Big winter freeze leaves a legacy of potholes & bills - mirror.co.uk

The price of cut daffodils has also doubled because, along with crocuses and aconites, these early spring flowers are a month later blooming than last year. Experts at Kew Gardens, in West London, say this is "one of the latest flowerings of these plants since records began" in the 1950s.

The roads have suffered too, with an estimated 2 million potholes on Britain's roads - up from 1.5 million last year - caused mainly by the freezing effects of the harsh winter. Experts believe that with a pothole every 120 yards, it could take more than 15 years and £10billion, paid by councils, to repair the damage. Some local authorities, including North Yorkshire, have proposed council tax rises to help pay the bill.

Another legacy of the severe weather could be increased insurance premiums. The latest figures show insurance firms have so far paid out £650million from 335,000 claims this winter. The Association of British Insurers said the biggest chunk was paid to motorists who damaged vehicles on the slippery roads. The AA confirmed motor insurance claims were up by one third at around 300 to 500 a day.

The bill for frozen and burst pipes also added to the toll, at an estimated £75million a week during the coldest spell.

Hospitals, too, have been left with a huge deficit thanks to a record number of emergency weather-related admissions and missed appointments - the latter alone costing the NHS at least £8.6million.

Shamrock 'hit hard' by harsh winter weather - The Irish Times - Mon, Mar 15, 2010

CLOVER AND OUT: SHAMROCK WAS “hit hard” by the severe winter weather and “won’t be easily found” this week, according to a leading botanist.

[Luckily, it's just weather]: Mongolia's harsh winter of discontent

SERGELEN, Mongolia — After enduring a harsh winter last year that killed almost half of her 1,000 head of livestock, Baatariin Erdenechimeg moved halfway across Mongolia in search of a new start.

But this winter has been no better -- her family has lost a third of its remaining animals and may lose more before the warmer weather returns.
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More than 3.5 million animals -- cows, sheep, goats, yaks, horses and camels -- have died so far, with 60 percent of the country still buried under deep snow.

The frozen carcasses of these animals now lie scattered across the Mongolian steppes, their twisted bodies half buried in the snow drifts.

January was the worst, with the mercury frozen at -40 degrees Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit) for three straight weeks, Erdenechimeg said.
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The last major dzud to hit Mongolia occurred over three straight winters from 2000 to 2002, with about 2.5 million animals dying each year.
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This year's dzud has been even more deadly, and officials predict that some five million animals could die before summer.

House cattle – or we will have to sharply cut herds

The emphasis is on maintaining intensive dairy, sheep and beef farming while diversifying and increasing vegetable crops and, in the longer term, the report recommends developing a more radical approach where much of the cattle herd is housed and methane emissions are captured.

[Do they heat the Southern Ocean water as much as my cell phone charger does?]: Research shows deep-sea volcanoes slow climate change | WORLD News

A vast network of under-sea volcanoes pumping out nutrient-rich water in the Southern Ocean plays a key role in soaking up large amounts of carbon dioxide, acting as a brake on climate change, scientists say.