Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake Cold

Serbia declares state of emergency as severe snow storms strike central and eastern Europe

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Swathes of eastern Europe have been hit by high winds and snow. Here, a woman is seen through a frozen window as she walks away from the exit of a subway station in Bucharest, Romania
Serbia declared localised state of emergency zones yesterday as it deployed the army to rescue more than 1,000 people stranded by severe snow storms that have blitzed the centre and east of the continent.

Authorities said a number of roads throughout northern Serbia were blocked by snow drifts, with cars lining up in columns for several miles. Authorities warned motorist not to travel unless strictly necessary.

Over 1,000 people had to be rescued by the army and emergency services after becoming stuck on a road linking Serbia to Hungary for 15 hours.

With wind speeds gusting at over 100 miles an hour, forcing the government to impose truck traffic bans on vehicles travelling from Hungary or Romania.

A military helicopter rescued nearly two dozen people from their cars on a road about 30 miles northeast of the capital Belgrade and up to sixty people were stranded overnight in their vehicles elsewhere.

Binoculars

Rare Arctic bird turns up in Darwin, Australia

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© ABCRare Arctic bird, the Grey Phalarope, has been spotted in a Darwin sewerage pond years after it was last sighted in Australia
Bird watchers are furious at being blocked from a Darwin sewerage facility where a lost Arctic bird has been spotted, because a crocodile is lurking in the ponds.

The grey phalarope, with its dirty white feathers, has been floating around the Leanyer sewage facility for the last few days.

Local bird watchers do not know how it got to Darwin, as it usually breeds in the Arctic tundra and there have been no sightings of it in Australia for years.

Experts speculate it broke away from pack of the migrating birds and got lost.

Twitchers from around the country are flying into the Territory today to get a rare glimpse of the bird.

But the owner of the site, Power and Water, has ruffled feathers with news it is barricading the sewerage ponds because of heavy rain and the arrival of a crocodile.

Comment: For the last couple of months, across the northern hemisphere, extremely cold weather conditions have been driving many wintering Arctic and boreal bird species much further south than is usual. These include Snowy Owls recorded in Hawaii and Bermuda!! Additionally, many are turning up in unprecedented numbers. This all points to a probable return of the Ice Age. See also this selection: UK storms bring in rare Arctic gulls to Pembrokeshire

Storm blows Canadian bird 3,000 miles on to Tyrone lough, Northern Ireland

Bird watchers flock to Portland, UK after a rare Arctic Brunnich's Guillemot spotted

Ice Age Cometh: Snowy Owl invasion coming in North America?

Maine experiencing a Canadian owl invasion

Incredible Hawk Owl invasion in Estonia!

Huge Snowy Owl invasion becomes official in Canada and U.S.

Thousands of Hawk Owls descend on Finland as food in northern Russia runs out

Ice Age Cometh: Unprecedented influx of Arctic Ivory Gulls into UK


Binoculars

UK storms bring in rare Arctic gulls to Pembrokeshire

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© Richard StonierRARE FIND: A Kumlien’s gull, which comes from Arctic Canada, has been spotted in Pembrokeshire
The storms that have battered Pembrokeshire in recent weeks have brought with them a number of Arctic visitors.

One of the worst affected areas, Newgale, has been the focal point for local and visiting bird watchers.

Rare gulls, such as Glaucous and Iceland gulls, have been spotted on the beach and on the nearby flooded marshes.

Hundreds of Kittiwakes have also been seen. These small gulls normally stay further out to sea and only come inshore when storms hit.

At Newgale they have been feasting on wrecked shellfish.

The rarest visitor found so far is the Kumlien's gull, which comes from Arctic Canada. It can be found close to the Brandy Brook outflow.

To learn more visit www.birdsonline.co.uk

Snowflake Cold

Heavy snowfalls and blizzard hammer southern Romania

romania blizzard
© AP Photo/Vadim GhirdaPeople wait in a snowed in bus stop during a blizzard in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014. Weather forecasters issued a code red severe weather warning as a second wave of blizzards affects the southeastern regions of Romania disrupting road and rail traffic.
Up to half a meter of snow in 24 hours paralyzes 18 counties in Southern and Southeastern Romania. Tens of villages left without electricity.

Authorities have issued the first ever code red for massive snows and wind.

Around 5,000 troops in Romania are helping to clear snow after up to 50cm (20 inches) fell in some parts of the country in 24 hours.

Snowflake Cold

A pro trucker's guide to navigating the snow

This is how you drive 810,000 miles across 45 states and one Canadian province without ever getting in an accident. Here are his tips. Inertia is everything.

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© Getty images

In eight years as a truck driver, Alan Wrobel has driven 810,000 miles (accident-free) in 45 states and Ontario. He now covers Ohio, Michigan, Ontario, and Wisconsin for a beverage distributor. Here's his advice on how to handle yourself when the snow starts falling:

When you face a nasty winter storm, use your best judgment. Don't go out unless you have to, and always make sure you have an emergency kit, warm blankets, and rations in the car.

Now, here are some tips, basic and advanced, to help ensure you won't need to use that emergency kit.

Bizarro Earth

Current spike in atmospheric methane mirrors Ice Age climate change events

Ice cores are essential for climate research, because they represent the only archive which allows direct measurements of atmospheric composition and greenhouse gas concentrations in the past. Using novel isotopic studies, scientists from the European Project for Ice Coring In Antarctica (EPICA) were now able to identify the most important processes responsible for changes in natural methane concentrations over the transition from the last ice age into our warm period.

Ice Cores Study
©Gerald Traufetter
Dr. Hubertus Fischer cutting an ice core at Kohnen Station, Antarctica.

Comment: Update 30/01/2014

With all these 'winter wildfires' breaking out in the US, Norway and Tibet, we wonder if increased methane levels play a role.

More on methane:

Melting permafrost methane emissions: The other threat to climate change

Study says methane a new climate threat

Scientists Find Frozen Methane Gas Deposit


Ice Cube

Ice traps Chicago woman inside house for weeks

frozen chicago
© Scott Olson/Getty ImagesFrozen Chicago
A Chicago woman has been basically trapped inside her home for weeks because her door has been encased in a block of ice.

River Bully told CBS 2′s Ed Curran that a neighbor's leaking pipe is to blame.

Since 1950, Bully has lived in her Fuller Park home. For weeks now, she has been a prisoner, her back door surrounded by ice from a neighbor's leaking pipe.

She called 311, and a worker with the Chicago Water Department responded, but it didn't bring results.

Blue Planet

Doctor walks six miles in snow to perform life-saving brain surgery at Trinity Medical Center

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© Joe SongerIn this file photo from 2005, Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw performs back surgery at Baptist Montclair, now Trinity Medical Center.
Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw was at Brookwood Medical Center Tuesday morning when he was needed for emergency brain surgery at Trinity Medical Center.

The problem was the sudden snowstorm had locked down traffic, and the neurosurgeon didn't get farther than a few blocks.

"The cell service was bad so we were fading in and out," said Steve Davis, charge nurse in the neuro intensive care unit at Trinity. "At one point, I heard him say, 'I'm walking.'"

Davis had alerted authorities, and they were looking for him. There were supposed sightings, but no one could find him.

Cell Phone

Calls for help flood social media as freak snowstorm turns Atlanta into 'frozen hellscape'

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There was no morning commute Wednesday morning in Atlanta because Tuesday afternoon's commute was still stuck on the highways.

Snowflake Cold

Commuters sleep in grocery stores after abandoning cars on highway

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© Big Tigger/https://twitter.com/BigTiggerShow
Students camped out with teachers in school gyms or on buses and commuters abandoned cars along the highway to seek shelter in churches, fire stations - even grocery stores - after a rare snowstorm left thousands of unaccustomed Southerners frozen in their tracks.

Tuesday's storm deposited mere inches of snow, barely enough to qualify as a storm up North. And yet it was more than enough to paralyze Deep South cities such as Atlanta and Birmingham, and strand thousands of workers who tried to rush home early only to never make it home at all.