Weird winter leaves Europeans, North Americans warm but puzzled

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2007

PARIS (AFP) — The icebreakers on Canada's St. Lawrence River are pulling listlessly at their mooring ropes, their job of clearing a path to the port of Montreal idled by the city's mildest December on record. Across the continental US, states reported above-average temperatures for December, while five states in the north and east of the country experienced record highs for the month.

In Manhattan, where the mercury nudged 21 C (70 F) last weekend, furriers are in depression but cafe owners overjoyed as shirt-sleeved customers enjoyed the unseasonably mild climes. In Sweden, brown bears at a popular safari park finally went into hibernation this week, more than two months behind schedule, and trees and flowers that usually bloom in March or April have flowered in December...