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Fri, 15 Oct 2021
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Snowflake

Biggest February snowstorm in 118 years hammers Central Oregon

Seven-year-old Cole Ruff works on digging a snow fort in a large pile of snow after his father shoveled their driveway Monday, Feb. 25, 2019. (Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photo)
© Ryan Brennecke
Seven-year-old Cole Ruff works on digging a snow fort in a large pile of snow after his father shoveled their driveway Monday, Feb. 25, 2019.
Schools, government offices and the Redmond Airport all closed Monday as more than a foot of snow blanketed Bend in the biggest February snowstorm to hit Central Oregon in at least 118 years.

Between 13 and 16 inches of snow had fallen on Bend by midday, with close to 20 inches near La Pine, said Marc Austin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pendleton. More snow continued to fall throughout the day but began to taper off late in the afternoon.

"Conditions are still going to stay pretty nasty even though it might not be snowing," Austin said.

A one-day snow total — from 7 a.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Monday — of 12.5 inches set a new record in Bend as the highest February total since the agency started tracking it in 1901. The previous record was 12 inches, on Feb. 18, 1953.

Snowflake Cold

Ice Age Farmer Report: "The destruction is unprecedented." - Grand Solar Minimum - Zombie Deer

Seven-year-old Cole Ruff works on digging a snow fort in a large pile of snow after his father shoveled their driveway Monday, Feb. 25, 2019. (Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photo)
© Ryan Brennecke
Seven-year-old Cole Ruff works on digging a snow fort in a large pile of snow after his father shoveled their driveway Monday, Feb. 25, 2019.

Modern agriculture is faltering as the climate changes. From crop losses to Zombie deer, Christian breaks it down.


Sources

Snowflake

Mt. Shasta Ski Park in California reopens after receiving over 70" of snow in 48 hours

A view of Mt. Shasta Ski Park on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019.
© Mt. Shasta Ski Park
A view of Mt. Shasta Ski Park on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019.
Mt. Shasta Ski Park is reopening Thursday after being closed for two days due to heavy snowfall.

The park said they saw over 70-inches of snow at the park over a 48 hour time period, burying their ski lifts and causing power fluctuations.

The park is advising all snowboarders and skiers to stay on the groomed runs due to hazardous conditions and bottomless powder.

To keep up-to-date on the conditions at the park, click here.

Snowflake

Snowplow driver at South Lake Tahoe, California finds woman alive inside car buried in snow

This was the back of the car the snowplow driver hit.

This was the back of the car the snowplow driver hit.
It was just an ordinary day for a snowplow driver in California, until he struck a car buried in snow -- then his day turned into a rescue mission.

On February 17, the driver was clearing the snow-covered roads of South Lake Tahoe when he struck the back of a car that was illegally parked on the street. The driver contacted police to start the process of getting the vehicle towed out of the way, but as police and the driver started to dig out the car, to their surprise, a woman stuck her hand out of the car window waving for help.

She said she had been there four to five hours, but the amount of snow covering her car led officials to believe she possibly was there longer.

Snowflake

147 inches of snow in Caribou, Maine, and counting

“Several office windows at NWS Caribou are covered in deep snow and drifts,” the National Weather service wrote. “This is a common view looking out windows in Northern Maine.”
© NWS CARIBOU
“Several office windows at NWS Caribou are covered in deep snow and drifts,” the National Weather service wrote. “This is a common view looking out windows in Northern Maine.”
Bostonians missing a lot of snow may need to plan a vacation to Caribou, Maine, where 147 inches have fallen so far this season, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologist Mark Bloomer said this is way above the average, which is 81 inches for the end of February, and they're tracking a few storms this weekend and early next week.

The record snowfall was set in 2008 at 197.5 inches, Bloomer said.

The windchills and hours of snow drifts Tuesday night helped make the 8- to 10-foot snow walls in the parking lot of the Caribou National Weather Service headquarters, Bloomer said.

Camera

Spectacular photos of iridescent clouds in Bucegi Mountains, Romania

Iridescent clouds in the Bucegi Mountains, Romania
© Răzvan Neagoe
Iridescent clouds in the Bucegi Mountains, Romania
Spectacular photos of iridescent clouds in the Bucegi Mountains, Romania have gone viral on the internet. Captured at sunset by photographer Răzvan Neagoe the phenomenon lasted for 20 minutes on Sunday 24th February 2019 reports stirileprotv.ro.

Iridescent clouds in the Bucegi Mountains, Romania
© Răzvan Neagoe
Iridescent clouds in the Bucegi Mountains, Romania

Fire

Trans-Siberian train narrowly escapes inferno of raging wildfire

Fire
© Sputnik / Evgeny Biyatov
Dramatic footage posted on Youtube shows a train battling through a wall of fire and smoke in Russia's Far East as wildfires reduced the region to a hellscape.

In the terrifying video captured by passengers, the flames are seen coming close to the train while the railway completely disappears in a cloud of smoke. The inferno is rapidly extending across the region and threatening to paralyze railway traffic, including the legendary Trans-Siberia railway connecting Moscow to Vladivostok.

Comment: 2nd wildfire in 24 hours hits UK: Arthur's seat in Edinburgh ablaze


Attention

Shark attacks are on the rise in the US and Australia

Shark attacks
The news headlines are what caught Stephen Midway's attention. It all seemed so unusual to him.

Researchers would later chalk it up to especially warm water off the coast of North Carolina during that summer in 2015, or, in some cases, to an unusual distribution of tasty fish, or to the fact that more people went to the beach that year. Whatever it was, one thing was clear: the sharks were out, and they seemed to be nipping people at a higher rate than usual.

Curious about it, Midway, an oceanography professor at Louisiana State University, decided to partner with scientists at the University of Florida to embark on a research project to figure out if the seemingly rising number of shark bites were statistically important. It started as a question local to the US but morphed into a project that is the first of its kind to look at shark attacks on a global level across a half-century.

Comment: Also pertinent is this recent January 2019 report which again points to an increasing trend in attacks: Fisherman killed by shark off Réunion Island - 23rd attack since 2011, with 10 fatalities

The above report is perhaps even more noteworthy because the large number of attacks that occurred were off a small island within a relatively short time frame.


Snowflake

Sierra ski resort hits 300 inches of snowfall in February, and that smashed monthly records

Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows
© Richard Hurn
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows ski resort hit 300 inches of snowfall for February, smashing monthly records at the Lake Tahoe area ski resort.

Squaw Valley came away from the most recent storm with 42 inches in 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service. The mountain smashed the previous February record by more than 100 inches, the resort reported, and the record for most snow in any month by 18 inches. Even more snow may fall before the month is out on Thursday.

As far as the two-day snowfall totals go, Boreal ski resort saw the most accumulation with 55 inches over two days, followed by 54 inches at Sugar Bowl, according to the National Weather Service.


Attention

Seven dolphins, whale wash up in a week on the coast of Cork, Ireland

Schull, West Cork, Ireland. A dead dolphin was found on Schull beach with fishing line around its beak. Helen Tilson of Schull Sea Safari measured the animal, which was a mature adult and 2 metres long.
© Andy Gibson
Schull, West Cork, Ireland. A dead dolphin was found on Schull beach with fishing line around its beak. Helen Tilson of Schull Sea Safari measured the animal, which was a mature adult and 2 metres long.
Seven dolphins and a sperm whale have been found dead in the past week along the Cork coastline.

Mick O'Connell, stranding officer with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG), said that is an unusually high number of strandings in a short space of time.

"We normally get the same thing every year. It is usually more in the southwest and west, but this year, I suppose we have had more southeast winds, which probably explains it."

The eight mammals that washed up on Cork beaches were a sperm whale on Long Strand in West Cork, a bottleneck dolphin, a striped dolphin, four common dolphins and another unknown species of dolphin.

Mr O'Connell said it was a lot of dolphins to be found dead in a week.