Joe Bastardi of weatherbell.com/ kindly took the time to write a comment, and so I think it deserves being upgraded to a post. It's one whole semester of meteorology summed up (edited by PG)!

Here's the problem globally: We continue to dwell on temperatures in the Arctic and ignore the fact that it's a natural cyclical distortion because the planet wobbles on its axis and has much more water in the southern hemisphere, and more land in the north. So there is an eternal search for a balance that can never be attained. It can only go back and forth. Think about it. While CO2 warmists are yelling and screaming about the Arctic melting, the southern hemisphere ice is expanding. We are now told the deep water is warming (what bullocks, it does this every time the PDO has been warm. What will happen over the next 20 years is the southern hemisphere sea ice will retreat and the northern hemisphere will advance once the AMO turns cold. We just can actually observe it now from above with satellites.

There is so much lunacy in their argument, they don't even realize global ACE drop is because of the distortion; instead they scream about warming causing increased activity, when in reality globally it has gone the other way. Until such time someone can show me that there is less OUTGOING RADIATION than incoming, there is no "warming" going on. There is no trapping of heat. Physically all CO2 can do is add its 0.4 to 0.7°C to the 33°C of the blanket gases that were wonderfully placed there and made the Earth's temps reasonably livable, in spite of the variations that have to happen because of the system's design.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has reported that a low pressure system storm caused by typhoon-like winds worked its way across the country over the weekend and into Monday, leaving extensive damage and affecting public train routes, along with injuring a number of people. Both the western and eastern parts of the country experienced heavy rainfall by Saturday evening, with the JMA issuing warnings for wind speeds as high as 126 kilometers per hour (78 mph) and waves as large as 6 to 8 meters in coastal areas.

They may look like stills from an apocalyptic horror film, but these images have become a daily reality for residents in a Russian city.

Citizens of Samara, in south east Russia, live in fear of the ground literally disappearing beneath them after huge sinkholes have started to appear all over their city, leaving devastation in their wake.

The yawning underground caverns are all believed to have sprung up in recent weeks swallowing cars, buses and claiming at least one life.

Flights across the North Atlantic could get a lot bumpier in the future if the climate changes as scientists expect.

Planes are already encountering stronger winds, and could now face more turbulence, according to research led from Reading University, UK.

The study, published in Nature Climate Change, suggests that by mid-century passengers will be bounced around more frequently and more strongly.

The zone in the North Atlantic affected by turbulence could also increase.

Reading's Dr Paul Williams said comfort was not the only consideration; there were financial consequences of bumpier airspace as well.

The National Weather Service gives Denver a 90 percent chance of snow - up to 7 inches - Monday night, after a forecast high of 62 degrees Monday afternoon.

Rain and thunderstorms are expected to roll into the metro region in the afternoon with a southwest wind gusting up to 34 mph, forecasters said Sunday afternoon.

Rain is expected to turn to snow about 9 p.m.with heavy snow after midnight.

The Dannemore lake, near Östhammar in the east of Sweden, was discovered to be covered with floating fish this weekend as the ice began to melt. Among the dead fish were pike, perch, roach, and bream. "It was not a pleasant sight, there were tonnes on fish on the lake," Timo Hakulinen, who made the discovery, told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

"It was my friend who tipped me off about it. He'd seen a bunch of sea eagles out on the ice and I went to look closer." Hakulinen guessed that the fish had suffocated after a particularly long winter had left ice on top of the lake for longer than usual. "It's been cold and no water has come. The lake was frozen to the bottom and the fish were trapped," he added.

In nearby Uppsala, experts agree that the sub-zero temperatures are likely the cause of the occurrence. "I've not heard anything yet, but these things quite often are about lack of oxygen. The ice stays on top and the water doesn't get oxygenated," Lennart Nordvarg, head of the Uppsala County Board's Nature and Environment Department, told the paper.

"But you can never rule something else out."

Akhtarma-Pashali mud volcano in Hajigabul region of Azerbaijan has erupted, head of the ANAS Institute of Geology's Mud Volcano Department Adil Aliyev told APA. He said the eruption was recorded on April 1. The scientists of the Institute of Geology have carried out research in the area: "This is one of the largest volcanoes of Azerbaijan. Volcano is located 35 km from Shirvan city - in the south-eastern Shirvan. The volcano erupted for the first time in 1948, this is the 7th eruption." Aliyev said that along with mud the eruption also spouted a great deal of various rocks. "The volcano mud covered 18 hectares, the total area is 220 000 cu m.

The average thickness of the spouted material is 120 cm. A lot of cracks have appeared as a result of the volcano. One of them is too big. It spread out over 2 km. The depth of the crack is 2 m, width between 30 - 80 cm. At present the volcano has calmed down. Usually flames are observed when mud volcanoes erupt. No flame is observed in this volcano," he said. According to the department chief, the diameter of the volcano is about 10 sq km meters: "Several volcanic areas separated from each other are located in the crater of eruption. Every time eruption occurs in a separated volcanic area. 21 percent of mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan pull a lot of oil out of surface. This volcano is also spewing oil. Oil soaked into all wastes. It should be noted that there was also oil shale. All of them will be studied in the laboratory and concrete information about the oil and gas resources of the area will be obtained after the tests." - NEWS.AZ

Pemiscot County, Missouri - Two tremors in the New Madrid Seismic Zone this week have people wondering if a big earthquake could be coming. The two are considered minor. No damage has been reported from either.

Thursday night's quake struck around 7:27 local time. It was centered about six miles northeast of Caruthersville, Missouri and measured a 2.7 on the Richter Scale. Tuesday night a similar quake hit near Portageville, Missouri. The U.S. Geological Survey considers the New Madrid Seismic Zone the most active in North America east of the Rockies.

But it's been about 100 years since a major earthquake hit this area. Still, the two recent quakes are leaving behind some rattled nerves. The only thing getting shaken Friday in Caruthersville, Missouri is the salad at Grandad's Deli. "It's a scary thought," said Sharon Russell, owner.

The 2013 Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane season begins on the 1st of June and runs until the end of November. As ever, around this time of the year the forthcoming hurricane season features more heavily in insurance and reinsurance firms and catastrophe bond & ILS investors thoughts as the season approaches and the first forecasts of hurricane season activity are published. Early indications from forecasts released in the last few days suggest we could be in for an active storm season.

April sees the first forecasts emerge from some of the forecasters we choose to follow, selected for their longevity, trust within the reinsurance markets and relative accuracy over the years we've been following the Atlantic hurricane seasons development. This year the early forecasts are all suggesting an above average Atlantic tropical storm season helped by sea temperatures which are above normal levels already and only likely to rise as the year progresses.

Today we've launched our 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season page, which features the usual tracking maps, storm by storm updates throughout the season, forecasts, satellite images and other useful links. Bookmark this page as it will be updated as each storm forms and the tracking map will automatically show every storms progress and development throughout the season.

The Department of Meteorology and Geohazards in Vanuatu says it has upgraded the danger level of the volcano on Mr Yasur due to more explosions and ash eruptions. The volcano on Tanna Island has been placed on alert level two, following an increase of activity recorded since last week.

A geophysical engineer at the Department, Sylvain Todman, says local communities are being warned to cover their water tanks and to be aware that ash could spoil gardens and fragile vegetables.

"It means more explosions, an increase of explosivity, more ash falling down to the close village and a lot of ash and some (volcanic) bombs falling down to the parking area and where the tourists used to witness the activity of the Yasur volcano."

Sylvain Todman says the Department of Meteorology and Geohazards is closely monitoring the activity and will prepare a response plan if the volcano increases to alert level three.