Meteorologists predict heavy snowfall throughout the country and have issued a nationwide class 1 warning.

"There may be large quantities of snow," explained Lisa Frost of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SMHI.

"As it's the first snow and it's quite early in the season, we're issuing the warning - especially as some people haven't changed to their winter tyres yet."

Throughout Monday, the Dalarna and Värmland counties have been slammed by a lengthy snow storm, which has left 10 cm (4 inches) of snow. SMHI forecast a further 10 cm before Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) is already fighting the blizzards.

The season's lowest temperature was recorded on Sunday night with Nattavaara in far northern Sweden hitting -22.1C (-6F).

US President Barack Obama has declared a "major disaster" in New York state after storm Sandy smashed into the US East Coast causing flooding and cutting power to millions.

A record 4m (13ft) tidal surge sent seawater cascading into large parts of New York City's subway system.

Across the city, a power sub-station suffered an explosion, a hospital was evacuated and fire destroyed 50 homes.

At least 13 people are reported dead across several states.

An estimated 50 million people could be affected by the storm, with up to one million ordered to evacuate homes.

Sandy, now downgraded from a hurricane but described as a "super-storm", is churning north heading for Canada still packing torrential rain driven by gale-force winds.

Winter appeared overnight in many parts of Germany on Saturday with unseasonal heavy snow fall and subzero temperatures hitting central and southern areas.

Meteorologists say this is the first time for decades that snow has fallen on low lying areas in October. More flurries are expected over the weekend.

As much as 17cm of snow fell overnight in Thuringen forest in central Germany - a suspected record for this time of year.

Heavy snow also fell on Bavaria, Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Saarland, with further flurries expected on Saturday in Leipzig, Dresden and Munich, according to the DWD.

"This happens maybe once every 30 or 40 years," meteorologist Christoph Hartmann of the German weather service (DWD) told Die Welt newspaper on Saturday, referring to the unusual snowfall in October.

The severe drop in temperature - by 20 degrees within a week - also occurs "very, very seldom," he added.

With winter's first onslaught, fallen trees blocked train lines between Leipzig and Munich, causing delays and diversions to the ICE high speed rail network.

A further 10-15 cm of snow is expected overnight in the Alps and in the Ore Mountains in Saxony, where DWD said temperatures could fall as low as minus ten.

Only twice before since records began has there been snow in October in all the nine provinces of Austria, on the 31 October 1941 as well as in the night of 23 and 24 October 2003.

Austrian weather expert Alexander Orlik from the central weather institute ZAMG said: "It is true the snow is very early this year and that is an indication that it will be a long hard winter, but not proof."

The early snow caught many drivers unaware who had not yet changed over to winter tyres - causing problems on the roads. The legal deadline to have winter tyres is 1 November in Austria.

In Carinthia parts of the region were left without electricity as the snow fell as a result of heavy snow meaning trees toppled onto the lines .

A Sott.net reader sent in these amazing images and video of a spectacular 'roll cloud' over the town of Andrews, Texas, USA, taken on October 25th 2012.

Washington - One crew member has died and the captain is missing in high seas and raging winds after the Canadian-built replica of HMS Bounty was abandoned and sank Monday morning.

U.S. Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopters rescued 14 others from life rafts in a dramatic dawn rescue about 150 kilometres off Cape Hatteras, N.C.

As the crew abandoned the sinking ship, struggling to get into life rafts before dawn, three were tossed into the sea by waves sweeping over the stricken vessel. "One of those managed to get to a raft, but not the other two," U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Jamie Frederick told The Globe and Mail at 13:30 pm.

The dead crew member, 42-year-old Claudene Christian, was found unresponsive in the water on Monday evening. The Coast Guard said she was taken to a hospital in Elizabeth City, where she was later pronounced dead.

Rescuers continued to search for the missing captain of HMS Bounty, 63-year-old Robin Walbridge.

The Coast Guard says Captain Walbridge and Ms. Christian were able to put on survival suits designed to keep them afloat and protect them from chilly waters for 15 hours.

Helicopters were used in the search and two Coast Guard cutters have also gone out to sea to help search.

"We're throwing all the assets we have out there so that we can keep searching for these folks," Cdmr Frederick said.

Earlier he confirmed that "14 are safe on shore."

Canada - Tens of thousands of residents across Ontario were without power early Tuesday morning as a powerful storm system worked its way through the province.

As post-tropical cyclone Sandy slammed into New Jersey's southern coast late Monday, its effects were immediately felt throughout the GTA, as high winds and heavy rain downed tree branches and power lines.

Early Tuesday, power outages affected:

• More than 60,000 Hydro One customers
• 26,000 Toronto Hydro customers
• More than 15,000 Powersource customers
• About 250 Enersource customers

In announcing widespread power outages late Monday night, Energy Minister Chris Bentley said that, "Trained crews of professionals are onsite across Ontario and working to restore power safely and as quickly as possible."

Toronto Hydro reassured residents earlier Monday they had 80 crews on standby to respond to calls as opposed to the usual 15 crews that they keep at the ready.

• 

  © The Associated Press/Dieu Nalio Chery
  Many homes remain underwater in southern Haiti.
  Huge crop losses in southern Haiti raise famine worries
• Flooding raises specter of cholera
• Crop losses in Cuba, Jamaica as well

Port-au-Prince - As Hurricane Sandy barreled toward the U.S. East Coast on Monday, the full extent of the storm's havoc on Haiti was just beginning to emerge.

Extensive damage to crops throughout the southern third of the country, as well as the high potential for a spike in cases of cholera and other water-borne diseases, could mean Haiti will see the deadliest effects of Sandy in the coming days and weeks.

Haiti reported the highest death toll in the Caribbean, as swollen rivers and landslides claimed at least 52 lives, according to the country's Civil Protection office. More than three days of constant rain left roads and bridges heavily damaged, cutting off access to several towns and a key border crossing with the Dominican Republic.

"The economy took a huge hit," Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told Reuters. He also said Sandy's impact was devastating, "even by international standards," adding that Haiti was planning an appeal for emergency aid.

"Most of the agricultural crops that were left from Hurricane Isaac were destroyed during Sandy," he said, "so food security will be an issue."

Sandy also destroyed banana crops in eastern Jamaica as well as decimating the coffee crop in eastern Cuba.

But the widespread loss of crops and supplies in the south, both for commercial growers and subsistence farmers, is what has Haitian authorities and aid organizations had worried about most.

The past several months have seen a series of nationwide protests and general strikes over the rising cost of living. Even before Hurricane Sandy hit, residents complained that food prices were too high.

Hurricane Sandy battered the mid-Atlantic region on Monday, its powerful gusts and storm surges causing once-in-a-generation flooding in coastal communities, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving more than five million people - including a large swath of Manhattan - in the rain-soaked dark. At least seven deaths in the New York region were tied to the storm.

The mammoth and merciless storm made landfall near Atlantic City around 8 p.m., with maximum sustained winds of about 80 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said. That was shortly after the center had reclassified the storm as a post-tropical cyclone, a scientific renaming that had no bearing on the powerful winds, driving rains and life-threatening storm surge expected to accompany its push onto land.
The storm had unexpectedly picked up speed as it roared over the Atlantic Ocean on a slate-gray day and went on to paralyze life for millions of people in more than a half-dozen states, with extensive evacuations that turned shorefront neighborhoods into ghost towns. Even the superintendent of the Statue of Liberty left to ride out the storm at his mother's house in New Jersey; he said the statue itself was "high and dry," but his house in the shadow of the torch was not.

The wind-driven rain lashed sea walls and protective barriers in places like Atlantic City, where the Boardwalk was damaged as water forced its way inland. Foam was spitting, and the sand gave in to the waves along the beach at Sandy Hook, N.J., at the entrance to New York Harbor. Water was thigh-high on the streets in Sea Bright, N.J., a three-mile sand-sliver of a town where the ocean joined the Shrewsbury River.

Event Time
2012-10-30 02:49:02 UTC
2012-10-29 19:49:02 UTC-07:00 at epicenter

Location
52.324°N 131.908°W depth=9.7km (6.0mi)

Nearby Cities
188km (117mi) S of Masset, Canada
245km (152mi) SSW of Prince Rupert, Canada
328km (204mi) SW of Terrace, Canada
531km (330mi) WNW of Campbell River, Canada
684km (425mi) SSE of Juneau, Alaska

Technical Details