Global General

Northern hemisphere in deep freeze

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-08 09:09

Feeling cold this week? You've got plenty of company around the world. Here's a quick snapshot of the northern hemisphere, with today's expected low temperatures.

The United Kingdom has made headlines with bone-chilling storms and heavy snows that have brought much of the nation to a standstill. But that corner of Europe is hardly alone. Northern China is bracing for a fresh bout of bad weather tonight and this weekend, and residents and travelers from Seoul, to Moscow, to Chicago, nearly through all the northern parts of north hemisphere, have slogged through the heaviest snowfall in decades, if not in modern history this week.

Britain has warned it may ration supplies to keep roads gritted and accessible this week and in the days ahead. Thousands of schools across the nation were ordered to close for the day and airports including Gatwick and Luton suspended flights.

The freezing snap will last in the UK until at least mid-January, and in some areas the second half of the month is forecast to be even colder.

"Pretty much the whole country is covered in snow and it's going to take a while for it to really thaw," Dave Britton, a meteorologist at the Met Office, the government forecaster, said yesterday. "This is the most prolonged spell of cold weather the UK has seen since 1981."

Seoul residents slogged through the heaviest snowfall in modern Korean history after a winter storm dumped more than 28 centimeters this week.

Not everyone was complaining. "It's something unique in Seoul," Kang Kyung-hye, a 58-year-old housewife, said after taking a photo of the snow-covered statue of 15th-century ruler King Sejong downtown.

In the US, a snowstorm hit the Chicago area Wednesday night and was expected to drop as much as 9 inches of snow by the end of today.

Northern hemisphere in deep freeze