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As snow falls over New Jersey and other parts of the mid-Atlantic states, the Northeast USA is not the only region being visited early by old man winter.



Winter visits early. (Illustration photo, source: NOAA).

Heavy snows have also hit China, hitting Peking with full force, according to German online Bild daily, which writes:

Snow Alarm in China! The capital Peking has been paralyzed by a winterstorm. […] The situation is worse in the countryside regions of North China. In the Yanqing region 47 cm of snow fell in just a few hours, entire villages have been cut off, thousands are without power and heat. […] A group of Japanese tourists got caught in drifting snow while on the Great Wall; three women froze to death.”

Winter also paid an early visit last weekend in England, reports the Daily Mail, with snow falling in the South and West Country, including in Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Devon. The Mail writes that “the snowfall was England’s fifth in nine days amid an early winter”. and that “temperatures plunged to -5.6C last night at Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, with -4.3C Redesdale Camp, Northumberland, and -0.9C at Brize. The Weather Service says temperatures are up to 5°C below normal.

Snow was also reported in Gloucestershire and Dorset, with “up to six inches in Somerset in Bath, Frome, Midsomer Norton and the Mendip Hills” The Mail quotes. Charlie Powell, forecaster at the Met Office:

It has been incredibly cold recently and the snow was caused by an area of low pressure coming in from the North West.”

And adds:

More snow is due on higher ground in the North by Friday, with mainly below-average temperatures expected for the whole of November.”

Britain’s early winter is being enhanced by a mid-Atlantic high pressure preventing mild south-westerly winds from reaching Britain, and is pumping in Arctic air from Greenland.

So much for snow being a thing of the past at the middle latitudes. Indeed winter is making early appearances not only locally, but globally. Odd signs of warming, wouldn’t you say?