Beast from the East Winter Storm

[steven36]

England's first ever red "danger to life" alert for snow and ice has been issued by the Met Office, as people are warned to avoid all but essential travel on another day of sub-zero temperatures and "blizzard-like" conditions.

 

 

 

• Unrelenting snow brings roads, trains and flights to a halt
• Hundreds of schools closed amid gale-force winds and blizzards
• Storm Emma sweeps in from Atlantic on tail of 'Beast from the East'
• Red extreme weather alert for south Wales and south west England
• Van driver killed in crash with lorry on A34 in Hampshire
• Hundreds trapped on motorway for up to 13 hours overnight
• National Grid warns UK will not have enough gas to meet demand
• Changeable weather could fuel rise in heart attacks, study suggests

 

The highest possible extreme warning is for parts of the south west of England and south Wales. It urges residents to "take action now to keep yourself and others safe" as Storm Emma, rolling in from the Atlantic, looks poised to collide with the "Beast from the East" weather front.

 

As another day of severe weather left hundreds of drivers stranded overnight and more roads impassable in up to a foot of snow in Scotland and the north of England, further widespread accumulations are expected to bring up to 40cm (15in) in some areas. Amid treacherous motoring conditions, a van driver was killed in Hampshire in a crash with an HGV.

 

In a dramatic escalation of the severe weather that has crippled huge swathes of Britain for three days, the National Grid warned that there might not be enough gas to meet demand on Thursday - the first day of meteorological spring.

 

Although a red alert for central Scotland - which has faced the brunt of the extreme weather so far - ended at 10am on Thursday, police said everyone barring emergency workers should avoid all travel until weather conditions improve.

 

The second red alert - which stretches from north of Cardiff to south of Exeter - is in force for 3pm on Thursday to 2am on Friday, meaning "widespread damage, travel and power disruption and risk to life is likely". 

 

Source

 

 

There has been a large crash on the M66 motorway between the junctions for Ramsbottom and Bury.

 

Manchester Fire and Rescue Service described it as a ‘multi-car accident’ which took place as the Beast from the East lingers over the Manchester area.

 

It is believed that there are 16 vehicles involved in the collision, including a bus and the motorway has been blocked in both directions.

North West Ambulance Service said that 20 people were injured in the collision, describing them as ‘walking wounded’.

People are being urged to avoid the area as a result of the collision.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: ‘There has been a multi-car accident on the M66 southbound between the Ramsbottom and Bury junctions.

 

‘We are on the scene but please avoid the area, traffic is going to be held up whilst we work.

‘Let friends know and share to keep travel disruption to a minimum.’

Elsewhere around Manchester the M62 has been closed creating long traffic jams on the M60 and M62.

A 46-year-old man has died after a collision involving a lorry and a van on the A34 southbound this morning, Hampshire Police said.

The van driver, from Southampton, was pronounced dead at the scene near Tot Hill services, while his front seat passenger suffered ‘life-changing’ injuries. The lorry driver was uninjured.

A second collision on the northbound side of the road involving two lorries and a car left one driver with ‘serious life-changing injuries’, the force said.

The road is likely to remain closed until Thursday evening due to ‘extensive damage to the barriers and their location’, it added.

A woman gave birth on the A66 assisted by her partner amid wild conditions, the North East Ambulance Service said.

He helped deliver the baby and they were then taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital.

The ambulance service sent a double-crewed ambulance to the scene at around 9.10am, and a Great North Air Ambulance land crew also attended.

 

Source

 

Beast from the East has killed 48 people so far across Europe. The Beast from the East has claimed at least 48 lives throughout Europe as the freezing conditions blast their way across the continent.

Schools are shut and weather agencies predict the brutal cold will continue as the death toll from the freezing snap rose to around 48 since last Friday, with icy conditions causing accidents and endangering vulnerable rough sleepers.

 

In London, a man in his sixties died after falling into the water at Danson Park in Bexleyheath while trying to save his dog.

The dog was rescued by boat, the London Ambulance Service said.

In the Netherlands, an elderly skater plunged through cracked ice in the western village of Hank.

 

The victims also include 18 people killed in Poland, six in the Czech Republic, five in Lithuania, four each in France and Slovakia, two each in Italy, Serbia, Romania and Slovenia and one in Spain.

Authorities are also urging people to look out for elderly relatives and neighbours after a French woman in her nineties was found frozen to death outside her retirement home in Paris, where up to 5cm of snow was expected overnight.

 

The Siberian cold front – dubbed the ‘Beast from the East’ in Britain, ‘Siberian bear’ by the Dutch and the ‘snow cannon’ by Swedes – has blanketed huge swathes of the region in snow and played havoc with transport networks.

 

Further blasts of wintery weather are expected, with authorities in Ireland and southern France among those to have issued red alerts on Wednesday.

Homeless people account for many of the dead, and cities across Europe have been racing to open emergency shelters to protect people sleeping rough.

In Germany, the National Homeless Association urged shelters to open during the day and not just at night.

‘You can die of cold during the day too,’ its chief Werena Rosenke warned.

 

And in the northern port of Calais, authorities were launching emergency plans to shelter migrants who camp out near the coast hoping to stow away on trucks bound for Britain.

 

Schools were shut across Kosovo, western Bosnia and much of Albania, as well as in parts of Britain, Italy and Portugal.

Temperatures again plunged below -20C overnight in numerous parts of Europe – even hitting -36C in Glattalp, 1,850 metres (6,000 feet) above sea level in the Swiss mountains.

Ahead of a predicted thaw towards the end of the week, both Belgium and Switzerland marked their coldest nights of the winter so far.

 

Source

 

 

[knowledge-Spammer]

is just little snow

[tao]

Today --

Beast from the East;

Morrow --

Rest from the West.

 

 

 

[knowledge-Spammer]

now this is snow

[knowledge-Spammer]

 

[mona]

On 3/1/2018 at 6:42 PM, knowledge said:

now this is snow

 

..... Not only snow but also very low temperature (background voice mentioned over  -30 degrees C !)  

 

BTW

Removing this car out of the snow appears to be like 5-8 hours job !      I would rather quit and wait till spring .....  

   However ..... in spring - if such amount of snow would start melting quickly, they might finally end up like this :

 

[tao]

Enjoy -- If you'll:   

(The Best Weather for The [Wo]man Beast)

The spring flowers, the autumn moon;
Summer breezes, winter snow.
If useless things do not clutter your mind,
You have the best season of your life.
~ Wu-men Huai-kai

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tao]

On Perfection:

 

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.

~ Mona

 

Perfection is as is -- never achieved.

How can what is -- is achieved?

How can anything  -- be added or taken away?

 

An Old Sanskrit Mantra:

(ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पुर्णमुदच्यते पूर्णश्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥

Om purnamadah purnamidam purnat purnamudachyate .

 

That is infinite, This is infinite;

From That, This comes.

This added or removed from That,

the Infinite remains as Infinite.