Extreme Temperatures
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8 days ago, dutchsinse put out a video showing that the North Pole Ice pack was growing rather rapidly.
After doing some mileage computations on the spread of the ice, dutchsinse made the statement that the North Pole would be covered in a couple weeks (or less).
Thanks to Marcus Adrian for this video
Severe thunderstorms struck the South West and Great Southern regions on Wednesday evening.
Wineries in Frankland and Pemberton were hardest hit, with reports of hail completely stripping vines of new season growth.
Ferngrove Wine Group was one of the wineries that fell victim to the hail. Ferngrove senior winemaker Kim Horton said that the storm completely damaged some vines, but some were left unscathed.
Snow felt not only in some mountain areas in the north of the country (Samarina, Kastoria) but also in Mount Parnassus in Central Greece.
The main roads in the country are closed, trains are stopped, and thousands of subscribers are without electricity .
Heavy snow did not stop for ten hours, along with hurricane winds and freezing temperatures.
40 people, including 20 children, were stranded for four hours at the train station after trains stopped moving in the region.
Millions of people will be reaching for shorts and short-sleeve shirts for a few days as the warmth builds.
High pressure over the South is forecast to continue to pump warm air in from Mexico and provide abundant sunshine to Texas and the Plains this weekend. Some major cities will challenge record highs as a result, including Dallas, Denver, Oklahoma City and Kansas City, Missouri.
According to AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Paul Walker, "Temperatures across the Plains will feel more typical of Labor Day than late October."
New record-high temperatures were achieved on Friday over Texas, Colorado and Wyoming. Denver and surrounding areas broke their record high temperatures on Friday. Denver reached 82 F breaking its old record of 80 set in 2011.
Greybull, Wyoming, reached a high of 77 F breaking the old record of 72 degrees back in 1998. Riverton, Wyoming, reached a high of 74 degrees breaking its record of 68 degrees back in 1995. Delhart, Texas, reached 87 degrees on Friday breaking its old record of 85 degrees set in 2012.
Temperatures will run between 10-15 degrees F above average as far north as North Dakota through the weekend.
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"Of course the MSM in the Netherlands do not bring this news," says reader. "Snow in Austria and in Sweden? We don't hear it on the television news, we don't read it in the big newspapers. Snow in Russia? It is not mentioned. The private plane of the CEO of the French oil company Total crashed on Vnukovo Airport after a collision with a snow blower. Nobody says: Hey, how come we are not being told that there was snow? Why else would a snowblower be on the runway?"
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The Tauern tunnel and A10 motorway had to be closed on Thursday morning in the direction of Salzburg because of a fallen tree.
Fallen trees also caused power outages in the Tyrolean regions of Brandenberg, Hochfilzen, Zillertall in Zell and Gerlostal.
The Arlberg railway line had to be closed between Wald am Arlberg and Dalaas. Travellers were warned of delays and cancellations on the train service between Tyrol and Vorarlberg until noon. A rail replacement bus service has been set up.
Experts are also warning of an increased danger of avalanches in Tyrol.
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Compare snow mapping for October 2013 and October 2014
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NSIDC Snow Cover showing Siberian Snow Extent 2004-2014
Quoting WxRisk, "not only is the SAI way ahead of schedule and at a near record pace BUT the SCE - snow cover extent - is also going Gang busters.."
Thanks to Caroline Snyder in West Virginia for these links
"And we know that Siberian Ice Extent influences the severity of North American winters," says Caroline.