Thursday, January 23, 2014

" Fire!"

 At 22:56 (10:56 PM) on January 18 ,2014, local fire departments were alerted to a residential fire in a historic Norwegian settlement.   A fire fanned by strong winds swept through the village of Lærdalsøyri in Western Norway through the early hours of Sunday morning threatening many of the  historic frame houses in the heritage area.
The wind-borne fire quickly spread  fanning the flames towards the town center, and by 4 a.m over thirty houses were reported to be in flames. The fire then spread to a nearby forest, threatening the heritage area. The town was evacuated 30 minutes after midnight, with residents being evacuated to a hotel in Aurland, Norway.
 
More then 100 firefighters, from eight to ten neighboring fire departments were involved in putting out the fire.  Firefighters and equipment from Haukåsen airport in Sogndal were called out to assist in putting out the fire.The fire in Laerdalsoyri was aided by strong winds, and burned through homes that were built of wood  in the 18th and 19th centuries. It wasn't clear what caused the fire, but when it was over, at least 177 people were treated in nearby hospitals for fire-related injuries.
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When winter  cold causes temperatures to drop, heat sources become very important in the long winter nights. Structures of wood arranged in close proximity to one another become a danger zone. Fires spread rapidly with winter winds carrying burning ash to the neighboring buildings. Norway has experienced several disastrous fires. Historic stav churches made of wood have been tragic examples.
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The Grue Church Fire happened in Grue, Norway  in the Southeastern Hedmark county of Norway.
A typical Stavkirk
  This fire occurred on 26 May 1822, taking the lives of between 113 and 117 churchgoers .The oldest section of the church stemmed from the 13th century and was built using the stave method.Due to this construction style, entrance doors were designed to swing inwards and leaded glass windows that were placed high up on the wall were covered by an outside iron grid . The exterior of this church was covered with pine tar. Later calculations  estimated that 17 tons of tar had been applied between 1600 and 1822.On Pentecost, the church was filled to capacity on a bright and hot Sunday early in the summer. In the middle of the sermon, a fire broke out on the outer wall and soon the fire broke in. Within 10 to15 minutes the church was completely engulfed in flames. Parishioners rushing to the doors caused the inward-opening doors to close and few were able to exit the burning building. The cause of the fire might have been that of a spark from a fire container in which a church servant brought embers from the neighboring farm to light the altar candles .The wooden stav chuch soon burned to the ground.
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.Another historically disastrous fire occurred in Alesund, Norway  on January 23, 1904. This fire destroyed 850 homes, leaving 10,000 people homeless while destroying most of the city. That  fire was reported to be caused by a cow that kicked over a torch.
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This  latest fire in Laerdalsoyri was fanned by strong winds, and burned through
homes that were built of wood  in the 18th and 19th centuries. Police cordoned off an area in Lærdalsøyri because of the fear of  explosions of nearby gas cylinders belonging to a construction company. It wasn't clear what caused the fire, but at least 90 people were treated in nearby hospitals for fire-related injuries
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 Lærdal is on the UNESCO world heritage list. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations. Its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom. Buildings constructed in the 18th century are being preserved and protected. Dolyce Johnson, one of our Vennskap members  was concerned due to her family connection to the famous village. Dolyce stated:“A story  mentioned damage
Typical Norse colors
to the community center, which, I believe, we visited to research our family’s geneaology records.  My maternal grandmother’s family (Prestegard) came from Laerdal, and my children and I visited the village in 2004.  It was quite unique.  Any changes inside or outside had to be approved and the outside colors had to be what the original colors were.  We took the ferry from there down the Sognefjord.  A tragedy, but fortunately no one died in the fire”.

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Smouldering remains
Sixteen private homes have burned to the ground, in addition to industrial buildings and infrastructure. Many other buildings are also damaged. A large number of families have lost all their possessions, and many are quartered in a nearby hotel for the time being. Several people were  treated in hospital for smoke inhalation, but there are no reports of serious injuries or fatalities.
The village Telecom center has been completely destroyed, however, an emergency mobile service has been established. Electricity is also back on in sections of the township, but schools and kindergartens remained closed Monday.
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As  residents struggle to  rebuild, and winter life resumes, tourists will continue to visit the historic village.The Old Lærdalsøyri village has 161 protected buildings.  The famous Filefjell Kongevegen road passes through Lærdal on its way to Valdres and later extended to Oslo.The Lærdalstunnelen was built through the 
mountains
The Lærdal River
dividing Aurland from Lærdal. This 15.2 mile tunnel is the worlds longest (as of 2008), construction began in 1995 and was completed in 2000.
The River Lærdalselvi was traditionally one of the most exclusive
salmon and sea trout rivers in Norway. Known by the Norwegian King Harald V as “his second Queen”, the river has established Lærdal as one of the meccas of salmon and sea trout fly fishing.

Meanwhile, the cleanup continues.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

What's Next!?

The Polar Express has left the area, taking along the infamous Polar Vortex.
  Most people are aware of the Christmas tale of the train carrying children to Santa’s work area, but  “polar  vortex” may be new to many. Remember, not too long ago when the thermometer seemed “stuck at  97° ” for an extended time of sticky summer heat and we looked forward to “normal weather”? Then, after a mild
Fall, things once again,began to change!
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A warm November day of 2013 ended with the temperature falling 40 degrees overnight to bring in “Winter”, unusually low for our area. Forecasters explained that Arctic low temperatures are usually confined to the Canadian region, but somehow arctic winds found the weather-door open to flow southerly this winter , causing problems as far south as Florida... A new term “Polar Vortex” came into our vocabulary.  Canadians were hearing earthquake sounds in the frigid -30-40° cold. We learned another new term  “Cryoseims”, a term used by weather forecasters explaining  the action of underground water freezing  and causing rocks to expand. Above-ground residents found pictures on their walls shaking and cracks several inches wide in the ground. A Frost-quake? Unusual weather can even expand our vocabulary!
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North Atlantic Gulf Stream
While U.S. residents seem to be experiencing severe and abrupt weather changes, Norway seems to be experiencing “business as usual”. Norway shares the same latitude as Alaska, Greenland and Siberia, but in comparison, Norway has a pleasant climate while the coastal areas have comparatively mild winters due to the Gulf Stream that moderates the area weather. Oslo experienced its warmest Christmas since records began in 1937, while in Helsinki and southern Finland, the second half of December was the mildest in 30 years. In Koege, outside Copenhagen, the mercury reached 11.6ºC (52.9ºF) on Christmas Eve..
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 In the late 1960s, University of California professor Jacob Bjerknes found an important piece of the oft-changeable weather-puzzle. As a young scientist in Norway, Bjerknes had gained fame by publishing the first  understandable description of the life cycle of storms in temperate latitudes. Now, fifty years later, he was the first to see a connection between unusually warm sea-surface temperatures and the weak easterly winds bringing  heavy rainfall

Usually, sea-surface readings off South America's west coast range from the 60s to 70s°F. When the easterly trade winds strengthens, colder water is driven along the equator and the west coast of South America. Only the Pacific Ocean has this phenemona. This doesn’t happen in the Atlantic, so Norway does not experience these changes.Currently, the tropical Pacific is now expected to warm throughout 2014 according to scientists from NOAAs Climate Prediction Center .
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This might produce a massive source of energy that would be strong enough to drive up global weather temperatures, creating the  first official “hot period” since 2010, the  world’s hottest year ever recorded .Are we are in an official “La Niña” cycle, or will it be a time of  El Niño and who are they?
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The original definition of El Niño goes back to the eighteenth or nineteenth century when Peruvian sailors
 coined the term to describe a warm southward current that appeared annually around Christmas off the Peruvian coast. Hence the name El Niño, Spanish for "the Child," referring to the Christ Child.The term "El Niño" (or warm episode) is  not a local warm current, but warming of the tropical Pacific surface waters occurring every two to seven years and associated with changes in the atmospheric circulation worldwide.These equatorial waves are not the familiar surf seen on the surface, but very large-scale motions that carry changes in currents and temperatures over thousands of miles. The period of these waves is measured in months, and they take typically three months to more than a year to cross the Pacific. 
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Warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific. It takes the rain with it, causing extensive drought in the western Pacific and rainfall in the normally dry eastern Pacific. This easterly wind flow and possible blasts from the north area can make our weather interesting.if the winds are warm and the jet stream stays to the north, we might have a mild winter! 
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   However, we may experience the effect of “The Little Girl”. In Spanish, she is “ La Niña”,  the little girl.
The results of La Niña are mostly the opposite of those of El Niño; for example, during the winter, La Niña would cause a wet period in the Midwestern U.S., while El Niño would typically cause a dry period in that area. La Niña causes above-average precipitation across the northern Midwest, and eastern regions. Meanwhile, precipitation in the southwestern and southeastern states is below average.This also allows way above average hurricanes in the Atlantic and less in the Pacific.
In Canada, La Niña will, generally, cause a cooler, snowier winter, such as the near-record-breaking amounts of snow recorded in the La Niña winter of 2007/2008 in Eastern Canada.”The Little Girl”is expected to bring a cooling period. Is this "The winter of 2014" in Wisconsin?!
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 Due to oceanic temperatures and the direction of the winds, our weather system can swing an average of every three to five years. Critics of global warming believe this is only the rhythm of nature, and the only
" Looking ahead to tomorrow..."
predictable thing about weather is that it is unpredictable. Winter temperature swinging from -10° to 35° with rain within twenty-four hours seem to be the new norm. What’s going on? We’ve experienced a variety of conditions already in this early 2014.
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Now, if only we can keep our polar vortexes trapped up north, we may be spared future cryoseims!

What’s next? Stay tuned..