It was only just over a week ago when they were drafting in the Russian answer to Fukushima in an attempt to get their ships moving. But, rather than improving, the situation goes from bad to worse. More than 120 vessels have become stranded in ice in the Gulf of Finland, with their number growing by 20 ships every day, the St. Petersburg seaport administration has admitted.

The Gulf of Finland has been iced over for more than a month, with dozens of ships waiting for assistance because they are unable to ply their way through the heavy one-meter-thick ice floes. The situation in the gulf deteriorated last week after a cyclone from the Norwegian Sea hit the region.

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Sorry, I am a pedant.

It is one metre, not one meter. We are not American.

Depends whether it's gas or electric ... but as a rule, I always misspell it ... never could do with these metre thingies.

I used to wonder why the Global Warmists, even if they couldn't admit that AGW was a crock of horse poop, might be able to admit that there were elements of uncertainty attached to it. But they never could -- it was as if any admission, however small, would destroy the entire edifice.

Then I happened on the good Dr Sanity, who explained it for me:

The weather in the Northern Baltic is colder than average. The winds have been blowing from the northwest and have been quite strong. This has meant that the remaining ice is packed to the Eastern end of the Gulf of Finland making it very difficult for ships traveling to and from the Russian ports.

A week ago I saw a ship stuck on ice a little west from Helsinki while traveling on a ferry to Stockholm. The situation today is much better in the western parts of the Gulf.

The Finnish Meterological institute uses three categories to classify the ice season in the Baltic: severe, normal and mild. This assessment is only based on the ice coverage and it doesn't take into account the type of ice. This winter has been classified as "severe".

Normally the new ice is formed during the cold periods. Things get bad for the maritime traffic when the weather warms and the winds start blowing. The winds cause the formation of ridged or hummocked ice, which is the most difficult for the ships and icebreakers alike.

Currently, the weather is colder than average and there is still a lot of 'global warming' on the ground. This winter has been compared to the very cold winter of 1986/87 and the comparison is justified, since there have been long periods of freezing weather though not such extremely cold temperatures as in 1987.

The pictures in this page show the ice coverage in different winters. In 1987 almost the entire Baltic sea including the straits of Denmark had ice cover.

Now listen you lot....how many bloody times do I have to tell you that this is just regional weather?...hemispherically located....

Like in the last ice-age.

OT:

Have I missed an announcement? I ask because I don't recall this being mentioned.

Roll on April 11th!