Tens of Thousands Stranded in England Fog - 600+ flights

[donsu]

http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?pnum=1&bfromind=2214&eeid=5099944&_sitecat=1505&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=3&ck=&ch=ne&rg=blsadstrgt


Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded Thursday after a thick blanket of freezing fog forced hundreds of flights to be canceled at Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport.

Heated tents, sleeping mats and food stalls were set up for anxious travelers as flights were canceled into the holiday weekend.

"It's bedlam," said Nicholas Velez, 23, of Washington. "The whole terminal is so packed you can barely walk."

With all of Heathrow's hotels filled to capacity, Velez was one of some 500 people who slept in the chilly terminals overnight while waiting to rebook a flight home.

-snip-

More than 600 flights have been canceled since Tuesday and holiday chaos loomed for many passengers after British Airways announced the cancellation of about a quarter of its flights on Friday - one of the year's busiest travel days.
-snip-
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Denver gets stopped by snow - Heathrow gets stopped by freezing fog

two more islands in the Pacific have gone under the water.

[MindPilot]

1. Finally got that global warming problem licked!!!

:D

[TahitiNut]

2. "Bedlam" - an interesting descriptor considering the origins of that word.

A lunatic asylum? A scene of uproar and confusion resulting from the detention of sick people? Apt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital

[Southsideirish]

3. My mom couldn't see her hand in front of her - London, 1918.

She was just a girl working at a convent and they sent her (right off the farm)on an errand across the city. She had no idea where she was going and had to hold onto the buildings as she walked down the street. She finally got there but I have no idea how she did it.

[MindPilot]

4. San Diego --circa 1980

Exited the the freeway and was suddenly in a ground fog so thick I couldn't see my wipers. Literally, I had to lean out the door to see the yellow line on the road.

I've never encountered fog like that before or since.

[Taxloss]

7. That would have been a proper "pea souper" - smog.

We don't get those any more because the air is a lot cleaner. They were a mixture of smoke and fog, and people could actually suffocate in them - not to mention traffic accidents. Clean air acts in the 1950s wiped out the problem by banning the use of many kinds of domestic fuel and regulating what factories could emit.

[Karenina]

5. My kid got stuck there Tuesday.

His scheduled flight was cancelled, he was put up in a hotel. The re-book Wednesday was cancelled, THEN the airline circulated a flyer saying they were booked through Xmas and anyone who didn't have a flight needed to VACATE THE AIRPORT. Of course his luggage... :argh:

I met a Mensch from London 2 weeks ago at our company Xmas party and we exchanged info. I called in an absolute panic. He and his S.O. got my kid to their home and put him on a TRAIN. He arrived this evening. My Xmas spirit this year is GRATITUDE.

[Taxloss]

6. Freezing fog isn't out of place in England in December.

Par for the course.

Tornadoes, however ...

[Karenina]

8. But is this duration

out of the ordinary?

[Taxloss]

9. It's heavy fog, but it's not outrageously bizarre.

So far the late autumn - early winter has been unseasonably warm, so this past couple of weeks have been a bit like a return to form. The warm winter was worrying. And our lousy infrastructure shuts down citing poor weather at the slightest excuse.

I know what you mean though - I don't know if you've ever seen the classic 1950s film "The Day The Earth Caught Fire", but in that tornadoes and unseasonably heavy fog in London (in summer, in the film) signal that the Earth is about to plunge into the sun. So there is something a little unsettling about it.

At least it's not that fog that turns everyone inside out, or conceals a ghost ship full of vengeful lepers.

[Karenina]

10. Tell THAT to all the poor souls

stuck at Heathrow! ;-) Do you think it will linger into next week? Is it "normal" for an ocean breeze to just blow it away? (That's what Annie told me when I expressed concern about my kid's return flight). My kid said the fog was thick today through 3 countries! It was pretty thick all day today in Germany too.

[Taxloss]

11. I'm told that it will be clear by the weekend.

After that, overcast, grey, cold, damp. IE back to normal.