FoFoBT

Europe is being hit by a massive Siberian cold wave that is sending temperatures plunging. Here in Switzerland, the temperature in the St. Mortiz ski area, for example. is expected to his minus 37 Celsium (raw temperature, NOT wind chill). Now that's cold!! Even here in Basel, with its mild climate, it's going down to minus 11 by Friday. We had about an inch of snow today, the city looks beautiful.
This extreme cold puts wildlife at risk and we hope everyone is remembering not to let their pets outside for long. Not to mention dressing warmly themselves. I'm going to the Bernese Oberland over the week-end and will be bundled up from head to toe!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pict...peratures.html

FoFoBT

Celsius, not Celsium, of course ;-)

spaarne

Minus 11C. Horrors! That is only 12F, about average for this time of the year in the upper midwest. But so far winter has skipped by us. Today it was 50F/10C in mid Michigan. I worry that my tulips will pop up and get killed when the real winter arrives. It looks like a few hyacinths have already come up, to be eaten by the neighborhood rabbits, I assume.

joannyc

spaarne, try covering them with boughs and leaves.

flanneruk

Some parts of Europe are suffering a cold spell

In this part of Southern England, it's -2 C just before dawn, going just over freezing during the day and generally dry and bright.

A tad chillier than an average February day, and the more easily hysterical tabloids are over-reacting after a balmy winter so far. But most of us are made of stern enough stuff to realise none of this calls for anything more than buttoning up our cardies.

azzure

My friend in Kiev reports that it's supposed to be minus 25F for the next two nights...

kerouac

Just -2° in Paris so far (but it will get colder in a couple of day). Southern and eastern France are frozen solid and covered with snow.

FoFoBT

"But most of us are made of stern enough stuff to realise none of this calls for anything more than buttoning up our cardies"

Which cardigan protects you from minus 37 degrees? Is that available at Boden? Can you recommend a slightly lighter one to wear for minus 20 degrees, the temperature in parts of Switzerland right now?

flanneruk

Last time I checked, Britain and Northern France were in Europe.

You may be too lazy to read other people's posts properly: you might at least have the courtesy to read your own before churning out absurd generalisations.

logos999

It's called winter and is anything but unusual this time of year.

jamikins

we have been enjoying the warmest winter in apparently the last 350 years according to the report this morning (have they been keeping track that long??) so we have been spoiled here in London. Its 3 degrees here at 7:50am and having come from Canada I shouldnt complain, but I do whinge a bit Its just a different cold than I was used to - Canada's cold was dry where I lived, this is a wet cold brrrrr!

spaarne

<i>joannyc on Jan 31, 12 at 11:32pm
spaarne, try covering them with boughs and leaves.</i>

Thank you. I have plenty of leaves and mulch. Last year the damn squirrels dug up some of my bulbs. Then I covered the tulip patch with leaves. I forgot to do that this year. My friend in Haarlem NL sent me loads of bulbs last summer so I am looking forward to a blooming spring, unless I take off to see Keukenhof before they come up.

PatrickLondon

I was in Amsterdam last weekend, and their daffodils had already come out (about a month early, in my book). Which wasn't a great deal of comfort when the cold descended on Sunday.

hetismij2

Bulbs will survive the cold. Lots of bulbs are already above the ground here due to the mild January. Today it is -7C. The bulb growers say the stems will be shorter but they will survive and bloom just fine.
Skating excitement here - the first marathon on natural ice was held yesterday, and there is a ban on ships and boats using many canals so the ice can grow enough for skating.

Might be all over by the weekend though.

Meanwhile many, many people have died from the cold in Poland Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania - where they had nearly a metre of snow fall in 24 hours!

The homeless (and Occupy protesters) have been ordered indoors here. Extra free shelters have been set up to cope with them.

Dukey1

The coldest I ever saw the thermometer when I was growing up in Wyoming was 53 degrees <B>below</B> zero F. Yes, we KNOW when it is cold outside so I am happy to report that you will again warm up...eventually...and today here in sunny South Florida the high is expected to be around 78 degrees F. <B>Enjoy</B> your days and I'll wait to come over when it is no longer required that we pretend we don't mind in the UK <G>.

zeppole

Well, snow in the Italian Riviera that stays on the ground is novelty. We've seen it before, but not forecasts of freezing weather even when the sun is out.

All of us are sitting with piles of citrus fruit on our tables, picked early off the trees, but they are delicious. Lots of flowers in bloom -- mimosa, bouganivllla -- and the combination of sea and snow is always pretty.

hetismij2

PatrickLondon - meant to add the daffodils you saw are an early blooming variety. They have been in bloom here since Christmas, and will continue to bloom for another month, before the main ones appear. They too will survive the cold just fine - ours look a little sorry for themselves just now but they will survive and continue flowering too. They managed last year to bloom through the snow and cold just fine.

ellen75005

We'll be in London 10 days from now and I've been watching the weather closely. Here in the northeastern part of the US we've escaped winter so far, but even so, the temps in London seem absolutely balmy - hope it lasts! Even Reykjavik where we'll be in mid-February isn't much colder than we are.

BittenByTheTBug

So that is where our cold weather went this year!

I live in Northern USA (Michigan). We have experienced an unusually warm winter. Really, only had about a week's worth of real winter so far, and not consecutively. Right now it is like early spring. Very strange.........

StCirq

This sounds at least a bit unusual to me - 80 deaths thusfar:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16830034