Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Waist-deep snow in China with the most severe snowstorm seen in years

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The snow is up to 3 feet (90 cm) deep, leaving residents struggling to open doors.

A blizzard lasting more than 60 hours hit Fuyuan County, a border town in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Thursday.

Local communities banded together to clear snow from roads, and the county government said a contingency plan is in place to relieve economic stresses due to the snow.


Snowflake

First winter snowfall breaks Juneau, Alaska records

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© Matt Miller/KTOOReturn of the berm: Sunday’s record snowfall in Juneau was partially cleared by Monday morning’s commute, but it also brought the return of those familiar white piles.
The National Weather Service says Saturday night's winter storm brought record-setting snowfall to Juneau.

Eight-and-half inches of snow fell at Juneau International Airport over the 24-hour period that ended at midnight on Sunday. That broke a record of 6.3 inches of snow set back in 1946.

Just over 9 inches (9.1) fell at the National Weather Service office on Back Loop Road. That broke the record of 5.4 inches set in 2010.

An 11-year-old record of 5.8 inches of snow at Lena Point was broken with Sunday's snowfall of 9.6 inches.

At Outer Point on Douglas Island 5 inches fell, while 4.5 inches fell in Pelican on Sunday. That was nearly double the old record of 2.5 inches that fell in Pelican on Nov. 30, 2006.

Snowflake Cold

Ice storm with deep snow in Serbia: People experiencing mental breakdown after 48 hours without electricity, water and heating

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© Tanjug
3 Dec 14 - "48 hours of agony in Majdanpek, people mentally break!" says headline.

Put on your coat and hat and get under a blanket and wait to pass this evil, say angry residents of Majdanpeka. At night it is very cold.

The city is bound by snow and ice, without electricity, water and heating, and the torture is far from over. The fourth attempt to connect pokidna transmission network, this afternoon failed. It's agony.

Business is great, joked a shop owner: he has sold burners for gas. These gadgets over the past two days in Majdanpeku have become worth gold, because it is only on them that food can be prepared.

Comment: A map of locations for many of the early and extreme cold weather events for the past month, is shown below -




Snowflake

Mad blizzard swallows cars, streets, buildings in Far East Russia

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© Screenshot from YouTube user Евгений Шибин
Winter has come with a vengeance: Russia's snow-and-ice-bound Far East regions have declared states of emergency. Traffic chaos is rife, with cars stuck or sliding uncontrollably. Residents are trying to push cars, and also stop them with their bodies.

The cold and snowy season began in Russia's Far East - including the cities of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk - on Dec. 1, the first day of winter proper according to the calendar. Yet municipal services were not ready to deal with weather conditions, people on social networks complained.

Snowfall in Khabarovsk - reportedly the heaviest in decades - forced the city authorities to announce the state of emergency and call in military to aid with the storm's aftermath.

Harsh weather conditions caused traffic to come to a standstill, with people being unable to use either public transport or their own cars.


Challenged to not only find and then dig their cars out from under the snow, drivers also had to push their vehicles when they were stuck on snow and ice-covered roads, as well as stopping them from moving uncontrollably.

Comment:


Snowflake Cold

U.S. Lake Erie temperature at end of November coldest since 1976

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© NASANASA image of Lake Erie was taken the week of the dual lake-effect storms.
Lake Erie's water temperature at the end of November fell to 40 degrees. That's the coldest Nov. 30 reading in Buffalo since 1976, when the lake temperature was 38 degrees. Anyone old enough to remember November 1976 needs no further reminder of what happened the following January.

The lake froze, and sustained winds during the Blizzard of '77 blew 3 feet of accumulated snow off the ice and dumped it across the Niagara Frontier. Great Lakes scientists say it's too early to tell if the lake's present condition will lead to that kind of snow catastrophe this winter.

Until the lake freezes, there's always a chance for lake-effect snow. But as the water turns colder, there's less chance for a repeat of the heavy lake-effect snowfall that hit the area a couple of weeks ago. "It really depends on what happens now and over the next few weeks or month," said Eric J. Anderson, a forecaster at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Comment: Ice ages can start at any time and develop quickly. Are you prepared?


Ice Cube

Dramatic evacuation of Hohe Wande because of ice storm in Austria

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© einsatzdoku.at
In the last few hours on Wednesday afternoon, all access to the Hohe Wand was cut off by ice-covered boulders and broken tree branches, as a result of the ice storm.

Police and fire departments were busy all morning visiting residents living in the area to ask them to leave their homes, many of which are threatened by falling trees.

Some residents left voluntarily, while others refused to leave. Some elderly residents had to be evacuated for medical reasons.

Comment: See also: Rare ice storm strikes Waldviertel in Austria


Snowflake Cold

100,000 Czech railway travelers stranded due to freezing cold weather

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Around 100,000 passengers are stranded across the Czech Republic due to the disruption of the railway system
Around 100,000 passengers have been stranded across the Czech Republic due to the disruption of the railway service as a result of freezing cold weather.

"Several hundred passenger trains were cancelled or delayed," Czech Railways said on its website on Tuesday.

Czech railways authority said the disruption occurred after ice encased overhead power lines and brought railway traffic to a halt.

According to the officials, the freezing began on Monday and continued into Tuesday.

They added that people were forced to spend the night, when temperatures dropped to a low of minus 7.3 Celsius (19.4 Fahrenheit), in cold trains and at railway stations.

Calendar

Close to 9,000 daily record cold temperatures for November in the U.S.

8,977 Record Cold temps in November versus 2,022 record warm temps:
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© NCDC NOAA

Ice Cube

'Ice Volcano' forms on shore of Green Bay, Wisconsin

When you think of a volcano, you typically think "hot" - molten lava and ash, not ice. But the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has posted a video of a different kind of "volcano," this one made of ice, along the shore of Green Bay.

As the DNR explains, the "ice volcano" is formed when waves hit a shell of ice. At a weak spot in the ice, a hole forms, and water gushes through. The water splashes up and creates a mound with a hole in the middle, just like a volcano. The DNR says the volcano has disappeared naturally since the video was shot.


Ice Cube

Freezing rain blankets Budapest causing power outages to 40K homes

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The entire forest in the hills at Pilis, south-east of Budapest, was covered in cloud and fog, freezing the rain and fog solid on the branches.
About 40,000 homes on the outskirts of Budapest went without electricity on Tuesday as freezing rain blanketed the area and falling trees cut power lines, Hungary's Disaster Relief Agency said.

Heavy branches fell and entire trees toppled as ice as thick as 10 centimeters (4 inches) coated them, threatening entire forests in altitudes above 400 meters, according to people who ventured to higher-lying areas.

Forestry services closed off large tracts of land located higher than 400 meters above sea level to prevent injuries. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

One forestry worker who visited the Borzsony Mountains north of Budapest said the woods echoed with loud cracks and hissing sounds as branches and trunks gave way under tons of ice.