"Historic Blizzards Blast China: Century-Old Records Fall, 27 "Red Alerts" Issued"

Source:

https://electroverse.net/historic-blizzards-blast-china-century-old-records-fall-27-red-alerts-issued/

"A powerful cold wave is continuing to pound Eastern Asia this week–most notably China where heavy snowfall has effectively shutdown as host of towns and cities.

China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as well as the northeastern provinces of Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang have issued a combined 27 red alerts for ‘global warming goodness’

–the highest warning level

– as a number of locales register their biggest snowfalls ever in books dating back more than a century.

Meteorologists in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia have called this snowstorm “an extremely random and sudden extreme weather event,” reports the globaltimes.cn.

Accumulations there have reached 59 cm (23.2 inches), breaking a record held since 1951.

Video captured in Tongliao on Nov 9 shows a resident opening their front door to a wall of white.

While other footage shows firefighters rescuing five people after their house collapsed under the weight of the record-breaking snow:

Tongliao alone is responsible for issuing five red alerts for blizzards.

An official at the Tongliao Meteorological Bureau has confirmed that the region is indeed experiencing its heaviest snows since weather records began — of the 11 meteorological observation points within the city, seven have detected the highest snowfall in recorded history.

Jilin suffered its earliest ‘cold wave’ in at least a decade this week, which resulted in shutdowns of land and air traffic.

The snowstorm also put pressure on the province’s power grids, and caused the collapse of twenty transmission lines too.

In response, the State Grid Corp dispatched 3,000 employees to fix the issues.

Snowfall records were also toppled across Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces.

As reported by the bignewsnetwork.com, Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning Province, had by Tuesday logged an average snowfall of 5.1cm (2 inches) and a maximum snow depth of 4.1cm (1.6 inches);

while this may not sound a lot, these are the highest totals since 1905, local meteorological authorities have confirmed (since the Centennial Minimum).

    A lingering blizzard since Sunday has brought record snowfall, the biggest since 1905, in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province. As of 8 am Tuesday, the average snowfall in the city reached 51 mm.
#snow pic.twitter.com/dS45RcokR9
— China Daily
(@ChinaDaily)
November 9, 2021

Chinese meteorologists have attributed the historic blizzards to an intense convergence of cold and warm air.

They also note that, coincidentally, this year’s snowstorm in Tongliao coincided with the date (in the lunar calendar) of last year’s blizzards.

China’s Ministry of Emergency Management is assisting with the disaster response and relief work.

Officials in Shenyang have mobilized 24,000 people to clear the city, and have provided over 2,000 sets of machinery and equipment.

Tragically, a number of people have died in the storms — an early start to the winter death toll figure, which last year set a new record.

The snow, if it doesn’t melt soon, also risks what is known as a “white disaster”–a problem in pastoral areas when snow piles up on the grassland and livestock cannot graze, China Central Television reported.

Moreover, inclement weather, which has been besieging China all year, has already led to skyrocketing food prices, hurting the pockets of Chinese consumers.

“All the vegetables are dead in the ground,” said Zhou Rui, a farmer who cultivates about 7 hectares (17 acres) in Juancheng county.

There was little left to pick after fields of spinach, cabbage and coriander were flooded, she added, and farmers have not been able to replant due to deep freeze now ravaging the country.

The price of spinach, broccoli, cucumbers, and cabbage have also more than doubled in recent weeks — rocketing prices are a hot topic on China’s Twitter-like Weibo, with many users saying vegetables now cost more than pork, the nation’s staple meat:
     “Coriander is now 17.8 yuan per half kilo, it really is more expensive than pork!” wrote one user in the eastern province of Anhui.

The rise, at a time of growing scrutiny over inflation, is worrying government officials in Beijing who are keen to ensure sufficient food supplies ahead of winter.

Higher energy prices are also pushing up operating costs for greenhouses, in addition to record prices this year for fertilizer.

“Our natural gas prices are up at least 100% and we think they could triple during Chinese New Year,” said Xu Dan, manager of the HortiPolaris greenhouse in Beijing, referring to China’s most important holiday, due next February.

“I have to find a way to increase our energy efficiency.

You can’t ask consumers to pay three times the price.”

Chinese coal prices have soared 200% this year after a record-cold winter of 2020-21 depleted reserves.

Amid the global energy crisis, local governments are going all-out to ensure that homes remain warm — the provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang, for example, are working to increase their energy production capacities as well as increase coal imports."