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Irish facing new Ice Age this winter says expert

Forecaster issues dire weather warning for upcoming season

CATHAL DERVAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Thursday, August 11, 2011, 6:13 AM

Updated Thursday, August 11, 2011, 6:13 AM

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Snow in Dublin - the Millennium Bridge and Dublin Castle

Photo by Google Images

Ireland is going to be snowed in again this winter – and for many years to come according to a world renowned weather expert.

Long range forcecaster James Madden has predicted another ice age winter for Ireland after record snow levels in December and January.

The Exacta Weather expert has warned that Ireland will experience record low temperatures and huge snowfalls again this winter.

The Irish Examiner reports that a drastic alteration in the flow of the Gulf Stream coupled with Icelandic volcano eruptions and low solar activity are combining to lead to the severe weather warning.

Madden has warned that both Ireland and Britain should prepare for a winter similar to, or even worse than, the experience of the last two years, when temperatures reached a 40-year low.

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“I expect the 2011-2012 winter to follow a similar pattern in terms of how November and December was in 2010 for the vast majority of this winter,” said Madden.

“It will be exceptionally cold and snowy with well below average temperatures.”

Madden has urged the Irish government to prepare in advance this year and avoid a repeat of the scenes of chaos up and down the country from last winter.

He added: “It will be exceptionally cold and snowy with well below average temperatures.

“I fully expect to see records broken, with the highlands of Scotland being once again particularly hard hit.

“Periods of low solar activity at present, and what we have seen in recent years, influence the Earth’s atmosphere by allowing the stratosphere to cool.

“This has a somewhat more profound effect over Northern Europe and the UK in terms of colder and snowier winters, due to jet stream patterns that block warm air from reaching us and create more moisture.”

Nster.com

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BARNEYKX | Oct 19, 2011, 06:14 AM EDT

6 inches of snow here and we are snowbound councils have not the gear to clear the roads

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jacersagain | Aug 14, 2011, 02:26 PM EDT

There’s an interesting article of last June on met éireann’s website (met.ie) which talks about a cold weather period of a few hundred years ago called the ‘Maunder Minimum’. It speculates that we are facing a similar event because of reduced solar activity: that the current depressed phase (of solar activity) could last for several decades, similar to what occurred in the period ~ 1650-1700, the 'Maunder Minimum'. That means that we could be facing many severe cold winters. The article notes that current research leading to such conclusions relates to the European climate only and that even though we face severe cold weather, global warming is happening and will continue. A BTW for Wounded Knee – that photo above is ‘Photoshopped’... Capel Street Bridge (a traffic bridge) leads to Dublin Castle; the Millennium Bridge (a pedestrian bridge) doesn’t.

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FatherVol | Aug 13, 2011, 08:01 AM EDT

YardleyPA: Thank you so much! What a chickle I got from your comment about the government taxing heat.

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adrienrain | Aug 12, 2011, 10:47 AM EDT

This is 'climate shift' and if there's an ice age looming in northern Europe it is because the Gulf Stream is no longer functioning to keep Northern Europe relatively warm compared to other places at that Latitude. Sigh.

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EphraimKibbey | Aug 12, 2011, 12:31 AM EDT

For those who do not understand that global warming does not mean everybody will experience soaring temperatures, please watch "The Day After Tomorrow," a movie from a few years back. And before you think it is preposterous remember that scientists have found mammoths frozen solid with buttercups in their stomachs. "An Inconvenient Truth" also presents the coming changes but with a bit less drama. If global warming is such a myth, why are the US and Canada arguing over who gets the rights to control (read charge for) shipping through the Northweat Passage that they predict will open soon for the first time since before the last Ice Age? At least capitalists know how to make a buck off the end of the world as we know it. There are none so blind as those whose jobs depend on not seeing the truth even when it is right before them. I have read, that when Canada, the US north of the Ohio river, Ireland, England, Europe and Asia were all covered with ice during the last Ice Age, the sahara desert was a lush temporate savanah. Can I sell any of you a nice piece of the Lybian desert?

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AengusOg | Aug 11, 2011, 09:44 PM EDT

And here I have invested all my hard earned millions in irrigation systems and desert real estate to take advantage of all the excess water produced by global warming. Oh well, I hear that Walmart is hiring.

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Pittsburghkid | Aug 11, 2011, 09:20 PM EDT

Wait a minute, What happened to Global Warming? Algore's hockeystick graph? I'm sorry first those predictions have to be discredited before so called experts make an opposite predictions. This is more non sense. After volcanos, we alway get a cooling cycle. OK they thew in sun spots to confuse the issue. All I can say is dress warmly. In Pittsburgh, we have snow and cold weather. It is no big deal. You will survive.

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jamthecat | Aug 11, 2011, 08:18 PM EDT

You know, joeboy1, Texas is currently burning up in drought, wildfires and day-to-day heat. And since the state of Texas is WAY bigger than the whole of Ireland, what's happening here is FAR more indicative of weather patterns than an out-of-the-way place like Ireland. After all, if it's happening here, it's all that matters, right? Just going by your logic, nitwit, since you seem unwilling to bother to understand what Global Warming is really about. You sound like one of the fools who made fun of Noah as he built his ark...and look what happened to them.

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joeboy1 | Aug 11, 2011, 05:10 PM EDT

What the hell is (Bleeping) AL GORE going to say about all this stuff of and ice age coming, for that much all those who profess Global Warming ????????

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Yardleypa | Aug 11, 2011, 04:32 PM EDT

If the government reads this they will probably put a tax on heat.

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hughaed | Aug 11, 2011, 03:03 PM EDT

Colkelly writes that "the bogus global warming" taking place. It seems he shares the echo chamber of climate warming denialists. Global warming means that Greenland is melting, the Arctic ice is melting, parts of the Antarctic ice sheet is melting. Much of the Arctic & Greenland melting flows into the Gulf Stream thereby inducing cooling. The Gulf Stream is the main reason Ireland & Britain can have mild weather despite their northern latitude (similar to Canada's). So Global Warming is a reality & 95% of climatologists are warning us over and over again. We can mitigate this warming but with billions of tons of CO2, from the burning oil & coal, being pumped into the atmosphere, much of which can't be re-absorbed we are facing dire consequences. Anti Al Gore diatribes will not change the reality that is in front of us & which our grandchildren will have to face even more harshly than ourselves.

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RedBranch | Aug 11, 2011, 01:27 PM EDT

Bring it on Dazzling snow beats murk anyday.

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Mairin67 | Aug 11, 2011, 01:13 PM EDT

"Ice Age" and "huge snowfalls"....really??? I know Ireland and the UK had a bad winter but do we really need all the hype from the horrible writers at Irish Central?

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citizen69 | Aug 11, 2011, 12:00 PM EDT

Nooooooooo!!!! I can't take another winter like last year... We haven't even had a summer yet!!

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Porickseantuny | Aug 11, 2011, 11:21 AM EDT

The explanations of the hypothesis of global warming occurring while Europe freezes are hilarious. True believers ignor the facts. The computer models fail to factor volcanic activity, Solar activity and even burning of fossil fuel and gases in the stratosphere. The adage of computer models of garbage in - garbage out, apply

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