Wednesday, January 09, 2008
National Holiday in Iran as Global Warming Comes to the Middle East
Okay, I can’t laugh at the deaths and the general destruction, but it, as wacky weather goes, this is definitely some of the wackiest.
At least 28 people are reported to have died in Iran’s heaviest snowfall in recent years.
Eight people froze to death as severe blizzards left 40,000 people stranded in their cars, authorities said.Although most have now been rescued, another 20 people are reported to have died in car crashes caused by the weather, officials said.
Tehran has declared two days of national holiday, urging people to stay at home to avoid the bitter cold.
The temperature has been down as low as -24 degrees Celsius, and for the first time in living memory there has been snow in the country’s southern deserts.
Maybe the Iranians are cranky this week because the weather is bad. I mean, it’s just started snowing outside my office, and I’m feeling a tad cranky.
In case you were wondering.
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-11 degrees F. One might almost call that a “brutal Tehran winter”.
Not “brutal” like, say, Buffalo, mind.
Funny how there isn’t much talk about this and global warming by the media eh? Remember when it was a little bit hotter in the United States and the media kept saying how it was the warmest year yet?
*le sigh*