Maleny Weather

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Kay and Patrick would like to express their thanks to all our sponsors and visitors to the site during 2009, and especially those who have made known to us their interest and encouragement.

It has been a week with temperatures in the high twenties which is one degree above the norm for the month of December. Dry northerly winds have persisted throughout the week with deep cracks appearing in the dry ground, and rain tanks becoming somewhat depleted. However, with the approach of a thunderstorm on Saturday winds back southerly at 4.15pm and then from 5.00 to 8.00pm we heard the sound of rain on the roof that brought much pleasure to the ears of many. The heaviest ‘rate of rain fall’ was at 5.30pm with 87mm per hour. Thunderstorm activity and light rain continued throughout the day on Sunday.

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More than 2,000 passengers have been rescued after spending hours trapped in the undersea Channel Tunnel linking France and Britain after four trains broke down due to poor weather conditions.

Angry travellers said they had been left with no power, air conditioning, food or water.

Rail operator Eurostar said the breakdowns had resulted from technical problems caused by the temperature difference inside the tunnel and freezing conditions outside.

“It is snowing in northern France, it’s very cold, conditions are very bad,” a spokesman for Eurostar, operated by French rail operator SNCF, its Belgian counterpart SNCB and British government-owned LCR, said.

Out of the 245 natural disasters in 2009, 224 were weather related, accounting for 55 million people out of the 58 million people affected and 7 000 out of 8 900 of those killed.  The Belgian World Health Organization-collaborating Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) released these preliminary 2009 disaster figures for the period from 1 January to November 2009. A joint press conference was held in Copenhagen today by WMO, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the United Nations Development Programme. Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of WMO, underlined the importance of early warning systems and seasonal climate forecasts to manage risks and to better prepare vulnerable populations to cope with more extreme events.