Cold weather, heavy snowfall in Turkey's central, eastern parts

Cold weather and heavy snowfall keep paralyzing traffic and daily life in central and eastern parts of Turkey.

Heavy snowfall blocked inter-city routes and roads to 1000 villages in central and eastern parts of the country. Snow also caused power blackouts in more than 60 villages in Central Anatolia Region.

Snow thickness reached 45 cm in eastern province of Agri, 15 cm in Kars and 24 cm at Palandoken Ski Center.

Temperature dropped down to minus 28 degrees Celsius in eastern province of Erzurum, 27 degrees Celsius in Ardahan, it was measured -24 in Kars, -23 in Agri and -19 in Mus overnight.

Aspen officials turn up heat on fire hearth | AspenTimes.com

ASPEN — City officials have turned up the heat once again on downtown Aspen’s fire hearth, an environmentally unfriendly amenity, yet popular among visitors seeking warmth during the cold holiday nights.

The return of the hearth is surprising to some considering that the Aspen City Council earlier this year vowed to no longer fire up the fossil-fuel burning pit, which emits 9 1/2 pounds of carbon a year into the atmosphere — or 40 percent of what an average Aspen home puts out per year.

Environmentally conscious council members believed it was hypocritical to operate anything that goes against its mission of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2020.
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City Hall this past spring held a design competition, and asked firms to come up with their own creative alternatives. Ideas included an interactive display and feature that would feature a human-generated power element which generates heat. LED lights that display a flame or generate a light show also could be part of the feature. And it could run on electricity provided by Aspen’s yet-to-be built hydropower plant.
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Jeff Woods, director of the city’s parks department, said he got permission to turn the hearth on during high season from City Manager Steve Barwick and Mayor Mick Ireland.

“I wasn’t sure how to handle it this year,” Woods said. “But we are running it in fairly short time periods.”

Woods added he’s noticed that the hearth has had a steady flow of people hovering around it all week.
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Whatever replaces the hearth will have an educational component, explaining why the city government has turned off the natural gas and pointing out the wasteful energy consumption throughout town, as well as suggesting ways to be more environmentally conscious.