Earth ChangesS


Snowflake Cold

Global warming? Antarctica hit a new all-time coldest temperature record of -135 degrees Fahrenheit TWICE in last three years

Seth Borenstein
Associated Press
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 06:31 UTC
Feeling chilly? Here's cold comfort: You could be in East Antarctica which new data says set a record for "soul-crushing" cold.

Try 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero; that's 93.2 degrees below zero Celsius, which sounds only slightly toastier. Better yet, don't try it. That's so cold scientists say it hurts to breathe.

A new look at NASA satellite data revealed that Earth set a new record for coldest temperature recorded. It happened in August 2010 when it hit -135.8 degrees. Then on July 31 of this year, it came close again: -135.3 degrees. The old record had been -128.6 degrees, which is -89.2 degrees Celsius.
Image
© Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data CenterNASA Spots Coldest Place on Earth in Antarctica at a Record -94.7 Celsius
Ice scientist Ted Scambos at the National Snow and Ice Data Center said the new record is "50 degrees colder than anything that has ever been seen in Alaska or Siberia or certainly North Dakota."

"It's more like you'd see on Mars on a nice summer day in the poles," Scambos said, from the American Geophysical Union scientific meeting in San Francisco Monday, where he announced the data. "I'm confident that these pockets are the coldest places on Earth."

Comment: They sure took their sweet time publishing this information... is that because it conflicts with their 'climate models' and supports the imminent ice age theory?

Read More...
Ice Cube

The sun in November 2013: You're going to have to add more antifreeze

Frank Bosse and Fritz Vahrenholt
No Tricks Zone
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 05:42 UTC
In November 2013 the sun showed signs of more activity as sunspot number (SSN) was 77.6. This solar cycle month (the 60th of the current cycle) was therefore "only" 32% below the level of a normally active sun. Just as a reminder: February 2013 was 66% below the mean value of all the previous observed cycles 1-23! Compared to the mean (blue) the current cycle (red) appears as follows:
Solar cycle 24
© Frank Bosse and Fritz VahrenholtFigure 1: Current cycle 24 (red) versus mean solar cycle (blue) and solar cycle 5 (gray).
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

11 dead whales discovered on remote island believed to be among the pod stranded last week

Jaleesa Baulkman
University Herald
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 14:00 UTC
Whales
© Wikimedia Commons
Eleven dead whales were discovered Sunday afternoon on a remote island in the Florida Keys, CBS News 12 reported.

The sea creatures that were discovered on Snipe Point, about six miles north of Sugarloaf Key, are likely from the pod of stranded whales "that had been the focus of an intense rescue effort" last week, Blair Mase, stranding coordinator for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, the main federal marine conservation agency, told reporters in a conference call.

NOAA said it's suspected that the whales came from a pod of 51 pilot whales that were stranded on the Gulf Coast of Florida's Everglades National Park.

"We think these are from the same group," Mase said. "We expected this would happen."
Read More...
Attention

Tornado hits New Plymouth, New Zealand

Michele Ong
Daily News Online
Sat, 07 Dec 2013 16:23 UTC
Roof repair
© Taranki Daily NewsStation Officer Jason Crowe, right, and Senior firefighter Nick Hackling mend a section of roof taken off by a small tornado.
''It just got really windy''

A Taranaki woman had her roof lifted off her house when a mini tornado swept through her street yesterday afternoon.

Heavy rain pounded the region earlier this morning before the skies cleared.

The New Plymouth fire service was called to the Egmont Road property around 2.50pm today. Owner Kelly Andrews said she was watching TV when things got a ''bit breezy''.

''It was totally unexpected,'' she said. ''I heard a major bang on the roof and the kitchen window was blown out.'' ''The glass got right through the cupboards and all.''
Ms Andrews said she did not realise part of her roof was missing until she informed by a neighbour.
Read More...
Ice Cube

Icy winter storm shuts down North Texas

Nomaan Merchant
Yahoo News!
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 15:34 UTC

Freezing rain and stinging winds slammed the Southwest Friday and made a strangely blank landscape out of normally sun-drenched North Texas: mostly empty highways covered in a sometimes impassable frost, closed schools and businesses, and millions of residents hunkered down for icy conditions expected to last through the weekend.
Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Cyclone Madi to intensify into severe storm


NDTV
Sat, 07 Dec 2013 17:33 UTC
Image
© The HinduThis image from the IMD website shows Cyclone Madi, which lay centred about 500 km southeast of Chennai at 8.30 a.m. IST on Saturday
A cyclonic storm named 'Madi' would intensify into a severe cyclonic storm, bringing rain or thundershowers over some parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh during the next 48 hours, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said today.

"The depression over southwest Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclonic storm 'MADI' early this morning and will intensify into a severe cyclonic storm and move nearly northwards very slowly in the next 48 hours," an IMD bulletin said.

It was "practically stationary" and lay centred about 500 km southeast of Chennai and 370 km northeast of Triconamalee in Sri Lanka, it added.

"Under the influence of this system, rainfall at a few places would occur over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, south coastal Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the next 48 hours," it added.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Extreme weather could become norm 'around Indian Ocean', say scientists

Michael Slezak
New Scientist
Fri, 29 Nov 2013 07:16 UTC
extreme weather
© Image: John Crux Photography/GettyCommonplace by mid-century?
What do the torrential rains that swept across a swathe of East Africa in 1997 have in common with the record-breaking drought that Australia has just emerged from? Both can be blamed on El Niño's Indian Ocean sibling.

A study looking at how climate change will affect this ocean oscillation pattern has predicted that if the world is allowed to warm uncontrollably, these kinds of extreme events will become the norm by 2050.


Comment: Except that the planet isn't 'warming':

From 'Hiding the Decline' to 'Burying the Pause': Man-made Global Warming is still a lie


The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is an oscillation of warm water across the equator. In the oscillation's positive phase, sea surface temperatures in the Arabian Sea rise whereas temperatures around Sumatra, Indonesia, fall. In the negative phase, it's the other way around.

As well as being blamed for Australia's recent dry spell and the 1997 East African storms, the IOD's positive phase has been linked to droughts in Australia and dry weather in Indonesia over the last 6500 years, according to a 2007 study of fossilised coral. The study also concluded that positive events are becoming more frequent, with an unprecedented 11 occurrences over the past 30 years.


Comment: No mention of the overwhelming evidence that there is far more to these "oscillations" than ocean currents.

Ocean oscillations are not "masking" global warming: the cooling is real
US Army: Sun, Not Man, Is Causing Climate Change
The missing sunspots: Is this the big chill?

And no mention of undersea volcanoes:

Volcanic eruptions, rising CO2, boiling oceans, and why man-made global warming is not even wrong
Undersea Volcanic Activity Contributing To Cooling
Thousand of new volcanoes revealed beneath the waves


Comment: In the meantime, extreme weather has already become the norm EVERYWHERE!

Real science done by honorable scientists who actually pay attention to the real world are coming down on the side of global cooling.

Global Cooling - Methods and testable decadal predictions
Ice Ages start and end so suddenly, "it's like a button was pressed," say scientists
The 'Old' Consensus? (NASA predicted human caused ice age in 1971)
Croat scientist warns ice age is overdue, could start in five years

Read More...
Bug

Cold-loving Asian cockroach invades New York

Megan Gannon
LiveScience
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 09:47 UTC
Cockroaches
© Lyle Buss, Univ. of FloridaThis male (left) and female (right) of the cockroach species Periplaneta japonica were found on New York City's High Line in 2012.
A new species of cockroach that can withstand freezing temperatures has taken up residence in New York, scientists confirmed.

The resilient critter, Periplaneta japonica, had never been seen in the United States until an exterminator spotted some strange-looking roach carcasses last year on the High Line, a mile-long park built on an old elevated railway in Manhattan. Researchers confirmed the identity of the species, which is native to Asia and notable for its ability to thrive in cold climates, unlike the American cockroaches that populate New York and take shelter indoors when winter comes.

"About 20 years ago colleagues of ours in Japan reared nymphs of this species and measured their tolerance to being able to survive in snow," Rutgers insect biologist Jessica Ware said in a statement.

"As the species has invaded Korea and China, there has been some confirmation that it does very well in cold climates, so it is very conceivable that it could live outdoors during winter in New York. That is in addition to its being well suited to live indoors alongside the species that already are here."

Ware and colleagues say it will be difficult to trace the source of the species, but they suspect Periplaneta japonica arrived in New York in the soil of one of the plants along the High Line, which first opened in 2009 and is still partially under construction. Though the High Line's gardens have a focus on native plants, Ware noted that many nurseries in the United States have native plants alongside imported ones.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Climate change warning: Killer winter storms for next THIRTY years

Matthew Young
Daily Star, UK
Sun, 08 Dec 2013 14:06 UTC
storm surge
© AlamySea storms and colossal waves will batter towns and villages
Killer freezes, floods and heatwaves will devastate Britain during the next 30 years, climate ­experts have warned.

Many people could die as extreme weather becomes common.

There will be more freak winds like the October storm, which killed four people.

Heatwaves will be lethal and the sea level will rise, leaving coastal towns at risk of being swamped by storm surges.

Sir Brian Heap, president of the European Academies Science Advisory Council, said he felt "obliged" to issue the warning after a new study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It comes on the back of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, which has killed more than 5,000 people.

Comment: They never give up, do they? Like the extreme weather has anything to do with their 'sea-levels-rising-by-2100-due-to-man-made-global-warming' nonsense.

The very IPCC report this 'Sir' cites acknowledges that there has been no 'warming' since 1998!

No, something else is causing all these powerful storms, coastal surges and volcanic eruptions... and no amount of recycling cartons is going to do anything to stop it.

Read More...
Snowflake Cold

Sleet, ice, deep freeze hit large swathe of U.S.

Steve Szkotak
Associated Press
Sun, 08 Dec 2013 12:27 UTC
snow plow
© AP Photo/The Jonesboro Sun, Rob HoltRonnie Moody of Nabholz Construction Services plows ice from the parking lot of the St. Bernards Outpatient Dialysis Center on Washington Avenue in Downtown Jonesboro, Ark., Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013. Moody said he and others had been working off and on since about 3 a.m. Saturday clearing key areas around the hospital.
Rain, snow, sleet and freezing rain began to glaze most of the Mid-Atlantic on Sunday, with officials urging people to stay off the roads, as North Texas and other states shook off the early remnants of the powerful storm.

Virginia, parts of West Virginia and the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area braced for a winter's smorgasbord as utility crews were at the ready. The treacherous conditions were to continue most of Sunday.

"We're actually getting something of everything," said meteorologist Anita Silverman in the Blacksburg, Va., office of the National Weather Service.

Parts of northwest and southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia were getting snow, while sleet and freezing rain prevailed west and north of Richmond. A handful of cancelations were reported at Richmond International Airport. In Baltimore, officials canceled the mayor's annual Christmas parade because of snowy weather as road conditions deteriorated.
Read More...