The first significant storm of November arrived in the northern Sierra Wednesday and battered the region through Thursday morning, covering roadways and piling up fresh powder.
Ski resorts, which opened only a week ago, were blanketed in snow with Kirkwood reporting 11 inches, Squaw 9, Northstar 7 and Heavenly 5.
Chain control was in effect on Highways 80 and 50 and other main thoroughfares in the mountains in the early morning, but by 11 a.m. a break in the storm made travel easier.
An unseasonable snowstorm hit Falls Creek, Victoria, overnight, leaving the alpine resort in a blanket of fluffy snow on the morning of Thursday, November 22.
A Falls Creek representative told Storyful it was abnormal to see heavy snow in November. "We do sometimes get January snow, however this snowstorm has seen around 10 cm which is massive!" they said. The ski season ended in early October, according to the Falls Creek website.
Social media users were delighted to see footage of the snow. "Nearly a white christmas in Australia! Wow now I've seen everything," one Facebook user wrote. Snow was still falling in Falls Creek at time of writing.
Health officials say they have seen a large spike in people needing treatment for asthma or breathing difficulties
Parts of eastern Australia have been covered by a dust storm so large that it can be seen from space.
The 300-mile storm has brought a thick haze to landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House, while the city's 309m (1,014ft) tower has been barely visible at times.
Some flights at the city's main airport were delayed.
The storm is caused by strong winds picking up dry soil in a country where many parts have been suffering from drought.
Adam Morgan of the Bureau of Meteorology said a low pressure system over the states of South Australia and Victoria had pushed strong winds across areas of western New South Wales that have experienced one of the worst drought seasons in years.
"This is the typical time of year for dust storms through inland Australia, but it is quite rare for dust to reach the east coast," he said.
Five feet of snow Greece, Blizzard in Croatia, Slovenia with record snowfall, EF2 water spouts and 200K lighting strikes along new jet streams forming in our atmosphere. This is why the ancient cultures followed cycles in the stars, Sabians of Haran, Sumerians, Daoists and ancient cultures of the Adriatic.
Two tornados off Turkey's Aegean coast on Wednesday caused panic and affected several watercraft and vehicles.
Several sailboats, as well as four automobiles were damaged by the waterspouts in the coastal town of Marmaris in Turkey's southwestern Mugla province.
The town's mayor said no casualties had been reported and damage assessment were ongoing.
Both tornados occurred in the afternoon, roughly 40 minutes apart.
Once a rare phenomenon, waterspouts are increasingly common these days in some areas. At the same time, vortexes of water, fire and dust are appearing in very unusual places. See also:
That's pretty clear-cut evidence that cyclonic winds are all essentially electrical in nature. Heat exchange plays a role, but more as a side-effect to the distribution of electric charge potential between mediums - ground-to-air, water-to-air, fire-to-air, whatever.
Thought the skies in New York City seemed puzzlingly hazy Monday afternoon? That was all the smoke blowing east from the California wildfires.
New Jersey-based Gary Szatkowski pointed out the smoke descending on the East Coast Monday, tweeting a map from NOAA showing the direction of the plumes traveling 3,000 miles across the U.S.
The smoke isn't expected to cause any health problems for people in this area. Senior meteorologist Tom Kines told the Journal News last week, "The smoke is so high up in the atmosphere. It's kind of diluted anyway as it heads eastward."
From the Prairies to Prince Edward Island, a harsh fall harvest means Canada could be facing a serious potato shortage, one that may cause millions of dollars worth of Canadian potatoes to rot in the ground this year.
A two-headed Holstein calf was born live last week at Byland Animal Hospital in Loudonville.
Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Byers delivered the calf from Idylwild Farm by Cesarean section. However, the calf only survived for 20 minutes before it died on Friday.
"I'm surprised, I'd never seen that before," said Paul Weber, owner of Idylwild Farm of Loudonville. "I was surprised it lived."
Though Byers was not certain of the cause of the two-headed birth, the condition of polycephaly — being born with more than one head — can be caused by an incomplete separation of a single embryo or an incomplete fusion of two embryos.
According to new weather models, the US mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions are expected to experience the coldest/earliest temperatures to the start of any winter season on record.
The culprit: a massive area of high pressure from the Arctic Circle will descend across Canada and into the Northeast, collapsing temperatures to life-threatening conditions ahead of Thanksgiving and into Black Friday.
Comment: A few days ago elsewhere in the southern hemisphere: Spring snow blankets lower South Island, New Zealand with more on the way