Unseasonal snow gives skiers a chance to return to the slopes
Earth Changes
Unseasonal snow gives skiers a chance to return to the slopes
Zoe was curious to know what the global snowfall trend was in this era of "extreme global warming."
"Luckily," she writes, "NASA covertly provides us with all the necessary data to figure this out."
Zoe downloaded all available monthly images from 1980 to 2020 (inclusive), such as the one shown here:
Dominating high-pressure systems set up to the west or northwest of Ireland, reads the report, which brought brutal polar air masses over the country, leading to below average temperatures.
The cold was intense.
Across the country, ALL weather stations logged a mean air temperatures that was either at or below their Long-Term Average (LTA) for the month; in fact, only one station matched their LTA - see Newport in the chart below:
Around 1,000 houses got damaged in days of heavy rains and flash floods across the war-ravaged country.
Tamim Azimi, a disaster management ministry spokesperson, told EFE that 56 people were confirmed dead.
"Twenty-five more are injured and another 30 missing in rains and flash floods," Azimi said.
Women and children are among the victims of the floods.
© Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times
Muir Beach saw many visitors and a gray whale carcass on April 17, 2021.
Muir Beach saw many visitors and a gray whale carcass on April 17, 2021.
In 2019, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it was going to investigate an unusually high number of gray whales found dead along the North American west coast. The investigation is continuing.
Although the number of dead whales may seem alarming, the numbers are actually lower than they have been the last two years, said Michael Milstein, an NOAA spokesman.
© Pierre Markuse
1 May 2021 wildfire south of Oymyakon (Yakutia), the coldest inhabited settlement on Earth.
1 May 2021 wildfire south of Oymyakon (Yakutia), the coldest inhabited settlement on Earth.
The air temperature in the Oymyakon district of Yakutia is still negative at nights, with daytime just about climbing over 1C.
Snow is beginning to melt, but rivers are still locked in ice for at least a couple weeks more - which is completely normal for Oymyakon, the coldest permanently inhabited settlement on Earth.
What is abnormal is the sight of a dozen wildfires burning a short distance north and south from this famous Pole of Cold.
The first was registered as unusually early as 29 April by the settlement of Teryut, a short distance north from Oymyakon.
Sentinel-2 satellite caught sight of frozen Indigirka River, snow-covered mountains, and ominous dark-orange dots scattered along the valleys.
The second set of fires was recorded south of Oymyakon and even closer by distance (within 20km, or 12 milds) on 1 May.
Last summer was one of the worst in the history of Yakutia for the number of wildfires, with many registered above the Arctic circle.
Northern Hemisphere snow mass is an historic 700 gigatons above average. (A gigaton is one billion tons, so that means it's an historic 700 billion tons above average.)
Image from the Finnish Meteorological Institute, date 19 April 2021.
Thanks to Oly for this link.
Floods in Cape Agulhas, South Africa, May 2021.
Areas of Overberg district have suffered some of the worst of the flooding. Around 90 mm of rain fell in Cape Agulhas in 24 hours to 06 May 2021, while 122 mm fell in Struisbaai during the same period.
Several people were evacuated from their homes in Cape Agulhas municipality of the district. One person was reported missing at Stormsvlei, where several people had to be rescued from flooded homes and vehicles. Other rescues were carried out in Riviersonderend.
Iranian Red Crescent (IRC) reported on 05 May 2021 that heavy rains and flooding had affected 14 provinces since the start of May. Affected provinces include Isfahan, Yazd, Semnan, South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, East Azerbaijan, Kerman, Sistan and Baluchestan, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Mazandaran, Khuzestan and Tehran.
Over the last few days IRC has provided emergency services to 1,818 people. Red Crescent teams also recovered 37 vehicles from flooded routes and pumped water from 146 houses. Furthermore, 208 people were displaced from damaged homes and provided shelter by IRC.
Cochrane RCMP were notified of a missing person just before midnight Tuesday when the man's wife called police to say he had gone for a run about 6 p.m. and not returned. A search was then launched involving a helicopter and a police dog.
Just after 2 a.m. Wednesday, the man was found deceased just off Moss Trail, which has been closed while officials investigate.
Friends have identified the victim as Dr. David Lertzman, a senior instuctor at the University of Calgary.
Comment: Earlier report: Flash floods in Afghanistan leave 16 dead, 10 missing