Reggae Elliss Mountainwatch Wed, 11 Apr 2018 12:03 UTC
The snow hit the North Island overnight, with snow showers continuing today. The maintenance crew, loving it on the upper slopes of Turoa this morning.
50cms and road closures in April
A full-on winter storm hit New Zealand yesterday with freezing levels down to 600 metres in the far south and 1000 metres over the central North Island.
"The bulk of the storm passed over the South Island yesterday and it worked its way across the North Island overnight," said the Grasshopper, Mountainwatch's snow forecaster. "The forecast was for 40-50cm in the Canterbury ski fields with about 15 cm on the Southern Lakes ski fields. Looking at webcams and observations, this looks to be the case."
Looking across North America fields are still covered with feet of snow, temperatures are running 30F below normal, planting is delayed and storm after storm rips across the continent from land and sea. Now a blizzard across the grain belt is on tap for mid-April bringing more record snows and record cold temperatures. These patterns match perfectly with the Maunder Minimum temperatures. Also if temperatures drop 2C Canada loses 90% of its grain production, so does China and parts of Europe.
Comment: We're seeing crop failures all over the world as the seasons become more erratic with brutal winters dragging on into Spring, record frosts and more hailstorms, floods and droughts. The world is seeing a rapid upsurge in extreme weather according to a recent report, so as more crops fail the likelihood of food price rises invariably increases. See also:
The gentle, much-appreciated warming of the second half of the 20th century could not have had carbon dioxide as its cause. Carbon dioxide's logarithmic heating effect is weak at 100 ppm, tuckered out well and truly at 200 ppm and beyond 300 ppm - well never mind. We are now above 400 ppm from which it is a monotonic 0.1°C for each 100 ppm increase.
That doesn't explain anything and in turn leaves the Sun as the only possible causative agent for the Modern Warm Period. Based on when we run out of rocks to dig up and burn, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration will peak out at around 560 ppm. We are now at 408 ppm so only another 0.15°C to go before the deep oceans, over the subsequent centuries, take almost all the extra carbon dioxide down into the Davy Deep and our plants go back to near-starvation levels of it.
When scientists looked at Antarctic snowfall over the past 200 years they found a "significant" increase, up to 10%.
In the decade 2001-2010, some 272 billion tons more snow fell on Antarctica per year compared with the decade 1801-1810.
This extra amount of snow is equivalent to twice the water volume of the Dead Sea, on a per year basis.
However, even though that huge volume of water is being locked up on land, the researchers concluded it would only "slightly slow a general trend in global sea-level rise."
George Martin Daily Mail Tue, 10 Apr 2018 18:23 UTC
Incredible footage from the scene shows the stricken car lying on its side in the sinkhole
This is the unbelievable moment a Russian SUV owner got the shock of their lives after returning to where they parked their car only to find it had been swallowed by a sinkhole.
The incident occurred in the city of Rostov-on-Don close to the border with Ukraine and was caught on camera by flabbergasted onlookers eager to get a closer look.
In the bizarre footage, filmed on a smartphone, the car can be seen lying on its side in the gigantic cavity in the road.
As the camera moves around the site the true scale of the sinkhole becomes apparent as it appears to be wider and longer than the stricken vehicle.
People can be seen standing just metres away from the wreck - coolly discussing and observing the phenomenon without fear for their own safety.
It appears winter has come early, with snow, rain and strong winds hitting much of the island, South Island locals say.
Snow blanketed the South Island's high country and alpine passes as a low swept across the country today. Much of the South Island's high country and alpine passes saw snow overnight, including Lewis Pass, and Porters Pass.
MetService said there could be more to come, with the Kaikōura Ranges and high country in Canterbury and Otago facing more snow down to 500m later today.
Around 50 black kites died in less than 24 hours in Siliguri, raising alarm among residents of this north Bengal city which also tops the list among Indian cities with most polluted air.
Wildlife experts and veterinary doctors suspect food poisoning may be the cause of death because these birds are scavengers. Viscera samples have been sent to Kolkata for tests.
West Bengal state tourism minister Goutam Deb visited a few places where the kites died.
Residents of the Children's Park area in ward 12 of Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) first spotted the dead birds on Friday evening.
Till Saturday afternoon, 49 dead kites were found in College Para, Tikia Para, the district court campus and bungalows of the sub-divisional officer and judges posted in Siliguri.
"The high in Lethbridge, Alberta on Friday, April 6 was -8°C and the average is +12°C," says Alberta reader Clive Schaupmeyer. "So it was 20 C° below average. (35 F° below average!)"
"Last night (once again) we had another 5 inches of snow.
"By now, here in southern Alberta, farming would normally have started 2 weeks ago and planting of wheat and other crops underway. The peak planting season would normally not be in full swing yet, but it is going to be a late spring here.
A strong 6.2 earthquake struck Chile's central region on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake struck about 34 miles (54 kilometers) southwest of Ovalle, Chile at 7:19 a.m. local time. The USGS said it was detected at a depth of 47 miles (76 kilometers).
The quake shook the capital of Santiago and other cities, causing buildings to sway. But Chile's emergency services office said no damages to infrastructure were immediately reported and dismissed the possibility of a tsunami on the country's long coast.
Comment: See also: Mother and son found dead at home in Hanover, Germany after mauling by dog