NationStates Jolt Archive


Freak snowstorm paralyses Pacitalian capital

Pacitalia
27-11-2006, 06:25
From PNN.pc

http://www.digitalsnowboard.com/news/media/1/20050207-AUT_1034-1.JPG
In a surprising weather phenomenon, average
temperatures in southwestern Pacitalia dropped low
enough to induce mass snowfall. The inclement
conditions made driving dangerous, compounded
by Pacitalians' inability to drive in snowy weather.

Freak snowstorm dumps record 35cm fall on Timiocato
Emergency crews respond to traffic accidents, and cardiac arrests from snow shovelling,
while power crews work to restore electrical feed to 9,5 million customers


TIMIOCATO -- The odds of Pacitalia experiencing the fall of even one snowflake in a calendar year are probably close to one in a million. But residents of Pacitalia's capital city and its surrounding metropolitan region are cooped up in their homes tonight, staring wonderingly out their windows at the product of a freak snowstorm that has dumped nearly 35cm of wet snow on Timiocato since early Saturday, paralysing the city and leading the regional authorities to declare Pacitalia's first-ever "snow day" for Monday.

The odd storm, which was, according to the Pacitalian Meteorological Service, supposed to be a major third-degree rainfall lasting at least sixty hours, turned into an unusual dump of fresh, white snow as temperatures dropped sharply from the influence of a polar front off northeastern Foringana. The intensely cold airflow dropped overnight temperatures to -5*C, their lowest in Timiocato since January 1982, and stayed below freezing for much of Saturday and Sunday, allowing the snow to proliferate on the ground.

Businesses, government services, schools and tertiary education institutions will be closed Monday, and only the emergency rooms of hospitals will remain open, as crews work to clear snow from roadways, reopen the capital region's three international airports and restore electricity to 9,5 million customers in north and east Timiocato.

Transport for Timiocato told PNN.pc staff it had recorded an all-time high for one-day traffic accidents. TfT had dispatched emergency services to 1,292 traffic accidents in the capital region, including a 59-car trail fender-bender on the A7 northbound. TfT shut down their at-grade rail lines and recalled bus service until at least Tuesday and said crews were salting and sanding freeways and major arterials to allow cars to continue utilising those routes through the next forty-eight hours.

As mentioned, flights were grounded at Timiocato's international airports leaving international and Pacitalian travellers stranded.

"We were supposed to go to Krytenia for our brother's wedding," said Andrew Handel, aged 35 of Nova Graecia. "Our flight [out of Timiocato Santo Ragazzo International Airport]'s been cancelled and PNAPacitalian said they would put us up in one of the hotels nearby but didn't want to give us a timeframe as to when we would get on the flight to Krytenia. We have to connect through Everton City to Wroxham."

Handel added he was just glad the wedding was not until Saturday and thus gave them at least a few days to find an alternative exit from Pacitalia or wait for a flight to be booked by the airline.

Meanwhile, the massive amount of snow shovelling required led to 91 calls for ambulary assistance, for victims suffering cardiac arrest from overexertion. Timiocato hospitals have so far, fortunately, reported no fatalities from the cardiac arrest incidences.

Temperatures are expected to return to seasonal levels by Tuesday, with the Pacitalian Meteorological Service forecasting a high of 20*C for Timiocato. Monday's high will remain unseasonably low at 11*C, with a low of 4*C. The sharp increase in temperatures will bring a quick melt to the snow but prolong treacherous road conditions as icy slush remains on some routes, especially less-utilised roads.
Hamptonshire
27-11-2006, 07:11
From Seaburg Independent Online
Living and Travel Section

It may seem odd to Hamptonians, a people whose homeland receives on average more than 880 centimeters of snow a year, but the Pacitalian capital was completely paralyzed by a freak snow storm earlier today. 35cm of snow and below freezing temperatures contributed to the shutdown of the traffic network, power system and local businesses. In Timiocato emergency services were overwhelmed by the snow and mass panic.

Hamptonians visiting Timiocato seemed more shocked by the Pacitalian's response to the snow storm than the actual weather itself. "The Pacitalians thought it was the apocalypse. Personally," Fabian Lendersen, from Eeasen, told an Independent reporter, "I thought it was a little on the warm side." Staff at the Hamptonian Embassy in Timiocato were seen to be playing in the snowdrifts that formed in the diplomatic compound. "All of [Timiocato's] warm weather made me a bit homesick," an unidentified diplomat said during a snowball fight, "it's nice to have a bit of the white stuff now and again."

Today's weather in the Capital Cities District: High of -7.8*C with heavy thundersnow, 78cm of snow. Weather for tomorrow: Expected high of -9*C with sustained thundersnow, 60-80cm of snow.
Auralinia
27-11-2006, 19:54
ooc: maybe we can turn this into the first ever international snowball fight...
Southeastasia
28-11-2006, 15:18
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a338/Singaporean_Liberal/cna_logo.jpg

From Channel NewsAsia Online

Strange snowy incident in Timiocato

SINGAPORE (With CNA correspondents in Timiocato) -- Southeast Asians who have a residence in the Pacitalian capital or who frequent the capital of the Democratic Capitalist Republic may have experienced a strange snowy incident - a peculiar snowstorm has caused the Democratic Capitalist Republic's capital to be down under thirty five centimeters (35 cm) of snow.

This peculiar snow incident also played a key role in causing the Timiocato electrical services to fail for 9.5 million individuals in the northern and eastern areas of the capital of the Democratic Capitalist Republic. Timiocato Santo Ragazzo International Airport (and several other international airports found in the Pacitalian capital like the older Timiocato Memoriali di Veteranemu International Airport [TVM] and the smaller Timiocato Isolamunicipa International Airport [TII]) faced this strange incident of nature, resulting in mass flights being cancelled.

The Embassy of the Union of Southeast Asian Nations in Timiocato has released a statement of hope that the "Pacitalian capital of Timiocato has a swift recovery from this incident of nature. We have every drop of trust into the Pacitalian people and their most honorable nature in general."

Also mentioned in the statement by the Southeast Asian embassy was that "while there are flights to Timiocato that are on-hold or cancelled, there are also flights to the Democratic Capitalist Republic that haven been redirected [from Timiocato] to other international airports within the Democratic Capitalist Republic like Sambuca International Airport and Mandragora International Skyport (MGI)." This was in reference to the people of Southeast Asia fleeing the Union thanks to the Kravenite-Southeast Asian crisis, where hundreds of thousands are reportedly fleeing primarily to the nations that are in the Big Three political science term.

In other news, Southeast Asia has had no snowfalls in its history, and climate changes remain the same and rainfall levels.

[OOC: Slightly weak ending, but meh.]