Extreme Temperatures
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Boat

NY passenger says "this was the worst moment of my life", Norwegian cruise ship sailed through thick of monster winter storm


CBS
Fri, 05 Jan 2018 11:10 UTC
Norwegian cruise ship
Thursday's winter storm was tough to take around the Tri-State Area, but imagine being in the thick of it on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

For 21 members of the Ross family, of Stony Brook, it was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime - cruising to the Bahamas for their patriarch's 80th birthday. Instead, they returned Friday after what they called a nightmare onboard the Norwegian Breakaway.

"I thought I'd never be in a situation where I would say that's the scariest moment of my life. This was the worst moment of my life," said Karoline Ross, speaking exclusively with CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff.

She and Del Ross spoke with CBS2 while they were en route to New York, after they said their 4,000 passenger cruise ship sailed right into the storm Tuesday night for two harrowing days in ocean swells up to 30 feet. The seasoned boaters called it traumatic.

Comment: See also: 'Bomb cyclone' leaves frozen wake of destruction and kills 22 in eastern US

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Snowflake Cold

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Snowing again in Sahara Desert - Tornado in SW France - Magnetosphere weakening (VIDEO)


Adapt 2030
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:54 UTC
Snow in the Sahara
© Watts up with ThatJanuary 2018: Snowfall over the Sahara Desert - second winter in a row!
The media is scrambling to explain the all time record cold that descended on the US and Canada over the holiday break through the beginning of the New Year. I heard repeatedly that N. America was the only cold place on the planet, well that's not entirely true, Asia shivered through record cold with crop losses as far south as Myanmar. The explanations never include grand solar minimum forces, weakening magnetosphere or 400 year repeating cycles. Now there are tornadoes in France in January, snow storms over the Sahara Desert again. CO2 in not to blame, its the Sun.

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Attention

Thousands of flying foxes killed by record-breaking heatwave near Sydney, Australia

Brooke Rolfe
Daily Mail
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 14:36 UTC
The head count of dead bats could reach their thousands as Sunday's heatwave took a deathly toll on a critical portion of Campbelltown's flying fox colony
The head count of dead bats could reach their thousands as Sunday's heatwave took a deathly toll on a critical portion of Campbelltown's flying fox colony
As record breaking heat swept across Western Sydney on Sunday, it took with it 'thousands' of bats who melted in the sweltering conditions.

A critical portion of Campbelltown's flying fox colony died from the heat, as surging temperatures left many dead on the ground and still suspended among the trees.

Heartbreaking photos of the death toll were shared online by volunteer groups Wires and Help Save the Wildlife and Bushlands, who tried desperately to save as many lives as they could.

As parts of the state became the hottest place on earth Sunday, rescuers from North Western Sydney Wires worked tirelessly alongside Sydney Wildlife volunteers.

But unfortunately for hundreds - potentially thousands - of bats, their help came a little too late.
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Ice Cube

The Ocean Has Frozen Over in Massachusetts


Sott.net
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 12:35 UTC
Old Silver Beach in North Falmouth frozen
While these images may look like the Arctic or Antarctica, they're actually much closer to home.

As a result of the recent 'explosive cyclogenesis' - a term used by meteorologists to describe dramatic or destructive unexpected weather events - the sea at Old Silver Beach in North Falmouth, Massachusetts has frozen over.

Persistent temperatures as low as -20F (-30C) caused the upper layers of water to freeze solid enough for locals to walk on it. The frozen mass extended about 1 mile out from the beach.
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Snowflake Cold

Heavy snowfall disrupts traffic, affects life across China


Daily Times (Pakistan)
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 11:07 UTC
snow China
The first snow of the new year, which began hitting China on Wednesday, has continued to affect life and traffic in the country.

As of Saturday afternoon, the snow had killed one person and affected more than 510,000 people in central China's Hubei Province, according to the provincial civil affairs bureau.

It said that the snow had forced relocation of 682 people, flattened 286 houses, damaged 826 houses and about 31,380 hectares of crops, causing a total economic losses of 723 million yuan (111.4 million US dollars).

In cities including Xiangyang and Suizhou, a record 30 cm of snow was seen on Friday night.

In Jiangsu Province, 13 sections of expressways remained closed due to wet and slippery conditions, the provincial transport department said.

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Snowflake Cold

Coldest start to January in Syracuse, New York State in 114 years

Glenn Coin
Syracuse.com
Sun, 07 Jan 2018 16:24 UTC
Syracuse snow
© Michael GreenlarA tractor driver clears the sidewalk along S. Salina St. in downtown Syracuse. A blanket snow storm covers Central New York Friday morning, January 5, 2017.
If you like your winters cold and snowy, this month has been perfect.

The first week of January has been the coldest such period in Syracuse since 1904. It's also the fourth-snowiest start to the new year on record.

The average temperature for the first seven days of 2018, including today's morning low and forecast high, is 7.3 degrees. That's just 0.1 degrees warmer than the same period in 1904, which remains the coldest kickoff to January since records began in 1902.

(If today's high falls just 2 degrees shy of the forecast of 18, this week would end up even colder than 1904.)

Along the way, Syracuse set a new record low for New Year's Day of minus 15, and tied today's record low of minus 11.

The normal average temperature for the first week of January is 24.3 degrees.

This month has also been an overachiever in snowfall. By midnight Saturday, 23.4 inches of snow had fallen, making this the fourth-snowiest first week of January on record. The record is 1994, with 32.2 inches.

Comment: According to syracuse.com, for 66 straight hours, the National Weather Service's hourly logs showed snow at Hancock International Airport. Sometimes it was light snow, sometimes heavy snow, sometimes blowing snow, but always snow. All told, 19.3 inches of snow fell in three days. That's a little over half of a typical month of January. See also:

'Bomb cyclone' leaves frozen wake of destruction and kills 22 in eastern US

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Igloo

Snowfall over the Sahara Desert - second winter in a row!

Anthony Watts
Watts Up with That
Sun, 07 Jan 2018 18:58 UTC
Snow in the Sahara
© Watts up with ThatJanuary 2018: Snowfall over the Sahara Desert - second winter in a row!
As much of the northern hemisphere endures record cold temperatures, we get this report from Severe Weather EU via Twitter:
Spectacular scenes today in Algeria as snow covered the sand dunes in Ain El Safra! Snow visible also in imagery by NASA's Terra satellite.
After a 40 year absence, this is the second winter in a row for this occurrence. In late 2016 it was reported by the Telegraph as being not seen in 40 years:
Incredible photos capture freak snowfall in the Sahara Desert, believed to be first time it has fallen on the unforgiving red dunes in almost 40 years.
Now, it's happened again. Have a look.
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Snowflake Cold

'Bomb cyclone' hits US East Coast: 65k homes without power and rising gas prices


Arabnews
Thu, 04 Jan 2018 19:31 UTC
“bomb cyclone” New England guy snow blowing
© AFPThe “bomb cyclone” was expected to dump heavy snows in New England as the storm system moved up the US east coast.
An intense winter storm froze pipes and disrupted services at refineries on the US Atlantic coast on Thursday, sending fuel prices higher as heavy snowfall and high winds caused electricity outages for tens of thousands of Americans.

Some 65,000 homes and businesses along the US East Coast are without power, and that number is expected to swell on Thursday as the storm punishes the densely populated US Northeast.

The storm is the product of a rapid and rare sharp drop in barometric pressure known as bombogenesis, or bomb cyclone. Heavy snow pounded the East Coast along a front stretching from Maine as far south as North Carolina early on Thursday, taking out power lines, icing over roadways and closing hundreds of schools.
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Snowflake Cold

Intense cold kills 70 people across Uttar Pradesh, India


Firstpost
Sat, 06 Jan 2018 17:54 UTC
A woman wraps a child in a shawl while waiting for a train at a railway station on a foggy winter morning on the outskirts of Agartala, yesterday.
A woman wraps a child in a shawl while waiting for a train at a railway station on a foggy winter morning on the outskirts of Agartala, yesterday.
Extreme cold wave conditions prevailed in most parts of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. Lack of night shelters and amenities have already led to the death of over 70 homeless and poor people.

Phone calls to senior officials, including Director Information Anuj Jha have remained unanswered.

Twenty-two deaths have been reported from Poorvanchal; three each in Brij and Bareilly divisions; 11 in Allahabad division and 28 in Bundelkhand region.

Two persons - Ram Kishore Rawat, 40, and Mahesh, 35, have died in Barabanki district due to the severe cold. One person died in Harchandpur in Faizabad, an infant in Ambedkarnagar, one in Rae Bareli's Makhdoompur and one in Unchahaar.

A government official said that adequate arrangements have been made for bonfires and night shelters, though the ground realities were in stark contrast to these claims.
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Snowflake

Boston storm tops blizzard of 1978 for high tide


Boston Herald
Fri, 05 Jan 2018 17:15 UTC
boston storm
© Nancy LaneBilly Carey and Justin Plaza, at right, from Boston Fire Rescue swift water team haul their boat after saving a man from his flooded car on Commercial Wharf during the storm on Thursday,January 4, 2018.
Surging floodwaters in Boston that were spurred by yesterday's powerful winter storm can now be associated with a record high tide, according to the National Weather Service.

Boston recorded a high tide of 15.16 feet (4.88 feet above the astronomical tide), breaking the previous record of 15.1 feet that was recorded during the Blizzard of 1978.

Yesterday's high tide was the result of a chance encounter between a low-pressure system and the moon cycle timed just right, said Hayden Frank, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton.

"We had a very high astronomical tide, which was 12.1 feet," Frank said. "That's controlled by the moon cycle. That's something you can calculate years in advance.

Comment: Bostonians are calling for a sea wall to be built at the harbor to protect (incorrectly) against the ravages of global warming:
The city's Climate Ready Boston report raised the possibility of building a sea wall, and City Councilor Lydia Edwards - whose district includes waterfront-heavy Charlestown, East Boston and the North End - said it's not a far-fetched idea.

"Nothing is off the table in terms of what we need to look at," Edwards said, adding that a sea wall would be a "short-term" response compared to long-term efforts to reduce greenhouse gas consumption and slow global warming.

"I don't think we needed this (the storm) to say we need to look at this seriously; this is a continued reminder that we cannot kick the can - this is directly impacting us right now," said Edwards.

She is also supporting more sustainable development on the waterfront.

But constructing a sea wall is a costly and complicated prospect - with one estimate putting the bill at $10 billion.

Such a barrier would run from the tip of Logan International Airport to South Boston. A more ambitious wall being eyed would encompass the Harbor Islands or stretch as far out as the coast of Hull.
This record high tide is being attributed by some to the recent supermoon:
Benjamin Sipprell, a meteorologist in Boston for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, told the Daily Beast that the flooding was a result of the blizzard hitting at high tide, and the high tide being higher than usual due to Wednesday's supermoon.

A supermoon is a full moon that occurs when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit. This happens about four to six times a year.

The tides are caused by the moon's orbit, and are at their highest during full moons. Supermoons bring them even higher.

'Normal tides in Boston are between 9 and 10 feet,' Sipprell explained. 'When we get tides, we get some that go up to 12 feet or more. We were forecasting 12.1 feet with this one, but with the surge, it got bumped up to 15 feet.

'It's definitely historic.'


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