The Big Wobble 6/8/2021
"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" We will shortly be struggling in an "Unliveable Hell-Hole" and trying to cope with a situation where nearly 8 billion people will be trapped on a dying planet with no food to feed them. The weight of snow and ice stretched the copper telephone wires until they reached the ground. East Dundry Lane, Somerset, January 1963 HowardDublin - Own work
58 years earlier.
The UK experienced its worst winter since the mid 18th Century and for no specific reason, it just happened.
In the winter of 1962-63 something incredible happened in the UK. The winter had begun somewhat mild but stormy until just before Christmas, 1962. The entire British Isles was suddenly plunged into an unexpected and unprepared “Day After Tomorrow ESC” mini-ice-age event which was dubbed “the year the gulf stream stopped.” The devastating winter lasted from December 1962, through January and February and into March 1963 with snow-covering lasting well into April. The unexpected blast of cold, wind and snow crippled the country’s infrastructure, economy and labour market more or less overnight and brought the UK to its knees. The record cold and snow of 1962-63 was a record-breaker and was only preceded by the record-breaking winters of 1683–84, (known then as the "mini-ice-age") and 1739–40. The winter of 1962-63 was so severe the sea froze around the ports of the UK disrupting shipping imports, exports and fishing. On the 22nd of December, a “beast-from-the-east” weather front of high pressure, brought in brutal cold air from Russia and planted itself, firmly above the UK. Incredibly, this was followed by another high-pressure system bringing in even colder air from Iceland, Britain was the frozen meat in the sandwich. The extreme cold established itself over the UK and didn’t move for three months plunging the country’s roads and transport systems into chaos, isolating towns, cities and villages around the country. Great Britain’s infrastructure was not designed for a weather event like that and couldn’t cope. Cold northern winds brought blizzards sweeping across the country dumping incredible amounts of snow with drifts as high as 20ft, or 6 + metres in many places, an incredible amount of snow for the UK. The relentless snow, along with cold and fierce winds carried on through January and February causing misery and hardship for millions of British people. Many hospitals struggled to cope and thousands died from the cold. Shops struggled to keep up with supplies and farming was impossible, resulting in thousands of dead cattle and frozen crops. The whole three months turned into a modern-day disaster, highlighting the inadequacy and fragility of modern-day infrastructure when hit with a once-in-a-lifetime extreme weather event.
This inadequacy has suddenly become increasingly evident around the world recently, long after Britain's record-breaking winter of 1962-63 many countries, some rich and some not are being hit by extreme weather events, rendering their countries, or parts of their countries, unlivable and it's getting worse very quickly.
We didn’t know it at the time of course but the winter of 1962-63 gave the Brits and the rest of the world just a tiny glimpse into future extreme weather events around the world. How could we have known then? In just 60 years time our whole world would be in danger of a sixth extinction event?
More:
http://www.thebigwobble.org/2021/06/dont-sweat-small-stuff-we-will-shortly.html
