China climate turns colder

CNN:

China has issued a rare red alert as brutal winter weather continues to batter the country, stranding travelers and prompting evacuations.

Heavy snow and sleet caused roofs to collapse and made traveling treacherous, leading to 24 deaths, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

Some 827,000 people have been evacuated in 14 different provinces since January 10, the ministry said, and damages were estimated at 22 billion yuan ($3 billion).

With new storms predicted for central and eastern China, its Meteorological Administration issued the red alert Monday and warned local governments to prepare.

The conditions have paralyzed roads, railways and airports and left hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded, authorities said.

Almost 150,000 passengers were stuck in the Guangzhou railway station on Saturday after heavy snowfall knocked out power and stopped operation of more than 130 trains in Hunan province along a line serving Beijing, Chinese media reported.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the weather was threatening lives and had strained supplies of fresh food and energy ahead of the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, which falls on February 7.

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There is much irony in this story beginning with the "red" alert by a communist government and ending with concern about a threat to the "Spring Festival" which for some reason is scheduled in early February. While this is not just another anecdote on the problems of predicting climate change and "global warming" it does point out that the weather can vary greatly and that whether the climate of the earth warms a degree or so, it will still have periods of really cold weather that will freeze some water while melting other water. It is not going to be a constant melting as most of the forecast seem to anticipate.