Extreme Temperatures
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Best of the Web: Alaska's largest city declares 'snow emergency' after record snowfall - 65 inches in less than 24 hours at Thompson Pass

East of Anchorage, Richardson Highway over Thompson Pass (MP 19-63) was closed due to heavy snowfall and wind from the storm.
© Alaska Department of Transportation & Public FacilitiesEast of Anchorage, Richardson Highway over Thompson Pass (MP 19-63) was closed due to heavy snowfall and wind from the storm.
A winter storm dropped record snowfall amounts in Anchorage, Alaska, with some areas outside of Anchorage proper receiving more than 2 feet of snowfall in just two days.

The largest city in Alaska broke its daily snowfall record on Wednesday when 9 inches of snow fell in 24 hours. For context, the previous record for Nov. 8 was 7.3 inches set in 1982. Another 8.2 inches piled up on Thursday, which also broke the daily record of 7.1 inches set on Nov. 9, 1956. That brought Anchorage's two-day total to 17.2 inches of snow.

By late Thursday, Anchorage had a 21-inch snow depth, or the total amount of snow on the ground. This was Anchorage's greatest snow depth for so early in the season, according to Alaska-based climatologist Brian Brettschneider. Already, 26.6 inches of snow has fallen in Anchorage this season, which is 17.5 inches above the average snowfall to date for Nov. 9.


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Arctic granted a reprieve

"Now, climate scientists say the Arctic could be completely ice free in the summer by 2012."

- Center for Biological Diversity 2009
Arctic Meltdown
© Center for Biological DiversityThe Arctic Meltdown

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Heavy snow covers 60 pct of Mongolian territory

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Nearly 60 percent of the Mongolian territory has been covered after heavy snow hit the country, said the National Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday.

"Around 60 of the country's territory has so far been covered by snow. Our country is expected to experience a harsh winter," the agency said in a statement.

Over the last weekend, heavy snow and blizzards hit large parts of Mongolia, killing eight herders.

Mongolia's climate is strongly continental with long, frigid winters and short summers. A temperature of minus 25 degrees Celsius is normal during winter in the country.


Comment: Eight women herders killed in Mongolia due to snow storms


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Meter of early snow hits the Alps

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It is looking good in the Alps after the heavy snow of the past few days.

In places 1m of snow fell with the freezing level down to 1,500m in some areas.

There is now a lull in proceedings with more snow forecast for Thursday.

It is looking good at altitude and the snow on the upper slopes will help to form a base for the approaching season.

Many resort are now moving the snow and packing it down.


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Northeast China sees first major blizzard this season and forecasters warn of record snowfall

A snow removal vehicle cleans snow on a road in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, Nov. 6, 2023.
A snow removal vehicle cleans snow on a road in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, Nov. 6, 2023.
Heavy snow blanketed swaths of China's northeastern region, shutting schools and halting transportation in the first major snowstorm of the season.

Major highways in the northeastern city of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, were closed and flights canceled, China's state broadcaster CCTV said. Elementary and middle schools also canceled classes for Monday.

The National Meteorological Center said Monday that snowfall is likely to "breakthrough the historical records" for the same period. Heavy snowstorms are expected to continue in parts of Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, with snow depth reaching 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) in some places.


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Eight women herders killed in Mongolia due to snow storms

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Today (6 November), eight women herders have been killed in central Mongolia due to snow storms, the country's National Emergency Management Agency. Snow and blizzards have caused icy roads and poor road visibility during weekend.

Snow and blizzards swept the western provinces of Zavkhan and Uvs and central parts of the country including the national capital Ulaanbaatar, and provinces of Arkhangai, Uvurkhangai, Tuv and Bulgan, with wind speeds up to 20 meters per second.

The southern provinces of Dundgovi and Dornogovi, the eastern provinces of Khentii and Sukhbaatar, and the northern provinces of Khuvsgul and Darkhan-Uul also experienced strong winds and snow storms.

Volatile weather is expected to continue in the coming days across large parts of the country, the agency said, warning the public, especially nomadic herders and drivers, to take extra precautions against possible disasters.

The Asian country's climate is strongly continental with long, frigid winters and short, warm summers.

Question

Is the jet stream changing?

Researchers at Mainz University are investigating the jet stream to assess how its decadal variations could affect the occurrence of weather extremes in Europe.
Jet Stream
© Georgios FragkoulidisWind velocity and streamlines at an altitude of about 10 kilometers above the Earth's surface on the onset of a Western Europe heat wave (23 August 2016).
Heavy precipitation, wind storms, heat waves — when severe weather events such as these occur they are frequently attributed to a wavy jet stream. The jet stream is a powerful air current in the upper troposphere that balances the pressure gradient and Coriolis forces. It is still not known whether the jet stream is really undergoing changes at decadal timescales and, if so, to what extent.

"There are various theories as to what we can expect from the jet stream in future. However, these are all based on highly idealized assumptions," said Dr. Georgios Fragkoulidis of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). "Although it is quite clear that carbon dioxide emissions make a direct contribution to the global mean temperature, changes in the atmospheric circulation are highly uncertain due to the chaotic processes that govern its evolution."

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Snow cover in the U.S. Lower 48 is at record levels as November starts

Snow depth as of Wednesday. (NOAA NOHRSC)
© NOAA NOHRSCSnow depth as of Wednesday.
The season's first snows have frosted the Rocky Mountains, the northern Plains, the Great Lakes and northern New England over the past week, resulting in the most extensive early-November snow cover in at least two decades.

On Wednesday morning, snow was on the ground in 17.9 percent of the Lower 48, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Locations from eastern Minnesota to western New York saw snow on Halloween — even enough to shovel in Minneapolis; Milwaukee; Muskegon, Mich.; and Buffalo. Areas downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario were also blanketed early Wednesday, including Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, while several inches were anticipated along some of the west-facing slopes of the Appalachian Mountains.

This latest batch of wintry weather comes on the heels of two other storm systems that brought snow to the Mountain West, the northern Plains, the Midwest and northern New England over the past week.


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Row crop harvest grinds to a halt after rain, snow and cold hit northern US Plains

A winter storm on Oct. 26-27, 2023, halted the soybean harvest in areas of North Dakota.
© Ann BaileyA winter storm on Oct. 26-27, 2023, halted the soybean harvest in areas of North Dakota.
Snow and unseasonably cold temperatures put fall harvest on hold across North Dakota and northwest Minnesota in late October.

A winter storm that moved across the northern Plains on Oct. 26-27 dumped as much as 18 inches of snow in the Walsh County, North Dakota, town of Lankin, according to the National Weather Service office in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Other double digit amounts were 14 inches in Washburn and Harvey and 11 inches, in Minot and Williston.
Further east, Leeds reported 8 inches and Larimore and Grafton reported 8.5 inches.

Low temperatures plummeted into the teens in the snow-covered areas after the storm and daily highs remained below freezing for several days the next week.

Meanwhile, some areas of North Dakota and northwest Minnesota in which temperatures were too warm for snow to develop, received rain, delaying harvest of the row crops.


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South African residents wake up to snow-covered mountains, gardens in spring

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Residents in some parts of the Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal woke up to the breathtaking sight of snow covering nearby mountains and their gardens on Tuesday.

Barkley East, Elliot, and parts of Matatiele, south of the Drakensberg, have been turned into a winter wonderland.

Snow has capped the Sneeuberg, Winterberg and the Drakensberg mountains.

The SA Weather Service said other parts of the country that experienced snowfalls were the eastern parts of the Free State and mountainous parts of KwaZulu-Natal.