Cold...

You will probably have noticed that it's been a bit chilly of late... Some pictures I took last week at Scar House in Nidderdale:

And it's been pretty cold in Paris too, judging by these fab pictures courtesy of my sister who lives there:

However... the "Arctic blast" has casued huge disruption across Europe, and the cold has been blamed for the deaths of at least twelve people...

The decision by Russia to shut down gas supplies via the Ukraine has affected fifteen countries and left hundreds of thousands of homes without heating.

Closer to home, cold weather payments, issued when temperatures fall to 0oC for seven consecutive days, have caused controversy...

The Big Freeze Round-Up from the Met Office is a good summary of the weather of the first fortnight of 2009 - which is predicted to be one of the five warmest years on record!