Extreme Temperatures
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Bizarro Earth

More coal burned on Earth in 2023 than ever before in human history

Jo Nova
joannenova.com.au
Mon, 18 Dec 2023 18:02 UTC
Coal Mine
© witf.org
The best kept secret in the world is that humans are using more coal than ever.

So much for the "stranded dead asset". In 2022 the world set a new all-time record for coal use — reaching 8.4 billion tons. In 2023, despite all the Net Zero billions in spending, despite the boom in windmills and solar panels, global demand for coal will top 8.54 billion tons.

The IEA is the "International Energy Agency" — supposedly, the impartial servant of 31 nations worth of taxpayers. Yet they decided to ignore the world record and instead tell us how coal is set to decline. It's what they think the taxpayers need to hear. Their press release:

IEA Image
© joannenova.com.au
It's almost as if the IEA works for the renewables industry and their banker investors? Mr Vestas himself could hardly have written a more successful headline to hide the truth and gaslight the taxpayers.
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Snowflake

Rare snowfall in southern China as deep freeze grips the north

Liz Lee and Ryan Woo
Reuters
Mon, 18 Dec 2023 13:20 UTC
mmmmm
FILE: A new round of cold air has arrived in the south, and it will snow again in the central and eastern parts of the country.
The cold weather sweeping China brought rare snowfall on Monday as far south as the province of Guangdong, while temperatures in the chilly north plunged to near historic lows for the month.

In a week of unexpectedly frigid weather, temperatures have fallen to lows below zero in northern areas, disrupting road, rail and air transport and even causing a brake failure in a commuter train in Beijing, the capital.

Forecasters early in November had predicted a warmer winter this year due to the El Nino phenomenon, while warning that temperatures could fluctuate after one of the warmest Octobers in decades.

On Monday in Guangdong, where snow is generally limited to the northernmost areas, snowfall blanketed the top of a mountain in a city just 80 km (50 miles) north of the provincial capital Guangzhou by the coast.

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Snowflake

New Mexico ski resorts buried by 2+ feet of snow in 48 hours

Ian Greenwood
Powder.com
Fri, 15 Dec 2023 15:32 UTC
mmmmm
The snow gods delivered.

Angel Fire Resort, New Mexico, has picked up 26 inches of snow in the past 48 hours.

The Resort recently shared an Instagram video depicting its hardworking ops team shoveling the fresh snow.

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Better Earth

Best of the Web: 'Unprecedented' ice mass gain over Antarctic sheet between 2021 & 2022, outpaced mass loss

Wei Wang
Research Gate
Thu, 09 Nov 2023 12:00 UTC
Antarctic ice gain

Comment: The information below is the abstract from a scientific paper published November 4th 2023 that has yet to receive much, if any, mainstream coverage - unsurprisingly - however the conclusion of their findings are stated fairly clearly.


Abstract and Figures

The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is susceptible to global climate change, and its mass loss has been 92 ± 18 Gt/yr between 1992 and 2020. Given the current intensive global warming, we investigate the AIS mass changes from January 2003 to December 2022, using the newly released satellite gravimetry and atmospheric datasets.

The results show that the continuous mass loss in the AIS between 2003 and 2020 was 141.8 ± 55.6 Gt/yr. However, the AIS showed a record-breaking mass gain of 129.7 ± 69.6 Gt/yr between 2021 and 2022. During this period, the mass gain over the East AIS and Antarctic Peninsula was unprecedented within the past two decades, and it outpaced the mass loss in the Amundsen sector of the West AIS from 2003 to 2022. Basin-scale analysis shows that the mass gain mainly occurred over Wilhelm II Land, Queen Mary Land, Wilkes Land, and the Antarctic Peninsula due to anomalously enhanced precipitation.

Comment: This seems to be further evidence showing that the apparent brief period of warming that our planet underwent in recent decades is fast being replaced with significant global cooling.

It also seems to support research showing that, whilst increased undersea volcanic and geothermal activity has led to a reduction of ice in some regions, it's being countered by the increasingly extreme cold temperatures from above: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Attention

NOT satire: 'Human breathing contributes to global warming' - British scientists


RT.com
Thu, 14 Dec 2023 16:36 UTC

Comment: "...therefore our solution is to..."


Methane and nitrous oxide found in human exhalations are worse for the environment than carbon dioxide, scientists say.
Breathing
© Getty Images / Peter Dazelly
Human breathing contributes to global warming, according to a study published Wednesday in PLoS One. The authors argued that human respiration's contribution to climate change has been underestimated and merits further study.

After measuring the gas composition in the exhaled breaths of 328 study participants, the researchers concluded human breath comprises 0.05% of the UK's methane emissions and 0.1% of its nitrous oxide. Both of those gasses "have a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide," the study notes.

"Exhaled human breath can contain small, elevated concentrations of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), both of which contribute to global warming," the researchers, led by atmospheric physicist Nicholas Cowan of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, wrote. "We would urge caution in the assumption that emissions from humans are negligible."

While Cowan explained that "CO2 contribution in human breath to climate change is essentially zero" because plants absorb nearly all the carbon dioxide humans breathe out, the other two gasses are left in the atmosphere. Methane traps 80 times the amount of heat as carbon dioxide during its first 20 years in the atmosphere, though this potency decreases over time.
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Snowflake Cold

Blizzards sweep across Russia bringing massive snow falls


Reuters
Fri, 15 Dec 2023 12:54 UTC
A man walks past cars covered with snow after
© REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovA man walks past cars covered with snow after heavy snowfall in Moscow, Russia December 15, 2023.
Blizzards swept across swathes of Russia on Friday, carpeting Moscow in one of the biggest snow falls in decades and sowing chaos on major roads where truck drivers battled with more than 20 centimetres of snow and strong winds.

A cyclone brought more than a day of constant blizzards to the Russian capital in what could be one of the strongest snow storms to hit Moscow in 60 years, according to meteorologists.

More than one fifth of the average snow fall for December was recorded over just 24 hours at metrological stations across Moscow where streets were blanketed in snow and motorists struggled to get their cars out of parking spaces.

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Snowflake

Watch: Saudi Arabia's Tabuk mountains blanketed in snow, 'pleasant to the soul and the eye'

Khitam Al Amir
Gulf News
Thu, 14 Dec 2023 13:29 UTC
Photographer Fahd Al Masoudi captured this stunning scene on Tuesday.
Photographer Fahd Al Masoudi captured this stunning scene on Tuesday.
In an unusual yet breathtaking transformation, the mountain peaks of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia have been adorned with snow.

Photographer Fahd Al Masoudi captured the stunning scenes on Tuesday, showcasing the snow-covered heights and valleys of the region in a spectacular display.


Comment: Related: Makkah streets flooded as heavy rains lash region of Saudi Arabia

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Ice Cube

Brand new electric buses paralyzed in Oslo


aussiedlerbote.de
Fri, 08 Dec 2023 23:36 UTC
Electric Bus
© solarisbus.comThe city of Oslo only bought 183 electric buses from Solaris in April 2023.
Oslo, Norway - Winter is here and with it the freezing cold. And now public transport is also paralyzed. Oslo's brand new fleet of electric buses is not designed for these temperatures - their batteries are failing miserably in the icy cold.

Too cold for the batteries - Brand new electric buses paralyzed in Oslo

The transport operator confirms that the electric buses are simply not reliable enough in winter: "The range of the electric buses decreases drastically in the cold. The batteries run out more quickly." In total, around 140 departures were affected.
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Snowflake Cold

Second cold wave envelops China's Beijing in snow, ice

Ryan Woo and Liz Lee
Reuters
Wed, 13 Dec 2023 19:10 UTC
mmmmmm
People play with snow amid snowfall in Beijing, China December 13, 2023.
Snow, blizzards and plunging temperatures swept northern China in what could be one of its most severe cold snaps in December, spurring authorities in the capital to halt train services, shut schools and tell people to stay home.

A mass of cold air drifted into Beijing from the west, the second cold wave this week. City officials have issued the second-highest alert for blizzards through Thursday, the only such warning yet in the country.

To avert chaos threatened by what was expected to be a "long-lasting" round of snowfall, the city of nearly 22 million shut all schools from Wednesday and moved classes online. Businesses were told to offer employees flexible working conditions and staggered commutes.

"We'll try not to travel," said a 36-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Liu, whose child's school had closed as snow fell for the second time since Monday.


Comment: Report from 2 days earlier: Schools, train service and roads closed as heavy snow blankets northern China

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Arrow Down

Heavy rain and melting snow cause flooding and landslides in Switzerland


swissinfo.ch
Wed, 13 Dec 2023 18:54 UTC
The road between Les Valettes and Champex, near Orsieres in canton Valais, subsided after heavy rain on Tuesday December 12, 2023.
© Etat Du Valais / KeystoneThe road between Les Valettes and Champex, near Orsieres in canton Valais, subsided after heavy rain on Tuesday December 12, 2023.
The Meteonews service reported on Tuesday that up to 100 litres of rain per square metre had accumulated in affected regions. The heavy precipitation on already humid soil and melting snow have raised the levels of many watercourses. Maximum levels are expected in many places on Thursday.

The situation is particularly critical in canton Valais, especially on roads, where many incidents have been reported across the southern region.

"The situation is dangerous all over," Frédéric Favre, the head of the Department of Security, Institutions and Sport, told reporters on Tuesday.

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