Poland Braces for Power Outages as Europe Shivers in Cold Snap
A low-pressure system originating from the Balkans has brought extreme cold and heavy snow to Poland, leaving thousands without power. Temperatures plummeted across the eastern half of Europe, with the Alps dipping as low as -20C (-4F). In the Polish town of Zakopane, temperatures dropped as low as -8.5C (16.3F).
As a result of this extreme weather, Poland's emergency services were stretched to the limit. A total of 2,900 firefighter callouts were made, and 75,000 homes in Rzeszów were left without power due to heavy snowfall.
Meanwhile, an Embraer E170STD aircraft, carrying 80 passengers on a flight from Warsaw to Vilnius, Lithuania, suffered a catastrophic failure, veering off the runway onto a grass verge. The incident caused significant disruption to air traffic, with both flights delayed for several hours and the return flight cancelled altogether.
In stark contrast, Sri Lanka is grappling with extreme flooding that has devastated communities across the country. November, typically a relatively dry month in Sri Lanka, saw over 250mm (10in) of rainfall fall in just 24 hours, leading to widespread damage and loss of life.
The full force of the monsoon season was unleashed on the island nation, leaving thousands homeless as mudslides damaged up to 425 homes. The humanitarian crisis deepened with reports of 40 deaths and 10 injuries, with many more feared trapped under debris.
Scientists say that Sri Lanka's unique geography played a significant role in exacerbating the flooding. As clouds are forced to rise over mountains, they cool, condense, and release rain – known as orographic enhancement. This process amplified the rainfall, making each subsequent drop larger through accretion.
The disaster highlights the critical need for early warning systems and emergency preparedness measures to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events on vulnerable communities.
A low-pressure system originating from the Balkans has brought extreme cold and heavy snow to Poland, leaving thousands without power. Temperatures plummeted across the eastern half of Europe, with the Alps dipping as low as -20C (-4F). In the Polish town of Zakopane, temperatures dropped as low as -8.5C (16.3F).
As a result of this extreme weather, Poland's emergency services were stretched to the limit. A total of 2,900 firefighter callouts were made, and 75,000 homes in Rzeszów were left without power due to heavy snowfall.
Meanwhile, an Embraer E170STD aircraft, carrying 80 passengers on a flight from Warsaw to Vilnius, Lithuania, suffered a catastrophic failure, veering off the runway onto a grass verge. The incident caused significant disruption to air traffic, with both flights delayed for several hours and the return flight cancelled altogether.
In stark contrast, Sri Lanka is grappling with extreme flooding that has devastated communities across the country. November, typically a relatively dry month in Sri Lanka, saw over 250mm (10in) of rainfall fall in just 24 hours, leading to widespread damage and loss of life.
The full force of the monsoon season was unleashed on the island nation, leaving thousands homeless as mudslides damaged up to 425 homes. The humanitarian crisis deepened with reports of 40 deaths and 10 injuries, with many more feared trapped under debris.
Scientists say that Sri Lanka's unique geography played a significant role in exacerbating the flooding. As clouds are forced to rise over mountains, they cool, condense, and release rain – known as orographic enhancement. This process amplified the rainfall, making each subsequent drop larger through accretion.
The disaster highlights the critical need for early warning systems and emergency preparedness measures to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events on vulnerable communities.
i'm talking -20c in the alps that's crazy 
but at the same time its like they should've seen it coming with all the climate change stuff going around 
anyway back to poland they're dealing with a lot of power outages which sucks for thousands of ppl who are freezing lol 
and then theres sri lanka getting hit with floods 
thats heartbreaking i mean i get that its not a surprise given their geography but still 250mm of rain in one day is wild 
like more early warning systems and stuff
I mean we all know it's gonna be rainy that time, but 250mm in just 24 hours? That's like, whoa! And the mudslides and homes damaged? It's heartbreaking 
I'm watching this cold snap from afar and I gotta say, it's crazy how fast things can turn around. Back in my day, we didn't have all these fancy radar systems and satellites to track storms like this. We just knew when the wind changed direction or the rain got heavier and that was it! 
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. And those firefighters must've worked their tails off to get everyone out safely. 
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! but on the flip side, it's devastating for sri lanka with all this flooding 
Still, gotta give credit to Poland for handling the situation... relatively well, considering 
these ppl are already strugglin, then add a power outage or mudslides to the mix... it's like, can't we just prepare 4 this kinda stuff? 
especially when ur in an area where u know there's gonna be heavy snow or flooding. i'm all 4 investin in renewable energy & infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather events. we gotta do better, fam 