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Tornado2

Waterspout that looks like a 'snow tornado' photographed over Grand Traverse Bay, Michigan

Tanda Gmiter
Mlive
Sat, 30 Dec 2017 12:30 UTC
Waterspout near Peshawbestown
© James Lawson
Waterspout near Peshawbestown
Visibility was near zero today as parts of Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties got socked with snow. But some people near Suttons Bay got to see a winter waterspout form over Grand Traverse Bay.

James Lawson took these shots behind the casino near Peshawbestown.

It was an unusual sight Saturday afternoon, amid the lake effect snow storm.

Some who saw the pictures on social media were calling it a "snow tornado."
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Snowflake

Heavy snow in French Alps kills skier, strands 4,000


Yahoo! News
Sun, 31 Dec 2017 12:18 UTC
Snow made some roads impassable in the French Alps and forced these motorists to put chains on their wheels

Snow made some roads impassable in the French Alps and forced these motorists to put chains on their wheels
Heavy snow stranded 4,000 travellers heading for resorts in the French Alps and killed one skier in an avalanche, authorities said on Sunday.

The Savoie department prefecture said 3,500 motorists spent the night in emergency shelters after the snow made the roads impassable.

A further 500 holiday-makers who landed at the airport in the city of Chambery also had to sleep in shelters.

The avalanche alert level in Savoie was at four on a scale of five, the national weather service said.

The mountain rescue service said a 22-year-old man died when an avalanche swept him away as he skied off-piste on Saturday in Val d'Isere, a resort popular with foreign visitors.
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Attention

Salvage crews tow humpback whale carcass to shore in Hawaii


kitv.com
Sat, 30 Dec 2017 11:48 UTC
dead whale
A humpback whale carcass that was seen washing up onto a reef near the Marine Corps Base Hawaii was brought to shore Saturday morning by salvage crews.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources says there's a good chance it's the same carcass that was seen off of Haleiwa on Christmas Day.

The carcass was towed eight miles offshore earlier this week. Weather stopped it from being towed farther.

The carcass entered bay waters late on Thursday. The DLNR reports that the carcass split into two major pieces, with the whale's skull sticking out of the water a short distance from the main carcass.

Officials felt since sharks often feed on whale carcasses, to protect the public, it made sense to get it out of the water as soon as possible.
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Snowflake Cold

2018 to start off with piercing cold temps in central and northeastern US

Alex Sosnowski
AccuWeather
Sun, 31 Dec 2017 08:59 UTC
NYE 2017 temps1
Cold air rivaling that of the past 100 years for late December and early January will make it painful to be outdoors and may lead to damage in the central and northeastern Unites States.

AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures are projected to be below zero over much of the Northeast and well below zero in much of the Midwest.

In the coming days, RealFeel temperatures 5 to 20 degrees below zero will be common. In the northern tier, RealFeel temperatures may dip as low as 30 to 40 degrees below zero.

Most low temperature records from the northern and central Plains to the mid-Atlantic and New England are likely to remain in tact.

However, in terms of the level of cold, actual temperatures in many locations will be in the lower 5 percentile for all years on record for late December and early January, according to the National Weather Service.

Comment: As Trump said, they could use a bit of that "good old global warming" everyone keeps talking about! See also:

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Binoculars

Yellow-breasted chat that normally winters in Central America turns up in Charlotte, North Carolina

Taylor Piephoff
The Charlotte Observer
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 19:49 UTC
In a rare occurrence for Charlotte, a yellow-breasted chat
© Jon Wyatt
In a rare occurrence for Charlotte, a yellow-breasted chat has been seen coming to feeders and pecking at the host’s windows.
It's getting ready to be seriously cold. Our local birds will be able to handle the weather just fine, but unusually cold weather will likely bring the birds to feeders in droves. It adds a little short-term stress to their winter lives. This is an opportunity to see some unusual species that normally will be foraging in the woods and brush nearby. If we get a bit of winter precipitation mixed in, the activity will be even more intense.

I have already gotten reports of some noteworthy things happening at feeders. In one of the more unusual area occurrences in recent memory, a yellow-breasted chat has been coming to feeders and showing winter territorial behavior by pecking at the host's windows. This is unusual in a couple of ways.

First, there are very, very few winter records of chats in the Piedmont. Coastal birders may encounter one very rarely in early winter, but reports from the Piedmont are almost unheard of. I have seen winter chats only three times, all coastal. There is one record from the Southern Lake Norman Christmas Bird Count from almost 15 years ago. This bird was counted on last week's Charlotte Christmas Count for a first count record.
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Snowflake Cold

Extreme cold spell breaks 57 year old record in Toronto


blogTo
Thu, 28 Dec 2017 19:29 UTC
Snow piles up in parking lots at the Canadian National Exhibition as Toronto tries to stay warm in the extreme cold.
© Steve Russell / Toronto Star
Snow piles up in parking lots at the Canadian National Exhibition as Toronto tries to stay warm in the extreme cold.
Polar vortex, schmolar vortex. The winter we're currently living through just saw temperatures dip to -22 C on Dec. 28 for the first time in recorded history.

The previous record was set all the way back in 1960, when a low of -18.9 was recorded on this day at Pearson Airport.

Toronto (obviously) remains under an extreme cold weather alert as a series of cold weather systems continues to roll through Southern Ontario.

A period of "very cold wind chills" is expected today, according to Environment Canada, with wind chill values of minus 30 or below recorded already in the city this morning.
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Ice Cube

Two more freighters stuck in ice near island in Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Tanda Gmiter
mlive.com
Thu, 28 Dec 2017 19:17 UTC
The Biscayne Bay
© U.S. Coast Guard
The Biscayne Bay
Coast Guard ships from the U.S. and Canada were called on to free two freighters stuck in the ice near the eastern edge of the Upper Peninsula today.

The stopped freighters created a bit of a shipping traffic jam in the St. Mary's River Thursday and marked the third freighter that had to be helped out of that area this week.

Subzero temperatures mean ice is forming faster on The Great Lakes, which is a recipe for some of these big ships getting stuck in tight spots.

On Tuesday, the Coast Guard cutter Biscayne Bay was able to free the Duluth-bound James R. Barker, a 1,000-footer, from ice near Neebish Island.
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Snowflake Cold

Enduring cold snap creates headaches at home, on highways & cancellations of New Year's celebrations

John Seewer
AP News
Sat, 30 Dec 2017 18:30 UTC
Cold snap
Already winter-weary parts of the Midwest and East Coast are dealing with a mounting number of weather-related headaches, from highway pileups to frozen pipes and a rash of car thefts. And there's more to come.

Bitter temperatures and snow squalls have been blamed for a handful of deaths and canceled a long list of New Year's celebrations.

Icy roads in central Michigan caused more than 30 crashes Friday on highways near Flint while a chain-reaction crash involving about 40 vehicles in the southwestern part of the state left three hurt.

Coastal South Carolina saw a rare bout of freezing rain and drizzle on Friday that forced bridges from Charleston to Myrtle Beach to shut down for de-icing.

Comment: See more on the cold weather in the USA:

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Arrow Up

Record-breaking natural disasters from around the world in 2017 (PHOTOS)

Hilary Brueck
Business Insider
Sun, 24 Dec 2017 17:17 UTC
Hurricane Maria damage
© Carlos Giusti/AP
People walk next to a gas station flooded and damaged by the impact of Hurricane Maria, which hit the eastern region of the island, in Humacao, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, September 20, 2017.
2017 was an expensive, deadly year of natural disasters on Earth.

Wildfires relentlessly scorched dry land from California to Portugal. Super-strength hurricanes and tropical storms slammed homes from the Caribbean to Ireland. Famine continued in Somalia and Yemen, while avalanches killed more than a hundred people in Afghanistan.

People around the world recorded record-breaking devastation, much of it caused by higher-than-usual temperatures on land and at sea. Climate experts say that in a warming world, these fatal events will continue to worsen.


Comment: See these related articles on so-called 'global warming':

A November 2017 report released by the Trump Administration cautioned that "extreme climate events" like heavy rainfall, extreme heatwaves, wildfires, and sea-level rise will all get more severe around the globe, and that some of these events could result in abrupt, irreversible changes to the climate as we know it.

Here's a look at some of the deadly power Mother Nature wielded in 2017:

A trio of super-strong hurricanes pummeled the Caribbean and US Gulf Coast, with each storm causing tens of billions of dollars in damage.

Comment: For more information on extreme weather from around the world, check out our Earth Changes Summaries. The latest video for November 2017:

To understand how and why these extreme weather events are occurring read Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection by Pierre Lescaudron and Laura Knight-Jadczyk.

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Wolf

Stray dogs kill woman in Modesto, California


kcra.com
Fri, 29 Dec 2017 15:26 UTC
canine attack
© Angela Antunes / CC by 2.0
Deputies are searching for the animals

A woman was attacked and killed by stray dogs Thursday morning in the driveway of a south Modesto home, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department said.

Deborah Onsurez, 56, was found with severe injuries around 7:50 a.m. outside of a home in the 500 block of Crows Landing Road, the sheriff's department said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

During the preliminary investigation, detective determined Onsurez was killed by stray dogs.

Deputies and animal control officers searched the area and several businesses and did not find any stray dogs.
      Read More...
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