Global Warming Sure Is Cool!

From Channel NewsAsia:

NEW DELHI - The Indian capital Sunday saw its first winter frost in 70 years as a cold wave sweeping in from the Himalayas killed more people in northern India overnight, officials said.

The capital city of 14 million people ordered schools shut for three days from Monday as the mercury for the first time since 1935 fell to 0.2 degrees Celsius (32.36 Fahrenheit), leaving mounds of ice on parked cars.

White-laced streets greeted early risers, but any novelty value brought by the cold soon died as frost on power cables sparked partial power cuts across large swathes of New Delhi, said the privately-run BSES utility provider.

On January 16, 1935, Delhi recorded minus 0.6 degrees Celsius.

"I was born in New Delhi and this is the first time we are seeing ice on grass," said Supriya Singh, a fashion designer. "It's just like snow ... It's heavenly."

From New York Times.com:

TSUNAN, Japan, Jan. 7 - After clambering out a second-story window on Saturday, Kimie Kuwahara, 80, stood atop the 10-foot-high wall of snow surrounding her house. She surveyed this region called the snow country - the starkly white mountain range that spread out in the distance behind her, the record snowfall that had blanketed all but the triangle-shaped roofs in her neighborhood.

Pushing a plowlike shovel with both hands, Ms. Kuwahara was busy clearing the fresh powder to a recessed pile several feet away under which, she swore, lay a pond with carp. Her husband, Naoji, also 80, had climbed a ladder onto the roof, where he deftly plied his shovel to send chunks tumbling down.

"It's a never-ending job!" said Ms. Kuwahara, who had left a "village on the other side of the mountain" to come to this town as a bride a half-century ago. "After you've cleared the snow, the place is covered with snow again two days later."

Smiling from ear to ear, Ms. Kuwahara, who maintained that snow-clearing had kept her the "fittest person in the neighborhood," said cheerfully: "Ah! The snow country! What can you do?"

The snow country, ensconced between the Sea of Japan and the Japanese Alps, is one of the world's snowiest regions and typically lies under a dozen feet of snow for several months a year. But the coldest winter in decades has brought record snowfalls to the region in recent weeks.