As the United Nations conference on climate change ended in Copenhagen, many received a rude reminder that the effects of global warming are indeed upon us. The timing could not have been worse, coming just before a major holiday travel period.
Over this weekend, one of the largest snowstorms in many years impacted the largest populated cities on the U.S. east coast. Blizzard-like conditions and unusually large snowfall stranded major cities from Washington DC up the east coast to Boston. The snowfall stranded many, cancelled more than 1600 airline flights and disrupted transportation throughout the U.S. northeast. Today, upwards of half a million airline passengers were attempting to find alternative flights or transportation.
According to a Bloomberg article, as much as 24 inches (60 centimeters) of snow fell of Bethesda Maryland, and 23 inches of snow was recorded at Philadelphia International Airport. Here in Boston, where I reside, in excess of 21 inches of snowfall fell on portions of Cape Cod and the southeastern coast, while moving just 20 miles inland, snowfall levels dropped off dramatically as the storm center shifted direction out to sea. There is a foot of snow outside my window and its bitter cold as I pen this posting.
In Europe, a bitter cold snap and snowstorms have had dramatic winter impact as well. The underground Eurostar trains between London and Paris were forced to shut down unexpectedly last week as trains stopped dead in the tunnel because of what is suspected to be the effects of condensation caused by outside cold and inside warmth. Upwards of 60,000 travelers were left stranded for up to twelve hours in the tunnel and service has still not be restored.
According to a BBC News article this afternoon, additional rail, air, and road transport links are disrupted across northern Europe where snowstorms and bitter cold are impacting major areas. Parts of the continent experienced 20 inches (50 centimeters of snow over the weekend.
Of course, the timing of all of this bad weather could not have been worse, coming just before the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period where so many have travel plans, or where last-minute shopping and logistics fulfillment is in its final stages. UPS alone had expected to deliver 22 million packages today, its busiest day of the year.
There should be no doubt on whether global warming has impacted the planet, especially if you had prior or upcoming plans to travel in the U.S.or Europe for the holidays.
To parody the movie quote from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)-
Global warming, I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ proof of global warming!
Let us all look to the glass half-full- many of us will be experiencing a white Christmas this year.
In spite of all this dirruption, do enjoy the holidays.
Supply Chain Matters will not be publishing for the remainder of this week as I take some time to be with family and friends, and recharge.
Stay tuned for a series of new postings next week, the last week in 2009, which will feature our annual Supply Chain Matters Predictions for the coming year in supply chain.
Bob, some news from the European front. Although the temperature is now around freezin point, trafic is still difficult throughout most of Europe, and as we continue moving the majority of our freight by truck, many roads are blocked with trucks across them. The Eurostar is finally restarting its service between Brussels/Paris and London with thousands of travelers stranded. The problem was due to the difference in temperature outside (-15C and inside (+20C) the tunnel.
On the global warming front, we are very disappointed with the outcome of Copenhagen, as countries have not had the courage to go far enough and take binding commitments, which would have spurred innovation, created new businesses and relieved us from our dependency on oil. All good reasons for doing it.
Hi Christian,
Thanks for the added details on the situation in Europe. I share the frustration regarding the outcome of the Copenhagen conference. Perhaps it was too optimistic to assume that 110 countries could come to a common agreement. Perhaps initial binding committments among the G-7 or G-20 would have been a better place to start.
More of these global winter weather events should continue to provide a motivation for action.
Bob Ferrari
Bob,
Are you kidding?
“There should be no doubt on whether global warming has impacted the planet, especially if you had prior or upcoming plans to travel in the U.S.or Europe for the holidays. ”
How can you link snow in the winter to global warming? I might not be a scientist but I am absolutely certain that it snows in the winter. And here is a little fun fact for you. At one point most of the U.S. was covered in Glacier Ice but its not there now. It melted. I took a lot of history classes in college and I don’t recall ever seeing cave paintings of SUV’s roaming the country side.
Come on Bob don’t buy into this hype. Global Warming….ooops I mean Global Climate Change (we can’t say Global Warming any more because it is getting colder) is nothing more than a sham perpetrated by a group of socialists that are hell bent on destroying capitalism.
If these guys were really concerned about Global Warming why do they travel to these events in private planes and drive to and fro in Limos. At least Ed Begley Jr. has the courage of his convictions to use a bike every where he goes.
Bob, really, you can’t be serious about the Global Warming. I guess if it was 60 degrees it would be Global Warming as well, correct?
If you look at history….Europe was growing citrus…YES, citrus during the medieval period which means we were warming even then. We’ve had ice ages, droughts, warm spells, etc…since the beginning of time. The Climate is ALWAYS changing and there is nothing, absolutely NOTHING mankind can do to influence it one way or another.
Remember the same scientists in Newsweek Magazine (circa 1977) stating we were heading into an Ice Age. Uh-huh, thought so.