Earth ChangesS


Igloo

US: Georgia eyes coldest winter ever

Cold temperatures and heavy snow crippled north Georgia in January. Despite heavier-than-normal snowfall, precipitation amounts were below normal, increasing drought conditions across the state.

Georgia's temperature was significantly below normal last month. In Atlanta, the monthly average temperature was 40.2 degrees F (2.5 degrees below normal), in Athens 39.7 degrees (2.5 degrees below normal), Columbus 43.6 degrees (3.2 degrees below normal), Macon 42 degrees (3.5 degrees below normal), Savannah 45.1 degrees (4.1 degrees below normal), Brunswick 49.1 degrees (2.6 degrees below normal), Alma 44.9 degrees (6.8 degrees below normal), Valdosta 47.3 degrees (2.6 degrees below normal) and Augusta 41.7 degrees (3.1 degrees below normal).

If colder-than-normal temperatures continue into February, this winter could possibly set records for the coldest winter ever in some parts of Georgia. Record low temperatures were set at Macon, Savannah and Alma Jan. 14. Macon reported 16 degrees, breaking the old record of 19 degrees set that date in 1970. Savannah and Alma reported 18 degrees, surpassing the old records of 20 degrees set at both locations in 1964.

Arrow Down

US: Oklahoma Snow: Power Outages Reported After Storm

More than 9,500 power outages are being reported in Oklahoma by the state's two largest electric utilities.

More than 9,500 power outages are being reported in Oklahoma by the state's two largest electric utilities.

Oklahoma Gas and Electric reports 4,739 outages Thursday morning with more than 1,700 in Arcadia and more than 1,600 in Harrah. Public Service Company of Oklahoma reports 4,817 outages with more than 3,000 of those in Nowata County and about 1,200 in Lawton.

PSO spokesman Ed Bettinger said the cause was not known. An OG&E spokesman did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

Igloo

US: Bartlesville ties Oklahoma state record for low temperature, Tulsa ties city record

Bartlesville, Oklahoma. - Records amount of snow have fallen across the state, and now records for low temperatures are starting to fall too.

In fact, some temperatures across the state Thursday morning were lower than North Pole, Alaska, which was a balmy 16 degrees.


Attention

US: Lake Effect Storm Hammers Parts of Central New York

A lake effect snow storm has dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on parts of central New York, forcing school closings and travel restrictions in some communities.

The National Weather Service reports Thursday morning that 19 inches fell in less than 6 hours in Pulaski (puh-LAS'-keye) in Oswego County and 23 inches has fallen on nearby Redfield, near Lake Ontario's eastern end 35 miles north of Syracuse.

Many schools in the county have canceled classes or delayed their start by an hour or two.

Officials in the city of Oswego and Redfield have issued no unnecessary travel advisories.

Attention

U.S.: Strange Smell Travels From West Virginia to Baltimore

bad smell
A rotten cabbage odor is wafting from west to east, and Maryland officials have taken note.

The Maryland Emergency Management Agency has been monitoring a chemical leak that happened in West Virginia. An odd odor has been reported throughout Frederick, Prince George's, and Montgomery counties, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Igloo

US: Snowstorm sweeps across Southeast and up the East Coast

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© unknownSouth Arkansas Snow
A winter storm spread snow across the Southeast and the Tennessee Valley for the second time in two weeks early Thursday, dumping more than 6 inches in parts of the region.

The National Weather Service had warned that snow accumulation in some areas, combined with freezing temperatures, could lead to hazardous driving conditions. The system was dropping sleet and rain in addition to snow.

By late Thursday morning, winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories that had been in effect in 10 states had largely expired, remaining in effect only in eastern North Carolina. Hard freeze warnings had stretched from Texas' border with Mexico into Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Mississippi.

Even as those alerts expired, the Weather Service put new hard freeze warnings in place for Friday morning in central Mississippi, southeast Louisiana and southern Texas.

The agency had warned that snow accumulation in some areas, combined with freezing temperatures, could lead to hazardous driving conditions late Wednesday and into Thursday morning. The system was dropping sleet and rain in addition to snow.

"I've been here a long time and I've never seen anything like it," said Sharon Hickman, who manages Back Yard Burgers in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Igloo

US: Frigid Air, Snow, Worry Ranchers in Plains, South

An Icy blast tugged temperatures well below zero degrees in a large swath of the South on Thursday, leaving ranchers and farmers fretting about their animals after a winter storm dropped 2 feet of snow on parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma and left at least three people dead.

Forecasters predicted lows of minus 11 degrees in northwest Arkansas and minus 10 degrees in parts of Oklahoma. But by early morning, temperatures had dipped to minus 18 in Fayetteville and to minus 27 in Bartlesville, Okla., according to the National Weather Service.

In an area of the nation unaccustomed to such snow and subzero temperatures, those numbers had cattlemen such as Paul Marinoni crossing their fingers that pregnant cows won't give birth during the coldest hours. The newborns could stick to the ground, much like tongues on a flagpole, and die, Marinoni said.

"How do you prevent it?" Marinoni, 70, said from his farm outside Fayetteville. "You can't."

Marinoni said he leaves the cows out overnight because they're too messy to stay inside a barn. Even before the temperatures dipped to well below zero, some cows had collected fins of icicles down their backs as the snow.

Snowman

US: Another winter storm sweeps across South

A winter storm moved east from Arkansas to the Carolinas Thursday, bringing freezing temperatures and up to half a foot of snow.

"I've been here a long time and I've never seen anything like it," said Sharon Hickman, who manages Back Yard Burgers in Tupelo, Miss.

Record-breaking low temperatures were reported in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas, where the storm hit Wednesday, AccuWeather.com reported.

In Bartlesville, Okla., the temperature was 28 degrees below zero at around 7 a.m., a record for the city and the state. It was colder in Bartlesville than at the South Pole, still in its summer season, where the low temperature Thursday was 23 degrees below zero.

Henry Margusity, an AccuWeather meteorologist, said conditions were perfect for a super-freeze with a combination of an arctic air mass and snow covering the ground. Clear skies and low winds mean the sun's heat is reflected back into space, he said.

Much of the south has seen unusually wintry weather this year. In some areas, the most recent storm mixed sleet and freezing rain in with the snow, CNN reported.

Arrow Up

US: Get ready for higher food prices

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© Adam Zyglis/EagleCartoons
Warnings of higher food prices headed for American supermarkets and restaurants were swallowed easily across much of farm country Wednesday.

The big gulp came when the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that global demand had pushed U.S. corn supplies to their lowest point in 15 years.

The price of corn, which has doubled over the past six months, affects most food products in supermarkets. It's used to feed the cattle, hogs and chickens that fill the meat aisles.

It is the main ingredient in Cap'n Crunch and Doritos. Turned into syrup, it sweetens most soft drinks and many foods.

Corn also is part of the agricultural blend that fuels the economies of Nebraska, Iowa and other farming states. Iowa is the nation's top corn-producing state; Nebraska is third.

Shoppers could see higher grocery bills as early as three months from now, though most of the impact won't be felt for another six months, said Scott Irwin, an agricultural economics professor at the University of Illinois.

Chicken prices are among the first to rise because the bird's life span is so short that higher feed costs get factored in quickly, he said. Price hikes for hogs take about a year and cattle two years. Prices on packaged foods take six or seven months to rise.

Snowman

Icy weather making burials difficult

Deep snow, frozen ground, clogged roads complicate task

The harsh winter has made life difficult in myriad ways. Tending to the dead is no exception.

Weeks of heavy snowfall have overwhelmed graveyards across the region, clogging roads and completely covering rows of headstones. The thick layers of snow and frost have made burials far more costly and arduous, taxing understaffed town crews and forcing dozens of cemeteries to close their gates.

In Derry, N.H., officials have suspended burials for at least the next month to give exhausted workers a break and to focus manpower on clearing roads. More than 100 Jewish cemeteries across Massachusetts, shrouded under a deep blanket of snow and ice, are indefinitely closed to visitors.

"We don't like to restrict anyone's visitation rights,'' said Stan Kaplan, executive director of the Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts. "But for the safety of the public, we have to do it.''

Snow-narrowed roadways have left little room for cars to pass, and footpaths to graves are treacherous, Kaplan said.

Cemeteries in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire are continuing to perform burials. But the heaping snow piles and deep frost have appreciably complicated the process.

"We have more than 18 inches of frost, and you have to jack-hammer certain spots to get through,'' said Michael Fowler, director of public works in Derry. "It just reached a point where the effort was just too great.''