Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Early snowfall for Crystal Mountain, Washington

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It's only early September, but at least one Washington ski resort is already seeing some snow.

Crystal Mountain Resort welcomed several inches of fresh snow in the higher elevations late this week. It was bare at the base Saturday, but many visitors were quite surprised to see snow just below the 7,000 foot elevation level.

"It was a surprise. It was a little chilly," Sherri Luick said after stepping off of the resort's gondola. She's visiting the area from Minnesota.

"It's been cloudy ever since we got here. We were hoping to catch a shot of Rainier," said Tyler Paige, who moved to Seattle in early July.

"No such luck. No such luck," Paige Hall added.

A couple inches of snow fell on Friday, which added to the dusting that coated the higher elevations on Thursday, resort employees said.


Info

CT scan of Earth links deep mantle plumes with volcanic hotspots

University of California, Berkeley, seismologists have produced for the first time a sharp, three-dimensional scan of Earth's interior that conclusively connects plumes of hot rock rising through the mantle with surface hotspots that generate volcanic island chains like Hawaii, Samoa and Iceland.

Essentially a computed tomography, or CT scan, of Earth's interior, the picture emerged from a supercomputer simulation at the Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.


While medical CTs employ X-rays to probe the body, the scientists mapped mantle plumes by analyzing the paths of seismic waves bouncing around Earth's interior after 273 strong earthquakes that shook the globe over the past 20 years.

Previous attempts to image mantle plumes have detected pockets of hot rock rising in areas where plumes have been proposed, but it was unclear whether they were connected to volcanic hotspots at the surface or the roots of the plumes at the core mantle boundary 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) below the surface.

Snowflake

A week after heatwave, Bavaria receives snowfall

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© DPAZugspitze, Germany's highest mountain.
From 30C to snow in under a week? It's possible in Germany where seven centimetres of the white stuff fell at the top of the Bavarian Alps on Friday.

It might seem like summer was only last week in Germany - and that's because it was.

With blazing sunshine and temperatures topping 30C over the weekend, the onset of winter couldn't have been further from most Germans' minds.

But in the Bavarian Alps, autumn has been skipped out altogether.

At Zugspitze - Germany's highest peak, at 2,962m - seven centimetres of snow have already fallen, reports the Münchner Merkur.

Snowflake Cold

Coldest winter in nearly 50 years for Tasmania, Australia

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Snowfall in early August reached sea level for the first time in several decades.
The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed what many Tasmanians already suspected, it has been the coldest winter in nearly 50 years.

With winter coming to a close officially ahead of the first day of spring on Tuesday, the bureau's Debbie Tabor revealed it was the sixth coldest winter on record.

"It's been below average temperature and rainfall for Tasmania during this winter," she said.

"Preliminary analysis is all indicating that it's the sixth coolest on record, that's resulting in the coolest winter since 1966."

Heavy snow in August reached sea level for only the seventh time since 1986.

The dump in early August closed several schools and roads and stranded people in their cars.

Snow fell again in late August again closing roads and creating traffic chaos.

The snow was a welcome boost for the ski season at Mount Field and Ben Lomond but made it .

Sun

NOAA: World breaks new heat records in July

child cools off in fountain
A child cools off in a fountain next to the Manzanares river in Madrid on July 15, 2015
The world broke new heat records in July, marking the hottest month in history and the warmest first seven months of the year since modern record-keeping began in 1880, US authorities said Thursday.

The findings by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed a troubling trend, as the planet continues to warm due to the burning of fossil fuels, and scientists expect the scorching temperatures to get worse.

"The world is warming. It is continuing to warm. That is being shown time and time again in our data," said Jake Crouch, physical scientist at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.


"Now that we are fairly certain that 2015 will be the warmest year on record, it is time to start looking at what are the impacts of that? What does that mean for people on the ground?" he told reporters.

The month's average temperature across land and sea surfaces worldwide was 61.86 Fahrenheit (16.61 Celsius), marking the hottest July ever.

The previous record for July was set in 1998.

Comment: All over the world 'extreme' weather records are being broken! See also: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - July 2015: Extreme Weather and Planetary Upheaval


To understand what's going on, check out our book explaining how all these events are part of a natural climate shift, and why it's taking place now: Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.

Check out previous installments in this series - now translated into multiple languages - and more videos from SOTT Media here or here.

You can help us chronicle the Signs of the Times by sending video suggestions to sott@sott.net


Snowflake Cold

Summer snowfall in parts of Montana

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© William KennedyPicture of the mountains by Kiowa Camp Blackfeet Reservation
Get this... it's snowing in parts of Montana right now!

Jason Reid sent us a photo of the snow flying about six miles north of Babb, right along the Rocky Mountain Front.

The photo was taken at around 6:15 p.m. on Friday.

This is not unexpected, so let's not panic. We have been expecting some higher-elevation snow for several days now.

A cold front has moved through north-central Montana and strong northwest winds are carrying in much colder air.

Snow levels will fall to near 6,500 feet in the next few hours, with up to one inch of slushy accumulation in the mountains.

This includes Logan Pass, parts of the Going To The Sun Road, and Kings Hill Pass in central Montana.

I am NOT expecting snow in Great Falls or at lower elevations.

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© Jason ReidViewer photo of snow flying near Babb, MT on August 21, 2015

Snowflake Cold

August snowfall in western Alberta as frost advisories issued

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© skibanff.comThis is the image coming from Sunshine Village's Rock Isle Lake webcam at 12:58 p.m. MT on Friday.
It's not expected to stick around, but snow was falling at the outer edges of Calgary and many areas west, south and north of the city late in the day on Friday.

Environment Canada's Bill McMurtry says most of the snow was reported at higher elevations in the Rockies and Foothills.

"We are anticipating that snow will continue for the remainder of the afternoon and evening period," he told CBC News. "As the system moves off to the east towards Saskatchewan and Manitoba we'll see skies clear overnight and that will end the precipitation."

Webcams belonging to the Lake Louise Ski Resort and Sunshine Village show the snow already accumulating in higher elevations.


Bizarro Earth

Unusual weather phenomenon in Finland, as city area experiences highest and lowest temperatures on same day

unusual weather in Finland
© Tommi Parkkinen / Yle
The coldest and the warmest places in Finland on Friday were one in the same spot in the southeastern city of Lappeenranta.

Residents of the Konnunsuo area of Lappeenranta experienced an unusual weather phenomenon on Friday when they had both the coldest and the warmest temperatures recorded in the country.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute measuring station at Konnunsuo recorded a temperature of 3.1 degrees Celcius just before 6 AM, the lowest anywhere in the country.

By afternoon, the thermometer had climbed to 25.6 degrees, the highest official temperature of the day.

Cloud Lightning

Best of the Web: Signs of Change: Extreme weather and environmental upheaval in August 2015 (VIDEO)

hawkkey davis
© HawkkeyDavisChannel/YouTubeFloods and infernos: August has seen flooding and fires in areas all over the world.
Hawkkey Davis' latest video compilation of extreme weather events (and general environmental chaos) from the past month or so.

The Solomon Islands, Alaska's Aleutian Islands, the Bay Area, Indonesia, Queensland and Maryland are rocked by earthquakes; Reunion Island (the site of the alleged MH370 'wreckage' found earlier this month) and Mexico by volcanoes. The Queensland quake was the biggest in a century. Flash floods in Arizona, northwest China, Iran, Pakistan, Florida, India, Myanmar, Colorado, and Argentina. Wildfires in France, Spain, Montana and California. The Dead Sea tourism industry is threatened by unprecedented sinkholes. All this, plus storms, tornadoes, sand, fireballs, record-breaking heat and more!


Comment: See also: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - July 2015: Extreme Weather and Planetary Upheaval


Snowflake

August snowfall in Colorado: Denver sets record low temperature

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© Provided by Rocky Mountain National ParkSnow could be seen along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park on Wednesday morning, Aug. 19, 2015.
Autumn is in the air across Colorado on Wednesday as the high country received a light dusting of snow and Denver set a record low temperature.

A web cam at the Alpine Visitor Center at Rocky Mountain National Park showed the light snow dusting early Wednesday along Trail Ridge Road.

Eric Thaler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder, said it is likely the first measureable snow of the season in Colorado.

At Denver International Airport on Wednesday, the mercury dipped to 47 degrees, marking a record low for Aug. 19 in the Mile High City. The previous mark of 48 was set three times, in 2002, 1967 and 1960.

Denver weather forecasters call for a high of 72 degrees in Denver on Wednesday under mostly sunny skies.

"It's just going to be a nice, pleasant, Autumn-like day," Thaler said.