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Snowflake

Blizzard to reach from NYC to Boston Thursday night

A major snowstorm will reach from across part of the Midwest to the central Appalachians and New England Thursday into Friday. A blizzard will evolve from the storm in parts of the Northeast.

During Thursday and Thursday night, the storm will affect 20 states with more than 120 million people in the Midwest and the Northeast combined and could have a major negative impact on travel for people returning from holiday destinations, heading back to school or resuming business activities.
blizzard storm
It will be far from the worst storm to ever hit the area, but people should be prepared for flight delays and cancellations because of direct and indirect impacts from the far-reaching storm. Some roads may even close for a time.

Nuke

Plumes of mysterious steam rise from crippled nuclear reactor at Fukushima

Fukushima Reactor
© AFP Photo/TEPCO
Fresh plumes of most probably radioactive steam have been detected rising from the reactor 3 building at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, said the facility's operator company.

The steam has been detected by surveillance cameras and appeared to be coming from the fifth floor of the mostly-destroyed building housing crippled reactor 3, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the plant's operator.

The steam was first spotted on December 19 for a short period of time, then again on December 24, 25, 27, according to a report TEPCO published on its website.

The company, responsible for the cleanup of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, has not explained the source of the steam or the reason it is rising from the reactor building. High levels of radiation have complicated entry into the building and further inspection of the situation.

Igloo

2013: A year of Alaska weather extremes, from Barrow to Juneau

A River ice strewn about the flood
© Ed Plumb / NWS
A River ice strewn about the flood ravaged community of Galena on the banks of the Yukon River. May 29, 2013.
As a whole, the state of Alaska rode a rollercoaster of wild weather in 2013. Devastating floods, record-breaking heat waves and massive storms were just a few of the extreme weather events to hit the state this year. Here's a look back at how Alaska's weather affected residents, farms, and even migratory birds in 2013.

Forever winter

2013 started off with a bang, with January bringing the coldest weather of the year to the state, the National Weather Service writes. The Interior community of Delta shivered through the lowest official temperature of the year, at 63 below zero on Jan. 28.

Related: Families from Galena still displaced by flooding, but holiday traditions go onWith sewer offline in flood-damaged Kotlik, residents welcome aid in form of honeybuckets

Anchorage saw its longest snow season since 1917, with the first snow recorded Sept. 28, 2012, and the last of the season on May 18, for a total of 232 days with snow in the 2012-2013 winter.

Winter hung on into Mid-May for much of the state, the effects of which reverberated through communities across Alaska.

Igloo

Winnipeg deep freeze as cold as Mars

Winnipeg Deep Freeze
© CBC News, Canada
Parts of Manitoba hit -53 C, colder than Mars.
In terms of astonishing weather facts, it doesn't get much more impressive than being as cold as a distant planet for a day. The Manitoba Museum is reporting Winnipeg's temperatures on Tuesday were actually as cold as the surface of Mars.

According to the Curiosity Rover, Mars reached a maximum temperature of -29 C on Tuesday, a temperature Winnipeg only reached shortly before 3 p.m. The deep freeze over much of Southern Manitoba prompted extreme wind chill warnings in the area and most of the north.

In Winnipeg, the daytime high temperature for Tuesday was only expected to reach - 31 C, but the windchill made it feel more like - 40 to - 50. That means exposed skin can freeze in less than five minutes.

On Monday, it got as warm as - 28 C.

In the northern half of the province, in places like Thompson, Nelson House, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids and Churchill, the wind chills on Tuesday made it feel like - 48 to - 53.

The entire province was under an extreme wind chill warning on Monday, but it was later lifted in the central portion of Manitoba as well as the southwest and southeast corners.

Ice Cube

In the icy grip of fear that global warming is claptrap

Image
© Unknown
Antarctica
If you are going to get yourself marooned, the Seychelles or some palm-fringed Pacific atoll would seem to be the shot. Caressed by balmy winds and encircled by golden sands, they are warm and pleasant places with bars, duty-free shops, clean sheets and room service.

Just the sort of spots, in other words, for an academic to hole up with his latest grant and contemplate the ravages of global warming.

But go to the Antarctic?

Let's just say that making the South Pole your destination implies a great disadvantage from the start.

Arrive in Kiribati, one of those islands frequently reported to be sinking beneath the waves, and local politicians will greet you at the airport with ready quotes about how it is all the fault of the industrialised West's carbon emissions.

Much easier to predict than global temperatures, the next sentence from their lips is sure to be a cup-rattling plea that large sums of UN-administered cash be transferred to the island's treasury without delay.

After those formalities the climate caper is a piece of cake.

Battery

Hawaii: Storm super cell - non-stop lightning (video)

Crazy Super Cell stalls over Hawaii December 30, 2013. Non-stop lightning!

Whistle

Global Warming researchers ice-bound; 96 percent of network stories censor why ship is there

Image
© AP
Antarctic ice trapped a ship full of scientists on a climate change expedition. Yet, 96 percent of network news reports about the stranded researchers ignored climate change entirely. The ship has been stuck since Christmas morning.

The broadcast networks mostly ignored the reason the Russian ship, Akademic Shokalskiy, was on its way to Antarctica. Twenty-five out of 26 stories (96 percent) on the network morning and evening news shows since Dec. 25 failed to mention climate change had anything to do with the expedition.

In fact, rather than point out the mission of the scientists to find evidence of climate change, the networks often referred to the stranded people as "passengers," "trackers" and even "tourists," with no mention of climate change or global warming. Chris Turney, the expedition's leader, is a professor of climate change at the University of South Wales. According to Turney's personal website, the purpose of the expedition is to "discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south."

Attention

Mount Etna erupts again sending smoke and lava into the air

Image
© AP/Carmelo Imbesi
Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily erupts again after exploding several times earlier this month

The crater spewed out smoke and dust as lava poured from the top of the most active volcano in Europe.

Snowflake Cold

The New Year ushers in another winter storm for New England and New York

Image
© Getty images
New York, NY
Residents in New England and parts of New York began preparing Wednesday for a winter storm that will help usher in 2014 with snow and frigid temperatures across much of the region.

Snow is expected to begin falling overnight in some areas, promising a messy commute for the first business day of the new year, but the full storm isn't expected to hit until later Thursday. As much as a foot of snow or more is forecast for some areas overnight Thursday into Friday, and temperatures are expected to plummet, with some areas seeing highs just above zero.

"There will be travel problems," said Hugh Johnson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Albany, N.Y., talking about Friday's commute. "It will be very cold. You don't want to be out in the stuff long unless you have the proper clothing."

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.6 - 37km W of Sola, Vanuatu

Sola Quake_010114
© USGS
Event Time
2014-01-01 16:03:30 UTC
2014-01-02 03:03:30 UTC+11:00 at epicenter

Location
13.873°S 167.202°E depth=196.2km (121.9mi)

Nearby Cities
37km (23mi) W of Sola, Vanuatu
183km (114mi) N of Luganville, Vanuatu
443km (275mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
779km (484mi) N of We, New Caledonia
918km (570mi) N of Paita, New Caledonia

Technical Details