Extreme Temperatures

Fairbanks, Alaska hammered by heavy snows and power outages

Chris Klint, Megan Edge
Alaska Dispatch News
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC

A disaster declaration was being discussed Wednesday evening by the Fairbanks North Star Borough after snowfall caused thousands of power outages and paralyzed much of the area, borough spokesperson Lanien Livingston said. According to Livingston, a final decision on the declaration won't be made until Thursday or Friday.

At about 6:10 p.m. Wednesday, Golden Valley Electric Association reported 7,000 customers didn't have power. A few hours later, the company said it "continued to make headway," although there were still "a lot" of trees down on power lines. GVEA had reported on Wednesday morning that more than 20,000 people had lost power at some point overnight Tuesday as heavy snow fell. "Due to the outages being so widespread, it is impossible to list all the streets or neighborhoods that crews are working (on)," GVEA wrote on Facebook.

In a special weather statement, the National Weather Service said Fairbanks set a new daily snowfall record of 11.2 inches on Tuesday. The previous record had been set in 1972 at 7 inches. NWS said North Pole accumulated 10 inches of snow, Mile 3 of Chena Hot Springs Road reported 15 inches, South Fox reported 15.5 inches and the University of Alaska Fairbanks accumulated 13 inches. Snow was expected to fall in Fairbanks on Wednesday night and continue through the weekend. There were no winter storm warnings in effect late Wednesday evening in any part of the Interior.

GCI reported to the borough that "many cell towers" were down because of the power outage, according to borough spokesperson Amber Courtney. "So that means people can't call 911 from their cellphones; they'll need to find landlines," Courtney said.

Comment: Keep informed on these increasingly chaotic, global events by viewing the monthly SOTT Earth Changes Summary.

Heavy snowfall thwarts only expedition to top of Mount Everest in 2015

Brian Lada
accuweather.com
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:54 UTC

© AP/Tashi Sherpa
In this Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, photo, Mount Everest, third peak from left, is seen standing behind, from left, Mt. Changtse, Mt. Lho La and Mt. Nuptse, as seen from Kalapatthar near Everest Base Camp, Nepal. Earlier last month Nepal announced the opening of Mount Everest to climbers for the first time since an earthquake-triggered avalanche in April killed 19 mountaineers and ended the popular spring climbing season.

This year's only expedition to the top of Mount Everest fell short of reaching the mountain's peak due to heavy snow, meaning that no one will step foot on top of the world's tallest mountain this year.

Heavy snow has fallen around Mount Everest in Nepal's Himalaya Mountains over the past weeks and has made some parts of the climb too difficult to navigate, forcing many people to abandon their attempts at climbing Everest.

More than 2 feet of snow fell at Everest's base camp around the middle of September, causing the conditions along the climbing routes to deteriorate and Sherpas to work on clearing the routes before climbers could trek up the mountain.

Nobukazu Kuriki was the only person who was attempting to climb to the top of the 29,029-foot (8,848-m) peak this fall following the feet of snow, but he was forced to turn around last weekend due to the abundance of snow.

Spain registers first snowfall of season high in the Sierra Nevada

thelocal.es
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 19:26 UTC

Sierra Nevada

Just a few days before the start of October, the first snowflakes have fallen in Spain, on Europe's most southerly ski resort.

Summer is well and truly over in Spain, and winter sports fans are getting excited as the first snowflakes fall in one of the country's best ski resorts.

Spanish ski resorts: Eight of the best

The Sierra Nevada ski station in Granada, southern Spain, recorded its first snowfall on Monday and posted a series of videos and photographs, welcoming the wintery weather.

Breve vídeo grabado esta mañana en el corazón de #SierraNevada mientras nevaba #Monodenieve #Winteriscoming pic.twitter.com/Z8TloVbaZa

— Sierra Nevada (@websierranevada) September 28, 2015

The highest points of the ski resort - the most southerly in Europe and Spain's highest with peaks of 3,300m - were sprinkled with a fresh snowfall on Monday (see video above).

Record breaking September snowstorm hits Northern Alaska

Jon Erdman
Weather Channel
Sat, 26 Sep 2015 07:07 UTC

© University of Alaska/Twitter
The first measurable snow of the season blanketed the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus on Sep. 25, 2015.

Fall's arrival may have been greeted with a collective warm shrug of the shoulders in the Lower 48 states, but Alaskans have already broken out winter coats.

Officially, 6.7 inches of snow blanketed the city of Fairbanks Friday, turning the city into a winter wonderland just days into fall. Not only was this the city's first measurable snow of the season, but this was the city's third heaviest calendar-day September snow on record, topped only by Sep. 13, 1992 (7.8 inches) and Sep. 29, 1972 (7 inches). This was the city's heaviest September snow event since a four-day, 17.3-inch snow blitz from Sep. 11-14, 1992.

Fairbanks only averages 1.9 inches of snow during the month of September. Two observers in College Hills north of downtown Fairbanks measured 9 inches of snow as of Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

The Alaska DOT reported about 10 inches of snow in the hills near Nenana west-southwest of Fairbanks along the Parks Highway, the primary link between Fairbanks, Denali National Park and Anchorage.

Comment: Winter is coming!

Winter snowfall makes early visit to Salzburg, Austria

thelocal.at
Thu, 24 Sep 2015 14:36 UTC

After a summer of record high temperatures winter has already arrived in some parts of Austria - with the Grossglockner alpine road in the state of Salzburg closed on Thursday for safety reasons after snowfall.

"We've had 50 centimetres of snow. Between the Fuscher Törl and the Hochtor, there are snow drifts of up to two meters," deputy police superintendent Peter Embacher said. "We have three snowploughs and two snow blowers on the go. We hope that today we can clear all the snow and reopen the road by Friday," he added.

The spa town of Bad Gastein also saw snow, and the road to Sportgastein had to be closed on Wednesday, after 40 centimetres of fresh snow. On Thursday morning drivers were told to use snow chains on the B99 road.

A step closer to the end? Syria war prompts pull from doomsday seed vault

Sputnik News
Tue, 22 Sep 2015 00:45 UTC

© Associated Press Photo/John McConnico
Snow blows off the Svalbard Global Seed Vault before being inaugurated at sunrise.

A seed storage vault built into the side of an Arctic mountain to protect global food supplies in case of global cataclysm is being tapped by researchers in the Middle East who say the Syrian war has devastated their crops.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, built in 2008 by the Norwegian government as the world's largest secure seed storage, is intended to protect thousands of varieties of essential food crops against things like nuclear disaster, disease and climate change.

Now, the devastation brought on by the war in Syria, which has raged on for four years and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, has prompted researchers to request some of the samples they gave to the vault, as their collection of crops in Aleppo was destroyed in the fighting.

Among the samples requested by the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) crops resistant to drought that could help scientists develop and secure food supplies in the face of climate change in dry areas worldwide.

Protecting the world's biodiversity in this manner is precisely the purpose of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault," said Brian Lainoff, spokesman for the Crop Trust, which runs the underground store, located on a Norwegian island 1,300 km (800 miles) from the North Pole.

Blizzard-like conditions strike Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand

The New Zealand Herald
Sun, 20 Sep 2015 15:06 UTC

Mt Ruapehu , Whakapapa ski area.

A dose of severe spring weather has snowed in skiers on Mt Ruapehu.

The blizzard-conditions have dumped more than 20 centimetres of snow on the mountain side but has confined a number of skiers to their digs high on the Whakapapa ski fields.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts commercial executive manager Simon Dickson said about 20 or 30 people were this morning taken in two convoys of snow grooming trucks back to their cars at the ski field's main car park. Many of these had to get back home for work or school tomorrow.

Early-season snowfall for Hatcher Pass, Alaska

Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman
Sun, 20 Sep 2015 14:55 UTC

The snow line crept down to about 3,000 feet last week, as heavy rains in the Valley made for wintry conditions in the mountains.

Hikers and berry pickers have been flocking to Hatcher Pass to check out the early-season snowfall, which dumped a couple inches at the Independence Mine State Historical Park. Although the area is still a ways off from being skiable, the park access road is now closed. However, the parking lot below the park is open year-round, and hikers need only walk about a half-mile to access the park, which contains mine ruins and abandoned out-buildings that remain from the 20th century gold mining operations.

Winter begins in western US as snow falls in California, Idaho, Utah and Colorado

Brandon Mercer
SFgate
Wed, 16 Sep 2015 10:25 UTC

Literally the day after a dire report of the bleakest snow conditions in 500 years for the Sierra Nevada, snow began falling. It's not much and certainly won't matter for the four-year drought, but it's welcome.

The system was forecast to bring rain to the Valley Fire area, and a dusting of snow above 7,000 feet in Northern California, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado.

In Lassen Volcanic National Park, Caltrans closed Highway 89 Wednesday because of snow. The closure was from the southern boundary to the junction with State Route 44.

Already, social media is lighting up with photos of Mammoth Mountain in the Central Sierra getting a good coating of snow earlier this week, and other resorts getting snow overnight into Wednesday. Utah and Colorado also got a good dusting, with snow flurries continuing across the Western United States.

Earth's pull is 'massaging' our moon

Ninderthana
Astro-Climate Connection
Fri, 18 Sep 2015 04:10 UTC

Many scientists deny that factors external to the Earth can have a significant impact upon the Earth's climate yet there is considerable evidence that this indeed the case. Their instincts tell them that they must always look for internal factors, and internal factors alone, to explain the Earth's climate systems. Most will admit that Moon might have some influence upon the Earth's climate through the dissipation of its tidal forces in the Earth's oceans but beyond that they have little time for thinking outside the box.

It is now emerging that those who reject the idea that factors external to the Earth can have a significant influence upon the Earth's climate are increasingly at odds with the evidence.

One quirky way to show that this is the case is to reverse the argument around. This can be done by asking the question: Is there any evidence to show that the Earth can have a significant influence upon the Moon and nearby planets? If this is indeed the case then would it be so hard to imagine that it might possible for the reverse to happen (in specific cases). One piece of evidence that shows that the Earth can have a significant impact upon external astronomical bodies is the gravitational interaction between the Earth and Venus.

Every time the planet Venus passes between the Earth and Sun it presents the same face towards Earth. This happens because the slow retrograde rotation rate of the planet Venus (approximately 243 days) has allowed the Earth's gravity to nudge Venus's rotation period into a resonance lock with the Earth's orbital period.