Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Snowfall record hit on May long weekend in Fort St. John, Canada

Dwight Ford
Energetic City
Tue, 24 May 2016 10:22 UTC
Snow on Friday May 20, 2016 set a one day record for Fort St. John.
Snow on Friday May 20, 2016 set a one day record for Fort St. John.
The month of May has again lived up to its weather reputation in this region with record one day snowfall and precipitation amounts on Friday pushing monthly totals well past the norms.

The local airport weather station posted 19.4 centimetres of snow on Friday, and along with 1.2 millimetres of rain, that lifted the precipitation total to 20.6 millimetres.

The previous May 20th records were 18.8 millimetres of precipitation and only 1.6 centimetres of snow.

In addition when the Friday numbers were added to those posted Thursday, it resulted in two day snowfall and precipitation totals of 20.2 centimetres and 33.2 millimetres.

The latter was more than three and half times the amount of precipitation recorded at the airport station in the previous 18 days of this month, and it left the year-to-date total at 44.7 millimetres, nearly seven more than the May norm of 37.9.
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Sun

India's roads melt as 'unprecedented' record-breaking heat wave continues

Alexandra Sims
The Independent (UK)
Mon, 23 May 2016 06:46 UTC
melting road in India
© NDTV/ YouTubeA man becomes stuck in melting tarmac as the heat wave in India continues

Temperatures hit a record-breaking 51C in the city of Phalodi, Rajasthan on Friday

India's on-going heat wave, which set a new record for the country's highest-ever recorded temperature last week, is melting tarmac on the roads of some of India's busiest cities.

Residents in the city of Valsad, Gujarat, had to fight melting tar while crossing the road as temperatures rose to 36C.

Video footage from NDTV shows people becoming trapped on a melting road surface as their shoes stick in the softening tarmac.

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Cloud Grey

Coolest May temperatures since 1882 recorded for Washington DC; record number of rainy days

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Mon, 23 May 2016 15:26 UTC
Rain in Washington DC
Washington Post tries to explain it away.

So far this May, Washington, D.C. has had "the coolest high temperatures since 1882," admits the Washington Post.

"This May's afternoon highs are running an incredible 15 degrees cooler than last May's," says the article. "And they still haven't hit 80 degrees."

This May's average high temperature is just 66 degrees (18.9 C), the second coldest on record month-to-date.

Month-to-date, the only cooler year on record is 1882, which boasted an average high of 65.5 degrees.

All 22 days have had highs below 80. The only other year not to have an 80-degree day this deep into May came in 1935.

And there's more!
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Snowflake Cold

2016 to be one of the coldest May long weekends in 40 years for Calgary, Canada

Jodi Hughes
Global News
Mon, 23 May 2016 20:53 UTC
Snow in Calgary
© Pam ZimmermannSnow in Calgary
After waking up to snow and recording a daytime high of just 5.5 C on Sunday, it should be of no surprise that we've had a historically cold weekend in Calgary.

In fact, 2016 is on track to be one of the coldest May long weekends over the past 40 years.

So far the mean temperature for the 2016 May long weekend is under 5 C.

Official numbers will need to come in for Monday, but with a forecast high of just 8 C, the weekend looks like it will end with a 'blah.'

The coldest Victoria Day long weekends since 1976 were back-to-back in the early 2000s. 2003 and 2004 were memorably cold all weekend, with temperatures ranging from -5.1 to 14.2 C in 2003 and -0.8 to 13.8 C in 2004. Their respective mean temperatures averaged over the four days came out to 4.2 C in 2003 and 5.4 C in 2004.

Comment: See also: Snowfall records smashed across US as northern hemisphere struggles into 'summer'

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Snowflake

Huge snowstorm pounds parts of northwest China; 2 meters (almost 7 ft) of snow paralyzes traffic

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Sat, 21 May 2016 17:12 UTC
Snow in China
Two meters (almost 7 ft) of snow paralyzes traffic in northern Xinjiang. Traffic has been at a standstill for three days now.

17 May 2016 - Powerful snowstorm struck the mountainous Altai Region in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, paralyzing traffic, according to CCTV channel.

Snow along the Altai mountain range covered 26-kilometer section of the highway. Snow cover at the checkpoint on the border between China and Mongolia amounted to more than two meters.

Local authorities have sent a detachment of emergency response and excavators to clear the affected sections of the road.


Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for these links
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Sun

New all-time record high temperature set in India; 123.8 degrees Fahrenheit (51 degrees Celsius)

Eric Chaney and Chris Dolce
The Weather Channel
Fri, 20 May 2016 16:47 UTC
India's all-time record high set Thursday, May 19, 2016, in Rajasthan state.
India's all-time record high set Thursday, May 19, 2016, in Rajasthan state.
India has set an all-time record high for any calendar day as extreme heat continues to sear northwest parts of that country and adjacent portions of Pakistan.

The high temperature reached 123.8 degrees Fahrenheit (51 degrees Celsius) in Phalodi, India, Thursday. This topped India's previous all-time record high for any calendar day of 123.1 degrees Fahrenheit (50.6 degrees Celsius) set in Pachpadra on May 25, 1886, according to weather records from Maximiliano Herrera.


In neighboring Pakistan, temperatures have risen to "critical" levels this week, the Pakistani Meteorological Department reports.

The high temperatures topped out at 124.7 degrees Fahrenheit (51.5 degrees Celsius) Thursday in the city of Jacobabad.
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Sun

India records its hottest day ever as temperature hits 51C (123.8F)


The Independent (UK)
Fri, 20 May 2016 10:46 UTC
India heatwave
© Reuters

The heatwave has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops across the country

A city in western India has suffered through the country's highest recorded temperature .

The record - a scorching 51C (123.8F) - was set in the city of Phalodi, in the western state of Rajasthan.

India's meteorological department said the previous high was 50.6C (123 F), reached in 1956 in the city of Alwar, also in Rajasthan.

Authorities have issued a severe heatwave alert for the next two days in the western states of Gujarat and Rajasthan and parts of the central state of Madhya Pradesh. That means the areas can expect temperatures of 47C (116.6F) or more.

The main summer months - April, May and June - are extremely hot across most parts of India before monsoon rains and cooler temperatures arrive.
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Snowflake

Spring snowstorm causes loss of power for tens of thousands in Bozeman, Montana; up to 20 inches of snow


Independent Record
Wed, 11 May 2016 19:05 UTC
Snow on road
A spring storm swept through Montana, dumping up to 20 inches of snow in the mountains and knocking out power to tens of thousands of people across the state, officials said Tuesday.

Approximately 30,000 homes and businesses in Bozeman lost electricity on Tuesday morning as the storm moved through, NorthWestern Energy spokesman Butch Larcombe said. The lights were back on across most of the city less than two hours later, and crews worked to restore the remaining powerless areas and to find the cause of the outages.

"We had an issue with the transmission line," Larcombe said. "We don't know what the issue is, but we expect it's related to snow and wind."

The night before, the storm cut power to customers in Phillipsburg and Judith Gap. There were pockets of smaller outages scattered across central and southwestern Montana, Larcombe said.

Heavy snow fell in the Little Belt Mountains Tuesday with about a foot falling at the Belt Creek Ranger District office in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.
© Beth IhleHeavy snow fell in the Little Belt Mountains Tuesday with about a foot falling at the Belt Creek Ranger District office in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.
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Bizarro Earth

North American tectonic plate peeling off

Kacey Deamer
Live science
Tue, 10 May 2016 18:35 UTC
Earth's Mantle
© Johan Swanepoel/ShutterstockScientists suspect that chunks from the bottom of the North American tectonic plate, which is the upper portion of the mantle, are peeling off and sinking. Replacing the resulting void is gooey material from the asthenosphere.
An odd phenomenon may explain why the Southeastern United States has experienced recent earthquakes, even though the region sits snugly in the middle of a tectonic plate and not at the edges, where all the ground-shaking action usually happens.

This seismicity — or relatively frequent earthquakes — may be the result of areas along the bottom of the North American tectonic plate peeling off, the researchers said. And this peeling motion is likely to continue, leading to more earthquakes in the future, like the 2011 magnitude-5.8 temblor that shook the nation's capital.

To figure out the cause of these earthquakes, Berk Biryol, a seismologist at UNC Chapel Hill, and colleagues created 3D images of the uppermost part of Earth's mantle, which is just below the crust and comprises the bottom of a tectonic plate. These tectonic plates scoot around atop a layer of warm, viscous fluid called the asthenosphere.

The resulting X-ray images revealed that the plate's thickness in the southeast United States was uneven, with thick regions of dense, old rock combined with thinner areas composed of younger rocks that were also less dense.
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Snowflake Cold

As much as 8 inches of May snow falls in Kransoyarsk, Russia

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Tue, 10 May 2016 17:44 UTC
Snow in Krasnoyarsk
Snow in Krasnoyarsk
As much as 20 cm of snow cloaked the city of Kransoyarsk!

The Siberian city has been hit by a rare snowfall in late May, and the uniqueness lies in its abundance, as much as 20 cm of fresh snow!

The city, located just north of Mongolia, has been hit by a massive cold snap.

It is important to note that this happened on a large temperature contrast after the first 20-degree heat of the season.

Thanks to Martin Siebert for these links

Snow in Krasnoyarsk
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