Earth ChangesS


Igloo

Flashback Cuba's winter '09 among its coldest


Miami Herald
Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:12 UTC
Cuba has been hit by 25 cold fronts so far in the current winter season, which makes it among the most active in the country since the 1916-1917 season.

Granma newspaper reported today that since that date, the island has been affected by a higher number of cold fronts only in 14 seasons, the most recent being in 1987-1988, and 1997-1998, with 26 in each period.

The newspaper explains that there are still two months left for the end of the winter, which makes it probable that the season will end with about 30 frontal systems registered. The historical record number of cold fronts that have hit the countries was in 1976-1977 with 35.
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Bell

Flashback Big Freeze Plunged Europe Into Ice Age in Months


European Science Foundation
Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:08 UTC
In the film, The Day After Tomorrow, the world enters the icy grip of a new glacial period within the space of just a few weeks. Now new research shows that this scenario may not be so far from the truth after all.

William Patterson, from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and his colleagues have shown that switching off the North Atlantic circulation can force the Northern hemisphere into a mini 'ice age' in a matter of months. Previous work has indicated that this process would take tens of years.

Around 12,800 years ago the northern hemisphere was hit by a mini ice-age, known by scientists as the Younger Dryas, and nicknamed the 'Big Freeze', which lasted around 1300 years. Geological evidence shows that the Big Freeze was brought about by a sudden influx of freshwater, when the glacial Lake Agassiz in North America burst its banks and poured into the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. This vast pulse, a greater volume than all of North America's Great Lakes combined, diluted the North Atlantic conveyor belt and brought it to a halt.

Without the warming influence of this ocean circulation temperatures across the Northern hemisphere plummeted, ice sheets grew and human civilisation fell apart.
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Igloo

Flashback Winter 2009: Americans suffer record cold as temperatures plunge to -40C

Julian Gavaghan
UK Daily Mail
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:58 UTC
Image
© ReutersMorning commuters walk through a snow covered Times Square in New York
Americans were today shivering as bitter arctic winds caused temperatures to plunge to record-breaking levels in many parts of the vast country.

There are even fears that crowds planning to watch Barack Obama's presidential inauguration next week could suffer hypothermia and frostbite in sub-zero conditions.

This winter has been one of the toughest in decades with temperatures today reaching as low as -38C in large areas of the Midwest and -40C in the coldest place.
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Arrow Down

Flashback Thailand Winter 2009 Was Coldest in a Decade


The Jakarta Post
Sat, 17 Jan 2009 10:54 UTC
Thais are donning scarves, farmers are scrambling to save their rice crops and snakes are freezing to death.

That is all because temperatures in this normally balmy country have dipped to their coldest in a decade.

The country has been gripped in a cold spell that blew down from China earlier this month and is likely to last until February, the Thai Meteorological Department said Saturday.

Chukiat Thaijaratsathian, an official in the department's forecasting office, said temperatures in the country's capital fell to a low of 14.7 degree Celsius (58.5 Fahrenheit) on Jan. 11 - the coldest in a decade. They have even been colder in the country's mountainous northeast, reaching 4.2 degree Celsius (39.5 degree Fahrenheit) in Nakhon Phanom province.
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Igloo

Flashback Record snowfall in Kotzebue, Alaska


Siku News
Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:51 UTC
There was three times the average snowfall in Kotzebue this winter...and soon it will melt.

An Alaska state panel is considering a disaster declaration by the Northwest Arctic Borough in response to record snowfall in Kotzebue this winter, reports the Anchorage Daily News.

The Palin administration's Disaster Policy met this week to discuss the borough's request for state assistance for Kotzebue.

Kotzebue officials told the state that an unusually high snowfall depleted the city's snow removal budget.

The National Weather Service in Kotzebue says the average yearly snowfall for Kotzebue is about 40 inches (101 centimetres). This winter the area received almost 102 inches of snow (259 cm) -- a record, according to the Kotzebue office.

State officials say the city and borough also are worried about potential flooding from the excessive snow.
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Igloo

"México is a Gigantic Refrigerator"

Alan Stover
IceAgeNow.com
Sat, 09 Jan 2010 10:07 UTC
Child discovers snow in Mexico!
¿cuál es papá?!
Email from a reader in Mexico:
Hi Robert!

Minus 7 degrees Celsius was our low in Saltillo yesterday and in addition to a frozen water pipe in our house, today there are no less than 13 headlines in various sections of our local paper relating to the current cold wave and all its local implications.

Two jumped out at me. 'Es Mexico Una Hielera Gigantesca' ("México is a Gigantic Refrigerator")... I never dreamed I would ever see such a headline here!

The other (finally) is the first one I have seen throwing doubt on global warming '¿Dónde quedó el calentamiento?' ("Where is the Warming?")

One of the accompanying photos in the articles shows the exquisite pleasure of a young child experiencing snow in Mexico. The other shows the stark reality of an ice bound boat, the MV Arkona, in a canal in Holland.

Come on Mr. Gore. Bring us some "global warming."

Best regards,

Alan Stover
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Igloo

In Florida, no reprieve from Arctic blast as state records coldest day in 82 years


Terra Daily
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:12 UTC
Image
© AFPHelena Anderson (L) and her mother Daniela Birska wear jackets as they walk on the beach on January 11, 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida. The National Weather Service said it recorded 36 degrees in Miami Monday morning, which beat the 82-year-old record of 37 degrees.
Florida woke Monday to another day of bone-chilling temperatures after days of Arctic air that have kept the southern United States -- including the usually balmy Sunshine State -- in a deep freeze.

Florida's usually mild and sunny winter weather has given way to record low temperatures during the historic cold snap.

In Miami, the thermometer dropped over the weekend to 35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 Celsius), the coldest since 1970.
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Igloo

North China braces for more icy weather


Terra Daily/ Agence France-Presse
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:09 UTC
Image
© AFPA group of seals try to break free after they were frozen stuck in a pool at a nature reserve in Yantai, in northeast China's Shandong province, on January 11, 2010.
Northern China braced for another blast of frigid air Monday, as coal shortages neared "alarming" levels due to surging power use amid a prolonged cold snap, the government and state media reported.

The new cold front is expected to send temperatures plummeting -- to as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius (-31 degrees Fahrenheit) in northern Heilongjiang province -- for much of the week, the central weather bureau said.

Icy weather has gripped northern China since the start of the year, with heavy snows snarling air, road and rail traffic last week, and the diving mercury causing a spike in power use.

The situation has crimped power supplies as weather-related transport bottlenecks have disrupted coal shipments to power stations.

The National Power Dispatch and Communication Centre said that as of Sunday coal reserves at 205 power plants had dwindled to the "alarming" seven-day supply level, Xinhua news agency reported.

It said another 598 major power plants had seen reserves fall to nine-day supplies.
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Snowman

Snow hits southern Spain as big freeze sweeps Europe


Terra Daily
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:07 UTC
Image
© AFPTrees are covered with snow after a heavy snowfall in Aranjuez, near Madrid on January 11, 2010. Europeans struggled to get to work on Monday after a weekend of treacherous winter weather left thousands of homes without power and caused mayhem on roads, railways and at airports.
Snow fell in parts of Spain for the first time in half a century Monday as a wave of Arctic cold that has killed scores of people and caused billions of euros in damage to Europe's economy swept southwards.

As villages in parts of north-east Germany remained cut off from the outside world by giant snowdrifts, authorities sounded the alert in 18 regions across central and northern Spain in anticipation of further snow and icy temperatures.

More than 270 flights were cancelled at Madrid-Barajas airport, while neighbouring Portugal also struggled to cope with snowfall which caused the closure of around 50 main roads. Scores spent the night stuck in their vehicles.
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Cloud Lightning

France braces for ice storm amid severe travel warnings


Terra Daily
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:00 UTC
Image
© AFPA man uses a snowplow to clean a street in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris under the snow, on January 13, 2010. A snow and sleet storm forced French authorities to ban travel of lorries in the Paris region and threatened to cause massive flight cancellations, adding to travel misery across northern Europe.
The French capital braced for a snow and sleet storm Wednesday, banning lorries from motorways and warning of massive flight cancellations as icy conditions made for treacherous travel around northern Europe.

French road authorities issued a ban against heavy commercial road traffic starting at midnight until noon on Wednesday on motorways in eight departments around Paris due to a new winter storm brewing.

Conditions were expected to be especially hazardous because of icy sleet. Some 58 departments in northern and central France have been placed under an orange alert by Meteo France.
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