warning.

Wow, weather can be a challenge if not a disaster. In Springfield, MO, we are just now getting power back after a week after an ice storm. Part of a widespread outage. Stuck it out huddled by the fireplace for two days, then to a motel. Strange, staying in a motel as if you are on vacation
...but you're not!

ozarksbill

In California, they build for earthquakes. In Florida (the enlightened) build for hurricanes. In Tornado Alley, they build storm cellars.

The problems Europe is experiencing seem to be the result of not anticipating bad weather. My profoundest hope is that global warming henceforth informs their decision-making.

Yes, in California we build for earthquakes, but we aren't protected, or ready for, the freezing temperatures that have just caused over $1B of damage to our crops, or the unusually high temperatures that did the same thing on a smaller scale last summer, or the floods last spring which also did huge damage.

Europeans build and plan for the weather they historically have had, which is quite severe sometimes in the winter.

The point here is that weather everywhere is much, much more severe than ever before.