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Hardly. If they bothered to have proper infrastructure and resources in place to handle such weather (which they would if it were normal which is what us coldies want), this wouldn't be a problem. Generally speaking the prime cause of crisis and catastrophe on a mass scale due to winter weather is stupidity and incompetence, not the weather itself. I'm of the school of thought that has the attitude of "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes" when it comes to cold and storms. Of course that doesn't work in high heat, but even so, there are plenty of procedures available to avert a catastrophe or crisis, air conditioning for one, which really should be standard anywhere it can get hot. I will reiterate - the prime cause of mass catastrophe is stupidity, not weather, and there is no excuse for such incompetence on the part of institutions, especially government institutions.
It has nothing to do with infrastructure, Russia is experiencing brutal temperatures down to -35C in the western part of the country which is relatively uncommon, so is having to cut European gas supplies by up to 30% in order to use more for itself. There's nothing they can do if Russia decides to limit the amount of gas it exports to its European neighbours, and it will probably put massive strains on the UK's gas supply too and Norway's as more countries like France look elsewhere for its gas supply.
Actually it does, at least on an international scale, because there are not enough resources to go around, which goes back to my original point, which is that it is not hard to deal with such weather if there is proper infrastructure and resources in place, which they would procure (even if it was non-gas heating) and build if such weather were normal, as it is everywhere in the subarctic where they do not have such problems. This is just laziness on the part of governments, and has little to do with weather, which is the most commonly blamed factor for this whole affair.
Europe has proper infrastructure. It arguably has the greatest infrastructure in the world, but if the Russians decided to half their gas exports to Europe then what do they do? Nothing, that's what, most European nations rely on other countries natural resources.
Your comparison to the subarctic is unfair and flawed though
Colosseum closes and drivers abandon cars as snow falls on Rome for the first time in 26 YEARS
Italian capital grinds to halt as severe weather halts traffic
Locals shiver in tiled homes thanks to city's heating restrictions
-36C temperatures across eastern Europe send death toll to 176
Military on alert in the UK as temperatures drop and snowfall is predicted
Over 11,000 villagers in Serbia trapped by snowdrifts and blizzards
Death toll in Ukraine now 122, with 38 people killed by cold last night
That's cold and snow for you - more than just pretty pictures and cute snowmen.
On a related note, I wonder how the ancient Romans managed? If anything climate was colder (or at least not warmer) than it is now and freak freezes/snowfalls must have happened from time to time. You need more than a toga to keep warm in such conditions.
Well the snow cover is still here - mixed bag however -on some fields where nobody has walked, 100% snow cover remains- but on the fields that are popular with kids and families, a lot less..
Still, it's nice the snow has lasted this long - temperatures tomorrow morning according to the BBC widely down to -9C/-10C.. so all in all not a bad start to February for a person who likes wintry weather, especially after the very mild December
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