Freak storms kill six in France

[Minstrel Boy]

Sudden, freakish Hurricane-force winds in Paris? No need to worry about the increase in unpredictable extreme weather, or draw alarmist conclusions. Michael Chricton says so.

BBC
Dec 17

A freak hurricane-force wind has struck the French capital Paris and much of the country's north, killing at least six people, say the emergency services. Tens of thousands of homes have been left without electricity.

The storm hit Paris without warning and lasted only a few minutes, but caused havoc there and across the north.

The storm caused delays at airports in Paris and brought some train services to a halt. The Eiffel Tower, parks and other outdoor facilities were closed.

The gusts of up to 130 km/h (80 mph) prompted the French national weather service, Meteo France, to issue its second-highest alert and warning against people using their cars, says the AFP news agency.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4106569.stm

[Minstrel Boy]

1. Freak wind storm in Austria

Storm wreaks havoc in Austria
20/11/2004 16:24 - (SA)

Vienna - Gale-force winds wreaked havoc across Austria on Saturday, tearing a balcony from a house and critically injuring a workman below, sending a large billboard crashing into a Vienna street and knocking out power to thousands of homes.

Authorities closed the north-south A2 highway near the southern city of Graz for more than three hours after 30cm of wind-whipped snow fell on the area, creating a blizzard effect that stranded hundreds of motorists.

Several fatal accidents were reported, including a collision of two minivans that killed a 32-year-old man and injured two young children, Austrian television said.

Police said several hundred cars spun out of control and ended up stuck in snowbanks along the highway, where visibility was poor as gusts exceeding 100km/h blew snow into the air. Many of the stranded cars had not been fitted with snow tyres, authorities said.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1624296,00.html

[indigobusiness]

2. The times they are a changin'...

Human extinction within 100 years warns scientist

WEDNESDAY, 17 NOVEMBER 2004

By JOHN HENZELL

A top New Zealand researcher is using a prestigious award ceremony in Christchurch to warn that humans face extinction by the end of the century.

Professor Peter Barrett will be presented with the Marsden Medal tonight for his 40-year contribution to Antarctic research, latterly focusing on climate change.

The director of Victoria University's Antarctic Research Centre expects to use his acceptance speech to warn climate change was a major threat to the planet.

"After 40 years, I'm part of a huge community of scientists who have become alarmed with our discovery, that we know from our knowledge of the ancient past, that if we continue our present growth path, we are facing extinction," Barrett said. "Not in millions of years, or even millennia, but by the end of this century."

Barrett won the award – designed to mark lifetime achievement in the sciences – for his research into Antarctica, which began with helping prove New Zealand was once part of the Gondwanaland supercontinent.

snip


http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/print/0%2C1478%2C3099128a10%2C00.html

[Pale_Rider]

3. I was once up in the Eiffel Tower ...

... during a spring heavy rain storm. It was somewhat unsettling as being in the top, one could definitely feel the tower swaying in the wind.

[NYC]

4. This sounds very bizarre to me.

I saw the cover of The New York Times Sunday Magazine. I glanced at the paragraph titles of the Michael Crichton article, and decided it was not worth reading.

80 mile an hour winds can knock people off their feet.

[bobthedrummer]

5. The USAF creates it's own "weather". "Weather as a Force Multiplier:

Owning the Weather in 2025"
http://www.au.af.mil/au/2025/volume3/chap15/v3c15-1.htm

[bobthedrummer]

6. I didn't mean to kill this thread with weather modification and MISTY

stealth spy satellites but it appears doa now.

[seemslikeadream]

10. "Angels Don't Play This HAARP"

Dr. Nick Begich and Jeane Manning

HAARP - (High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Project) A project run jointly by the US Air Force and Navy. Based in Alaska, it is a research program designed to study the ionosphere in order to develop new weapons technology. It could be used to wipe out communications over an extremely large area, it could be used as a tool for geophysical probing, which would define oil, gas and mineral deposits , it could be used to modify weather patterns and cause earthquakes. If HAARP was tuned to the right frequency, using just the right waveforms, mental disruption throughout a region could occur intentionally or as a side-effect of the radio frequency transmissions. It could also be used for crowd control by employing the cyclotron resonance of HAARP together with a minute amount of airborne chemical.

Co-author Jeane Manning is an experienced magazine journalist and reporter for daily newspapers. She has doggedly tracked HAARP since 1994.

Co-author Dr. Nick Begich is the eldest son of the late US Congressman from Alaska, Nick Begich Sr., and political activist Pegge Begich. Dr. Begich is well known in Alaska for his political activities. Dr. Begich received his doctorate in traditional medicine from The Open International University For Complimentary Medicines in November 1994.
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/store/books.shtml

:hi:

[Solly Mack]

7. We got some of that in Germany last night

Very windy.... reminded me of a chinook...knocked stuff over around here.

[TexasLady]

8. Bizarre Weather Slams Japan Yet Again

06-Dec-2004


Seventeen typhoons in one season followed by earthquake after earthquake has caused frightened Japanese to drive up the price of gold because they are buying it against hard times ahead.
Now more extreme weather has struck the island nation, bringing gale force winds and a sudden extreme temperature increase that is unprecedented in the climatic history of the country. At 11:29 AM yesterday, the temperature in Tokyo rose to 77 degrees Fahrenheit from 38 degrees in just a few minutes, breaking a record for sudden temperature rise in the city set in 1923.

90 MPH gales were registered in central Tokyo earlier in the morning, marking the highest wind speeds ever recorded there.
Japan

[NYC]

11. The temperature rose 39 degrees in a few minutes?

The link didn't work for me. That is amazing that the temperature could rise from 38 degrees Fahrenheit to 77 degrees Fahrenheit in just a few minutes. Must have been a very hot wind blowing in.

Do you have any more details on this?

Excerpt from your post:

...bringing gale force winds and a sudden extreme temperature increase that is unprecedented in the climatic history of the country. At 11:29 AM yesterday, the temperature in Tokyo rose to 77 degrees Fahrenheit from 38 degrees in just a few minutes, breaking a record for sudden temperature rise in the city set in 1923.

[54anickel]

12. I found the story on this page - also has some interesting links to it

http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=4299

Check this out from following the "Superstorm..." link

http://www.physorg.com/news2409.html
Major Climate Change Occurred 5,200 Years Ago: Evidence Suggests That History Could Repeat Itself


December 16, 2004

Glaciologist Lonnie Thompson worries that he may have found clues that show history repeating itself, and if he is right, the result could have important implications to modern society.

Thompson has spent his career trekking to the far corners of the world to find remote ice fields and then bring back cores drilled from their centers. Within those cores are the records of ancient climate from across the globe.

From the mountains of data drawn by analyzing countless ice cores, and a meticulous review of sometimes obscure historic records, Thompson and his research team at Ohio State University are convinced that the global climate has changed dramatically.

But more importantly, they believe it has happened at least once before, and the results were nearly catastrophic to emerging cultures at the time. He outlined his interpretations and fears today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

A professor of geological sciences at Ohio State and a researcher with the Byrd Polar Research Center, Thompson points to markers in numerous records suggesting that the climate was altered suddenly some 5,200 years ago with severe impacts.

more...

[NYC]

13. Thank you very much.

That link worked, but strangely they didn't go into detail about the sudden temperature climb. I can't imagine the temperature rising 39 degrees in a matter of minutes.

Thank you for the other link (re 5,200 years) as well. I'm going to read more of it now.

[steely]

9. Santa Ana winds kicked up yesterday.

One of the US broadcast networks showed a semi-tractor trailer blown over off the highway. This was on a straight-away on flat land.