An earthquake has struck near the Bushehr nuclear power plant on a crucial day for Iran which has seen tensions in the Middle East erupt.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake struck 10km southeast of Borazjan in Iran with a magnitude of 4.9. The quake also struck at a depth of 10km. Borazjan is a almost a 70km drive away from Bushehr.
The quake struck at 3.19am this morning.
Comment: Hmmm. This could have been the result of some hi-tech response by the 'deep state/Usual Suspects' to Iran's ballsy response to the American assassination of Soleimani... or it could have been the cosmos itself chiming in on the portentous events afoot in that region.
Several places in Himachal Pradesh have received heavy snow.
Hindustan-Tibet Highway shut beyond Dhalli
Normal life was thrown out of gear in Himachal as 493 roads were closed following widespread rains and snow and there was no respite from biting cold wave as minimum temperatures stayed three to seven degree below normal.
Water pipes froze and burst at many places in middle and higher hills, including Shimla, thick ground frost was seen in middle and lower hills and fog disrupted traffic in more than a dozen towns along riverbeds and reservoirs.
Shimla, Chamba, Kullu and Mandi districts, which experienced rain and snow, were worst-hit and 300 of the 493 roads were closed in Shimla zone alone. Dozens of HRTC buses were stranded, while 100 buses were not sent to snowbound areas. The Hindustan-Tibet Highway was closed beyond Dhalli and Rampur-bound buses were routed via Basantpur and Kingal.
As many as 151 roads were closed in Rampur, 96 in Rohru, 48 in Shimla, 119 in Dalhousie, 44 in Mandi and 22 in Kullu. As many as 297 JCBs, 37 tippers and 16 dozers have been deployed for clearing roads. Shimla Hotel and Restaurant Association president Sanjay Sood said the hotel occupancy in Shimla was over 80 per cent and the bookings were on as the number of walk-in tourist was on the rise.
Snowfall in Aspen is pacing well ahead of average this ski season thanks to a big opening blast in October and above-averages dumps in December.
The Aspen Water Treatment Plant recorded 84.70 inches of snowfall for October through December, according to the monthly weather reports. That is 28.45 inches or 51% above the average of 56.25 inches, according to the water department's records.
Each month has been well above average at the plant, which is situated at 8,161 feet, slightly above downtown Aspen's elevation. The cold-weather months started with a bang when 26.70 inches of snow fell in October. The average is 9.20 inches.
Parts of South Australia have just shivered through some of their coldest January days on record — with Adelaide missing out on beating its 1970 record by just 0.7C.
The temperature at Adelaide's West Terrace weather station reached just 16.6C on Sunday — about 13C below the average for the time of year, and below the city's previous lowest January max temp on record, the 17.1C from 1970.
However, because of the controversial way the BOM now measures Australia's maximum temperatures "as the highest reading during the 24 hours to 9am each day," an observation of 17.8C at Adelaide's West Terrace site just before 9am on Monday has gone down as the official max for the 24 hour period.
One person was killed while several homesteads were gutted by fire when a "mysterious" bolt of lightning struck a village under Chief Njelele in Gokwe South last Tuesday evening.
At least 20 head of cattle belonging to three families were killed in the incident that witnesses said occurred at about 6 pm.
Midlands police spokesperson, Inspector Joel Goko yesterday said he was still to get details.
Chief Njelele, however confirmed the extraordinary happening saying everyone was left shell-shocked.
"It was just hot and some dark clouds gathered and the next thing, lightning struck and killed a woman. There were also about 20 beasts which were killed," said Chief Njelele.
A number of countries have even made wood-burning a part of their drive to cut down on CO2 emissions. For example cities like Munich, Germany are seeing a rise in wood burning as a source of heat.
Moreover, many German cities are moving to ban diesel engine cars because of the CO2 they produce and, more importantly, all the terrible fine particles they emit.
Yet, ironically, as cities move to "clean" up their act and protect the climate, the opposite is in fact becoming the result. German cities are increasingly choking on fine particles emitted by dirty wood-burning - and activists are turning a blind eye to the growing problem.
In the case of Munich, Swiss meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann recently pointed out that evening time air quality in the Bavarian capital becomes worse than the average air quality of much of New South Wales, Australia even as bush fires rage.
Patrick Thorne Inthesnow.com Tue, 07 Jan 2020 21:12 UTC
Snow depths have passed the three metre (10 foot) mark in Western USA and the two metre mark in western Canada after heavy snowfall hit the region.
Ski areas have reported up to 2.3 metres (nearly eight feet) of snow in the past 7 days, the biggest accumulation reported by Mt Baker, in northern Washington state close to the US border. It is also posting the deepest base on the continent at 3.1 metres (10.3 feet).
Mt Baker holds the record for the most snow ever reported in one season, and for the most snow on average each season (both unofficial records); 29 metres / 95 feet set in winter 98/99 and 16.3m / 54 ft respectively.
It's been quite a day for areas of Newfoundland this Monday, which got hit with a huge blizzard and is currently covered in up to 50 centimetres of snow. Residents woke up to mounds of the white stuff, and the shovelling looks like it's going be intense. Newfoundland's weather is on a rampage right now, and it's expected to continue throughout the week.
Thousands are without power, according to The Weather Network, as nearly 40 centimetres have fallen so far, and the number is expected to rise as it keeps falling.
Environment Canada has issued a weather warning for the province, and it is likely that more of the winter precipitation will arrive on Wednesday, so get ready, Newfoundlanders!
Wind speeds are extremely high, and traffic has been a mess. The winds are reportedly travelling at up to 80 km/h across the province, according to TWN.
The center said 30 to 40 cm (about 12 to 16 inches) of snow fell on the slopes on Sunday into Monday and announced that they would be closed on Monday, January 6, due to the snowstorm.
News reports said a winter weather front brought snow and freezing rain to areas across Greece, including in both the Southern and Northern Aegean islands and the central regions.
Comment: Hmmm. This could have been the result of some hi-tech response by the 'deep state/Usual Suspects' to Iran's ballsy response to the American assassination of Soleimani... or it could have been the cosmos itself chiming in on the portentous events afoot in that region.