where is it? I thought we were going to be in minus figures for at least a month according to reports last week. yesterday it was about 12c all day which is quite mild for this time of year.
In the Ukraine.
KIEV, Dec 17, 2012 (AFP) - Severe winter weather has claimed 18 lives in Ukraine since the start of the month and three babies were born in traffic jams on snow- and ice-snarled roads, authorities said Monday. Twelve people have died since Friday as temperatures plunged to minus 15 degrees Celsius (five Fahrenheit) in some parts, the health ministry's press office said. Another 133 people sought medical treatment for hypothermia and frostbite, with 108 of them hospitalised.
http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-app/reports?ARCHIV=0&LANG=en&MENU=207&FILE=b1.txt&DAY=20121218
It has been down to -20, it was a warm -10 today with a biting cold wind. Unusual for them to get weather this bad before January / February. They are normally pretty well organised for clearing snow, but they had so much, about 1m, so quickly, they have struggled to cope. Many people have been without electricity for about a week now.
Not a good start to winter. Apart from the cold weather deaths due to accidents and freezing to death, there is also a real peak, where many older people die where very cold weather take its toll of weak infirm bodies, along with increased heart attacks from cold blood being thicker and respiratory diseases. Last year when it was one in 100 years cold of -36, there were over 20,000 more deaths than the seasonal average.
