Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Northern hemisphere crop losses for Spring 2016: Cherry 80%, apricot 60%, wheat 6% and more

Frost damage
Frost damage
Northern hemisphere crop losses covering Europe, North American and Asia are staggering.

In several European countries - such as Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, France and Belgium - apples, pears, cherries and grapes were frozen. 80% of Cherries, 60% of Apricots, 6% of Wheat, 13% of Austrian wine production. North America sits in the 50% losses for fruit. Australian wheat is down.


Snowflake

Global warming? Snowfall in Siberia marks the official start of summer

Residents of Surgut, Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy and other cities woke on 1 June, the first day of summer, to find it looked more like Chirstmas.
© Vita GolovyukResidents of Surgut, Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy and other cities woke on 1 June, the first day of summer, to find it looked more like Chirstmas.
Freak weather as winter returns to Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous regions.

The Siberian stereotype says its always cold here, but this is a fallacy. Usually. Elsewhere, for example in Chita, the temperature is 24C, and in many regions there are growing risks for forest fires.

But as these pictures show, in some areas of western Siberia, the thermometers have plunged to around zero. Residents of Surgut, Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy and other cities woke on 1 June, the first day of summer, to find it looked more like Christmas.

In some areas there were even snow drifts. In Noyabrsk, the local administration restarted heating supplies to homes.



Summer snow Siberia
© Linda Simonyan

Snowflake

Rare 'snow' hits tropical Zimbabwe

Snow in Zimbabwe
© Mlandeli Ndlela
Reached a depth of 30 cm (12 inches)

The "Zimbabwe Snowfall" of last Friday was not a hoax, but real. Albeit it was technically not snow, but a form of sleet, frozen rain. There have been thunder storms and very low temperatures.

It is the first time this weather phenomenon has been experienced in tropical Zimbabwe. The depth of the ice was 30 cm and it all happened within a small radius of 5 km.

A real trail of destruction was left behind, vegetables and houses were damaged, trees were being stripped off of their leaves while many small animals like rabbits and snakes died.

The meteorological services department has described the "snow" that fell in lower Gwero last Friday as a rare sleet phenomenon that has taken place in the country for the first time in history."

Earlier news items were a bit skeptical, but it turned out it was not a hoax, it was really true.


Snowflake Cold

Waiting for summer: Extreme snowstorm freezes northern Russia

snowstorm in Pangody, Russia
© YouTube/Victor Chermak (screen capture)'Summer' in northern Russia.
Is summer going to start? Well, not currently in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a federal subject in northern Russia. An extreme snowstorm is currently sweeping everything on its path with wind gusts of up to 22 meters per second tearing away roofs, breaking trees as well as road signs.

This is what the summer looks like in Pangody, Russia:

-2 ยฐ C, constant wind blowing at 5 m/s from the north-northeast with gusts reaching 22 m / s, heavy snowfall... Just insane!

Comment: It isn't only northern Russia that is waiting for summer to arrive.


Snowflake Cold

Weather stations in Sydney, Australia record coldest May morning in 20 years

record cold in Sydney
© Daniel Leal-Olivas/PAA record cold May morning has left frost and dew across Sydney, following a likely record warm autumn for New South Wales.

Autumn figures are likely to be warmest on record, but Sydneysiders wake up to frosty morning


Several sites in Sydney have experienced their coldest May morning in 20 years, even as the city looks set to record its warmest autumn.

Less than two weeks after well above average temperatures were recorded across the eastern states, Sydneysiders awoke to record cold weather and frost on Monday.

Richmond airport had its coldest morning since 1987 at -2.1C, the coldest morning for May on record in 23 years of data. The previous was -1.4C in May 2011.

A low of 7.3C was recorded at the Sydney weather station on Observatory Hill just after 7am, making it the coldest May morning in five years. (7.3C was also recorded there in 2011.)

Penrith residents awoke to 2C, an unprecedented low for May in 22 years of data, while Horsley Park set a new 20-year record with 1C at 6.55am.

The Bureau of Meteorology's duty forecaster, Rob Taggart, said a cold front had passed over New South Wales, bringing with its drier air mass.

Snowflake

Heavy snow delays some summer road openings in Colorado

Snow on road
Several of Colorado's summer roads typically open for the Memorial Day weekend, but heavy snow is causing some delays this year.

Trail Ridge Road

Officials at Rocky Mountain National Park said crews have been working to clear Trail Ridge Road since late April.

Check out this photo of a snow plow driver working to clear Trail Ridge Road on May 4!

Trail Ridge Road
© Fritz PrehnTrail Ridge Road blocked by snow
The goal was to open the road Friday, but it will not open Friday due to snow, sleet and low temperatures Thursday night.


Sun

250 bats scorched to death in Dahod, India

Dead bats
At least 250 bats were scorched to death in Dahod district's Devgadh Baria town, forest officials said Saturday. The flying foxes dropped dead from two banyan trees along a lake and a temple of Lord Shiva - the only location where the mammals nest.

Forest officials have sought help from the fire department to create "artificial rain showers" to save the surviving bats from the bout of scorching summer. R B Jadav, Range Forest Officer of Devgadh Baria, said that the mammals have the capacity to bear temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius, beyond which they suffer severe dehydration.

Jadav told The Sunday Express, "This is the first time that such a large number of bats have died during the summer as the temperatures have risen beyond normal range. On Friday, with the help of the local civic body, we disposed of the carcasses by burying them with salt, as per the procedure."

Snowflake Cold

Unusual snowstorms and blizzards in China - three weeks before summer

Snowstorm blocked highway traffic in Northern Xinjiang
© YouTube/CCTV+ (screen capture)Snowstorm blocked highway traffic in Northern Xinjiang May 2016
China received unusual blizzards and snowstorms across four provinces over the last two weeks just weeks before summer. This occurred in the USA during the same time. Unusual is an understatement when a desert area gets a blizzard when it should be average temperatures of 30C/89F.


Comment: Snowfall records smashed across US as northern hemisphere struggles into 'summer'


Snowflake

Snowfall record hit on May long weekend in Fort St. John, Canada

Snow on Friday May 20, 2016 set a one day record for Fort St. John.
Snow on Friday May 20, 2016 set a one day record for Fort St. John.
The month of May has again lived up to its weather reputation in this region with record one day snowfall and precipitation amounts on Friday pushing monthly totals well past the norms.

The local airport weather station posted 19.4 centimetres of snow on Friday, and along with 1.2 millimetres of rain, that lifted the precipitation total to 20.6 millimetres.

The previous May 20th records were 18.8 millimetres of precipitation and only 1.6 centimetres of snow.

In addition when the Friday numbers were added to those posted Thursday, it resulted in two day snowfall and precipitation totals of 20.2 centimetres and 33.2 millimetres.

The latter was more than three and half times the amount of precipitation recorded at the airport station in the previous 18 days of this month, and it left the year-to-date total at 44.7 millimetres, nearly seven more than the May norm of 37.9.

Sun

India's roads melt as 'unprecedented' record-breaking heat wave continues

melting road in India
© NDTV/ YouTubeA man becomes stuck in melting tarmac as the heat wave in India continues

Temperatures hit a record-breaking 51C in the city of Phalodi, Rajasthan on Friday


India's on-going heat wave, which set a new record for the country's highest-ever recorded temperature last week, is melting tarmac on the roads of some of India's busiest cities.

Residents in the city of Valsad, Gujarat, had to fight melting tar while crossing the road as temperatures rose to 36C.

Video footage from NDTV shows people becoming trapped on a melting road surface as their shoes stick in the softening tarmac.