1709: The year that Europe froze (even the Mediterranean iced over)

New Scientist ^ | 07 February 2009 | Stephanie Pain

[aculeus]

Niagara Falls in (I think) 1911.

[grey_whiskers]

Unfortunately, one of the GW proponents is a Physics Nobelist.

His Nobel was in trapping atoms in laser beams, so the purported mechanism of GW will be "close enough" to his area of specialty.

NO cheers, unfortunately.

[PapaBear3625]

And, coincidentally, that happened during the Maunder minimum, when sunspot activity had dropped close to zero from 1645 to 1715, with accompanying extremely cold weather.

Something like the current situation.

[ApplegateRanch]

Yeah, Since it was -23F here about 6 weeks ago.

It does say that it did subsequently fell another 3C a few days later, but that is still above OF.

Of course, if those were the highs for an extended period in the warmer areas; and then wind chill is added....

“Siberia has the severest climate of any area on earth, excluding Antarctica. Winters are long and bitterly cold; average January temperatures range from about 0° F. (—18° C.) in some parts of the south to well below —50° F (—46° C.) in the northeast. At Oymyakon, on the Indigirka River, temperatures as low as —96° F. (—71° C.) have been reported”

But, don’t they have bunnies in Siberia?

Ahh, thought so! “Animals valued for their fur—for which Siberia has long been famous—include fox, kolinskies (minks), martens, otters, sables, squirrels, and rabbits and hares.”

[RegulatorCountry]

I’d think Siberian breeds would be better equipped for killing cold than French ones.

[Repeal The 17th]

“That would be a sight to see.”
-
Or this:
“...trees exploded...”
Dang.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Fractal Trader!

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[SunkenCiv]

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[Cincinna]

Thanks guys! You warm my heart!

[Nowhere Man]

People across Europe awoke on 6 January 1709 to find the temperature had plummeted. A three-week freeze was followed by a brief thaw - and then the mercury plunged again and stayed there. From Scandinavia in the north to Italy in the south, and from Czechoslovakia in the east to the west coast of France, everything turned to ice. The sea froze. Lakes and rivers froze, and the soil froze to a depth of a metre or more. Livestock died from cold in their barns, chicken's combs froze and fell off, trees exploded and travellers froze to death on the roads. It was the coldest winter in 500 years.

I remember back in the 1970's, one of my buddies told us that there was a winter that was so cold that trees in New England did explode. Us being kids, we kind of laughed at that, I mean, who has ever heard of a tree exploding but I guess it would have to do with the sap inside flowing and whatnot. I know the winter of 1816 was cold as well here in the U.S.

[Defiant]

Kilimanjaro has a glacier, too. Glaciers that radiate out from the tops of tall mountains would grow steadily during an ice age. I assume the spine of the Rockies would be ice down to some elevation, so that would be another big chunk of land that would be gone.

In comparison, global warming (which would get us back to the medieval warm period) would be heavenly. Our species was made for the warm periods, and only escaped from the warmth when our intelligence allowed us to defeat the cold, with fire, clothing and shelter. But more of the earth is more amenable to us the warmer it gets, up to certain limits which we are nowhere near reaching. So enjoy the warmth, because it is a temporary lull in a mostly frigid phase of earth's climate.

[Defiant]

Wow.

[Nowhere Man]

If we are looking at glaciation, the global warming alarmists had better hope that humans are capable of warming the planet, because if we cannot, the entire northern 1/3 of the US and all of Canada will be under ice. Do they have any idea what happens to a city, even Manhattan, when the glacier comes to town? Check those big rocks in central park; that’s what will be left.

I know here in the Pittsburgh area, the glaciers got as far as being close to the I-80 corridor, you could probably take I-79 or U.S. Route 19 and drive for an hour or so and go see them had cars been around then. Youngstown, Ohio would most likely be the last livable outpost north of us.

[Delacon]

ping

[Jet Jaguar]

Cool picture.

[Nowhere Man]

Didn't remember the year but the weather did cause failed winter wheat in the central US in that time frame. The good part was that cool/short season summer replacement crops did rather well; IIRC.

1992 was the year. I remember snow as early as Hallowe'en in 1992 and late as May of 1993. I remember getting stuck in the parking lot at work since it wasn't plowed when I had to go in early to backup the computer. I remember I had to put a reel of tape on the system, it took like 45 minutes so after I started the backup procedure, I went down to get my car unstuck. I did a few donuts in the lot too in my Ford. B-)

[Nowhere Man]

Sunsets were beautiful. After the sun went down, the ash in the upper atmosphere reflected a beautiful, bright pink/red glow for almost 40 minutes.

I remember that too. The sky was a slightly darker shade of blue too.

[Nowhere Man]

We need to watch the sunspots too, when the count is down or even zero, the climate tends to get colder. The bad side as an amateur radio operator, there goes 10 and 6 meter DX down the toilet. B-P

[Myrddin]

The sun is currently devoid of spots and has been since Jan 2008. Check out http://www.solarcycle24.com to track the daily observations. It has info on ham band openings as well.

[Defiant]

I’m just going by the maps I’ve seen, but it was below the great lakes, into PA and OH, across to the Pacific Northwest. In California, there were glaciers that extended from the Sierras, and I think even from the southern California mountains at Big Bear. That would put a damper on Obama’s stimulus!