Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake Cold

Cold snap hits northern China, with some areas experiencing lowest October temperatures on record

Snow in China
Snow in China
A cold wave is sweeping through northern China, with the lowest temperatures in some places plunging to historical lows on Monday, according to China's meteorological administration.

On Monday morning, 31 weather stations across the middle regions of Inner Mongolia and Liaoning province, northwestern Hebei province and northeastern Shanxi province recorded their daily lowest temperatures for October since records began in 1951, with some reporting temperatures of less than minus 16 degrees Celsius, according to a report by the National Meteorological Centre.

The centre forecast the cold snap would continue across the country in early November. Over the next two days, temperatures in eastern China could decline by four to six degrees, while in areas such as southeastern Heibei, temperatures could drop more than eight degrees, the report said.

Snow in China

Snowflake

Record snowfall freezes northeastern British Columbia grain harvest

Snow on crops
© Dave Gilson/CBCRick Kantz of the B.C. Grain Producers Association says snow has forced farmers across the Peace region in northeastern B.C to leave anywhere between 10 to 20 per cent of their crop in the fields.
A record snowfall is forcing grain farmers in northeastern B.C. to halt their harvest.

On Oct. 1, Fort St. John received 23 centimetres of snow, The old record for the day was six centimetres set in 1954.

"This is probably the most severe one-off weather condition that I can remember in the last 40 years," said Rick Kantz, president of the B.C. Grain Producers Association.

Kantz said harvest had already been difficult this year.


"[The fields] were extremely wet before the snows came ... so instead of travelling across the surface, you're sinking in."

He said it's been raining and snowing since then, and the weather has forced grain farmers to leave anywhere between 10 to 20 per cent of their crops in the field.

"You're down 20 per cent of your income ... you might have enough to cover expenses but it doesn't leave much for wages to carry on," he explained.

Igloo

Why ice ages occur every 100,000 years

From CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

Why does our planet experience an ice age every 100,000 years?

Deep storage of carbon dioxide in the oceans may have triggered this unexplained phenomena, new research shows.
Ice Ages
© Lisieki and RaymoLR04 δ18O from Lisieki and Raymo (2005) correlated to the temperature anomaly inferred from the deuterium concentration in ice cores from EPICA Dome C, Antarctica (Jouzel et al., 2007). The main orbital (purple), tectonic (brown) and oceanic (blue) events are indicated (see the text for the references of each event). The orange box represents the start of the onset of the Northern Hemisphere glaciations. 100 kyrs and 40 kyrs correspond to the orbitally-driven glacial/interglacial cycles period. This period changed from 41 kyrs to 100 kyrs during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition toward 1 Ma (MPT). click to enlarge
Experts from Cardiff University have offered up an explanation as to why our planet began to move in and out of ice ages every 100,000 years.

This mysterious phenomena, dubbed the '100,000 year problem', has been occurring for the past million years or so and leads to vast ice sheets covering North America, Europe and Asia. Up until now, scientists have been unable to explain why this happens.

Our planet's ice ages used to occur at intervals of every 40,000 years, which made sense to scientists as the Earth's seasons vary in a predictable way, with colder summers occurring at these intervals.

However there was a point, about a million years ago, called the 'Mid-Pleistocene Transition', in which the ice age intervals changed from every 40,000 years to every 100,000 years.

New research published today in the journal Geology has suggested the oceans may be responsible for this change, specifically in the way that they suck carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere.

Snowflake Cold

Snow still falling in Australia & New Zealand - weeks before Summer

Australia snow
© Ski.com.auSnow falls at Mt Buller this morning as the freezing conditions continue well into spring.
With snow still falling across Southern Australia and New Zealand and reported well below temperatures for the months of June-October it is difficult to believe that temperatures came in 4th warmest year ever. Remember that meteorological bureaus said get ready for no snow and warmest year ever. The opposite happened.


Snowflake

Record snow covers Montana and Idaho

Snow storm over Big Hole Peak
Snow storm over Big Hole Peak, Montana on 10/16/16
Record snow Montana & Western U.S peaks blanketed above 5500ft | Mini Ice Age 2015-2035

As the ultra-Low Pacific storm on the 15th dragged onshore, record snow covered Montana and Idaho, taking aim at B.C and Alberta next.

The US Weather Service did not issue blizzard or snow warnings for all peaks above 5500ft.

This is a look at the snow totals after the storm passed.


Igloo

Moose freezing to death due to global warming!

Male Moose
© Wikimedia CommonsMale moose, Superior National Forest, Minnesota, USA.
Tragic news about moose today — the climate used to be the same for 65 million years, so moose are unprepared to deal with the sudden extra degree on the modern Earth-Perfect-Thermostat.
Jackson, Wyo. - Global warming might cause moose to freeze to death in Yellowstone National Park.
Don't cry. Moose are declining:
The reason for the decline is complicated. Wolves have taken moose, and grizzly bears have been expanding their presence.

But climate could be the biggest challenge. Part of the problem is ticks. A moose with too many of the parasites during the winter can lose its hair and freeze to death.
We all know, before Columbus there was one perfect quota of moose, bear, wolf. The numbers didn't vary from the sacred Gaia Triangle Ratio (whatever it was). There were no cycles. Moose never declined. Then man came, used air conditioners in Florida, caused tick outbreaks in Saskatoon, and da fur fell off doz' mooses. Cold moose!
In general, moose are simply better adapted to colder temperatures. When it's too warm, they spend more time in the shade trying to cool down and less time feeding, Courtemanch said.
You might have thought fur-free moose might like warmer weather. They just can't win eh?
"The warmer winters and warmer summers are incredibly stressful to them," she said. "They're so heat-stressed all the time. It cascades into poor body condition for females, and that impacts their ability to have a calf. They are so stressed they can't put on enough weight every year."
Sounds like da stressed mooses need psychotherapy. If we stopped trying to buy nice weather with solar and wind we could afford a psychotherapist for every mother moose. Stop a windfarm, save a moose!

Snowflake

'It's disheartening': Quantity, quality of crops in question as early snowfall blankets farms in Alberta, Canada

A second early snowfall has nearly destroyed any hope of bringing in a bountiful harvest for farmers across Alberta.
A second early snowfall has nearly destroyed any hope of bringing in a bountiful harvest for farmers across Alberta.
Farmers who had been hoping for warmer weather got a huge disappointment last Friday as 10 cm of snow covered the area in and around the Capital Region.

Deryk Sanford is a third-generation farmer in Lavoy, Alta. who calls the snow "a significant blow."

"When the snow hits and you take it down [to the ground] like this, you can imagine how much melting you have to do in order to get rid of that type of snow," he said.

"If we were to get a good week of no precipitation, sunshine, warm weather, we have the opportunity to get out there and take the rest of the harvest. But it's not looking good right now. We're going to need to have at least two, maybe three weeks of dry weather."

Sanford said the snow is making an already difficult year - due to rain and hail - even more difficult.
Canola crops at Jacqueline Laniuk’s farm in Vegreville have been flattened by the snow.
© Julia Wong/Global NewsCanola crops at Jacqueline Laniuk’s farm in Vegreville have been flattened by the snow.

Snowflake

Juneau in Alaska beats Fairbanks to first snowfall for first time in 70+ years

Snow covers Mount Juneau, Sunday, Oct. 16
© Tripp Crouse/KTOOSnow covers Mount Juneau, Sunday, Oct. 16
National Weather Service meteorologist Edward Liske said this season is the first-time Juneau has seen measurable snowfall before Fairbanks since about 1940.

The National Weather Service reported Sunday that Juneau is one of the first communities in the state to see measurable snowfall this year.

"Fairbanks has not seen any snow yet so far this season, neither has Anchorage. Nome has had zero. Kotzebue has had zero," Liske said. "The only place that really has had measurable snow this season has been Barrow with a tenth of an inch so far."
The incredible October continues! Juneau has not seen measurable snow before Fairbanks since 1940! #akwx pic.twitter.com/Ap5nosquur

— NWS Juneau (@NWSJuneau) October 16, 2016

Arrow Up

Charity calls on DiCaprio to step down from UN climate change role

DiCaprio
© Olivier Marteau on Twitter
A rainforest charity calls on the star to either denounce his connection to individuals involved in a Malaysian corruption scandal and return laundered money he allegedly received or give up his role.

In perhaps the biggest attack on Leonardo DiCaprio's environmental credibility, a rainforest charity on Friday called on the actor to give up his title as UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change.

At a press conference in London, the Bruno Manser Funds offered DiCaprio an ultimatum: either he renounce his connections to the "politically exposed persons" at the center of the multi-billion dollar 1MDB Malaysian corruption scandal now being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department and return corrupt money he allegedly received or resign from the position he was given by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon in 2014.

"If DiCaprio is unwilling to come clean, we ask him to step down as UN Messenger for Peace for climate change, because he simply lacks the credibility for such an important role," said Lukas Straumann, director of the Switzerland-based charity, which has a particular focus on deforestation in Malaysia.

DiCaprio is alleged to have received millions of dollars diverted from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund for his role as star and producer of The Wolf of Wall Street, alleged by the DOJ to have been funded by stolen Malaysian money and produced by Red Granite, co-founded by Riza Aziz, the stepson of the Malaysian prime minister and a major figure in a DOJ filing. He is also alleged to have received laundered 1MDB money for his charity, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, from his former close associate Jho Low, the controversial Malaysian businessman at the heart of the scandal.

Snowflake

Record-breaking snowfall in Saskatchewan triples last year's record

Snowfall in Saskatchewan
A snowfall warning has ended in Saskatoon but remains in place in other parts of Saskatchewan as crews continue to cleanup from a record Oct. 5 snowfall.

According to Environment Canada, 30 centimetres of snow had fallen in Saskatoon as of Thursday afternoon.

At least 17 centimetres fell on Wednesday, unofficially breaking a century old record for that day, when 5.6 centimetres was recorded on Oct. 5, 2016.

Environment Canada stopped measuring snowfall in Saskatoon in 2007, meaning the record cannot officially be broken.

The major low pressure system that brought an early snowfall to many parts of the province is now weakening, with another two to four centimetres expected to fall before tapering off to a few flurries Thursday evening.