Earth ChangesS


Snowman

Mini Ice Age on the Way!

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© Unknown

London - Renowned climate scientist predicts a new ice age is on the way!

Scientists, climatologists and the mayor of London are all in agreement - the cold snap in Europe is going to get worse, much worse. A new ice age is underway.

According to Piers Corbyn, a British scientist who gets the climate right about 85 per cent of the time, were absolutely entering a new ice age. Serious business people - notably in farming - are starting to invest in his forecasts.

Corbyn, an astrophysicist, gets it right again and again.

In November, Corbyn said it would be the coldest for 100 years. He was correct. He predicted a snowy December for Europe, and he put his own money on a white Christmas for most of the U.S. - something that no one, not even AccuWeather had predicted.

How does he do it?

He looks at the flow of particles from the Sun, and how they interact with the upper atmosphere, especially air currents such as the jet stream, and he looks at how the Moon and other factors influence those streaming particles.

Bizarro Earth

Rhine-Main region shaken by earthquake

rhine city
Residents of the Rhine-Main region west of Frankfurt were shaken by an earthquake early Thursday morning that scientists say registered 3.5 on the Richter scale.

While such a magnitude is rated as "minor" on the Richter scale, the quake seized the attention of experts because it reached a strength that is very rare for the area.

Residents of the Wiesbaden and Mainz were startled by the deep rumbling that one observer likened to "a train or a truck were driving past the house."

Another observer compared the noise of the quake to "a railway train ... approaching," followed by a dull boom.

The quake occurred at 2:36 am and lasted a few seconds.

Bizarro Earth

Aleutian Islands - Earthquake Magnitude 6.2

Alaska Quake_231210
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 14:00:33 UTC

Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 04:00:33 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
53.175°N, 171.218°E

Depth:
22.2 km (13.8 miles)

Region:
NEAR ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

Distances:
137 km (85 miles) WNW (286°) from Attu Station, AK

407 km (253 miles) ESE (121°) from Nikol'skoye, Komandorskiye Ostrova, Rus.

838 km (521 miles) E (84°) from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia

3125 km (1942 miles) NE (42°) from TOKYO, Japan

Bizarro Earth

Avalanche Danger Could Be Worst In Colorado History

loveland pass
© CBS

Loveland pass, Colorado - A storm system that's been socking parts of Colorado's mountains with snow isn't over yet.

There was a lull in the system Wednesday, but snow was expected to intensify again later in the day into Thursday.

The National Weather Service says the heaviest snow is expected from the top of the Grand Mesa to the Elk and West Elk Mountains, including the area near Crested Butte.

An avalanche warning for those areas as well as for the mountains around Steamboat Springs remains in effect. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) said 1 to 2 feet fell in the warning area between Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

Snowman

Atlanta first snowy Christmas Day since 1882?

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© photoblog.msnbc.msn.com
A strong storm system churning its way through the desert Southwest early Thursday will bring metro Atlanta a good chance for a white Christmas, with accumulating snow possible as far south as the Columbus and Macon areas, forecasters said.

While the ground probably won't be white when you wake up on Christmas, a rain-snow mix expected to begin during the morning will likely change over to all snow later in the day, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brad Nitz said.

Nitz said he expects the rain-snow mix to continue through early afternoon, then change to all snow by Saturday evening.

The snow will likely continue across metro Atlanta through Saturday night before ending Sunday morning.

Cloud Lightning

Dangerous East Coast Christmas Weekend Winter Storm

Here we are again. It was just last week when meteorologists were pulling out their hair trying to determine the ultimate track of a winter storm off the East Coast.

That particular storm stayed far off the coast to miss the majority of the major cities of the Northeast along the I-95 corridor (although it dumped several inches of snow over Cape Cod, Massachusetts).

With the Christmas weekend approaching, another major winter storm could potentially create a holiday travel nightmare for millions.

We are confident that a major storm will develop off the East Coast of the United States on Sunday, December 26.

There is high uncertainty however when it comes down to location; i.e. the winter storm's proximity to the East Coast as it marches north from the Mid-Atlantic to New England.

There are two different scenarios that can play out this weekend and early next week. Let's take a look at each one.

Snowman

Snowstorm Threat Shifts South, Hold Everything!

Hold everything! The latest indications are the cross-country storm will shift farther south, raising concerns for substantial snow in places that rarely get it.

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© Accuweather.com
Based on the behavior of the storm Tuesday and Wednesday around California, AccuWeather.com meteorologists now believe the cross-country storm will track farther south into the eastern third of the nation, and do so at a slower pace.

Interestingly, a more southern track and push of cold air raises the "possibility" of some snow for Southern cities such as Birmingham, Atlanta and Charlotte.

Igloo

Biblical Flooding, Tornadoes and 13 Feet of Snow as Mammoth Storm Batters California

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© Mammoth Times/Wendilyn GrasseschiExtreme conditions: A powerful storm has pelted California with heavy rain and snow - an incredible 13ft of snow has accumulated at Mammoth Mountain ski resort
California residents should brace themselves for the most severe of an ongoing series of storms to hit the state, forecasters have warned.

More than 12 inches of rain have fallen in parts of the Santa Monica Mountains in the south and up to 15.5ft of snow has accumulated at Mammoth Mountain ski resort over the last four days.

And the conditions are expected to worsen in the next few days, the National Weather Service has warned, with the possibility of thunderstorms, hail and even tornadoes and flash floods.

'The ground will be permeated with a lot of rain, and it was a very, slow consistent rain for the past five days,' said Stuart Seto, a specialist for the weather service in upstate Oxnard. 'This is going to be more of a thunderstorm-type rain. This thunderstorm activity is very dynamic and intense.'

Researchers have coined the ongoing influx of tropical moisture into the state as an 'atmospheric river'.

'The atmospheric river brings in the moisture,' said Lucy Jones of the U-S Geological Survey office in Pasadena. 'How much rain gets dropped out of it has a distribution, just like earthquakes.'

Snowman

Rare deep freeze prompts chaos across southern China

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Some highways in southern China have been completely shut down
A cold weather snap has brought ice, snow and chaos to much of eastern and southern China, paralyzing highways, cutting power and damaging crops across an area not used to sub-zero temperatures, state media reported on Friday (December 17).

Thick ice caused a ten kilometer pile-up on a major stretch of highway in south-eastern Guangdong (pron: gwang-dong) province on Thursday (December 16), forcing authorities to deploy excavators to clear the roads, China's state television CCTV reported.

CCTV has forecast that temperatures would creep back up again in some areas on Friday (December 16) but said the cold snap in subtropical Guangdong may continue until Sunday (December 19).

The cold weather, which started on December 11, has led to extreme weather warnings in 11 provinces across the south and east, CCTV said.

Snow and ice has damaged electricity supplies, cutting almost 500 lines in eastern Zhejiang (pron: jer-jeeang) province alone, CCTV said.

Farmers in Xiaoshan (pron: seeaow-shan) in Zhejiang rushed to collect crops before they were ruined by the heavy snow.

Cloud Precipitation

Strongest Storm Yet to Hit Southern California

The latest in a week of storms could bring thunder, hail, flooding, tidal surges and even waterspouts and small tornadoes. Some foothill evacuations are ordered.

Authorities and residents were bracing for flooding, thunderstorms, hail, tidal surges and even small tornadoes Wednesday as the worst of a seven-day series of storms was expected to sweep into Southern California.

Wednesday's storm was projected to be the most intense of the week, the result of a powerful, cold storm from the Gulf of Alaska colliding with a river of subtropical moisture from the western Pacific Ocean.

"When you get the very cold air mixing in with the very warm air, it can be quite volatile," said Bill Patzert, a climatologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. Forecasters said the system could produce lightning and possibly waterspouts offshore and small tornadoes on land.

Patzert said Wednesday is "definitely going to be the main event."

Rainfall rates were expected to be as high as 0.75 to 1.5 inches an hour, which could cause flooding not only in foothills and mountains but also in low-lying areas, said Stuart Seto, a specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

"The ground is already permeated. There's already a lot of moisture," he said. "With the thunderstorms, the rain rates come faster.... We're going to see a lot more runoff."