Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Best of the Web: Additional feet of snow pile up in Buffalo area (6 FEET in 5 days) after western New York buried by prior snowstorm

Crews work around the clock to clear city streets of snow
Crews work around the clock to clear city streets of snow
Heavy lake-effect snow will continue for one more day downwind of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in New York state.

Off Lake Erie, the snow band will stay south of Buffalo on Thursday morning, with snowfall rates as high as 1-2 inches per hour over the Buffalo Southtowns, the FOX Forecast Center said.

The band will then begin to move north around midday, once again bringing heavy snow to the city of Buffalo. During the afternoon, the snow band will move north of Buffalo before sliding back toward the city during the evening hours.

The lake-effect snow will end once the snow from the cross-country storm begins Thursday night. By this time, some locations south of Buffalo may end up with 7 feet of snow when combining the two lake-effect events this week.


Snowflake

Colorado mountains: Over 4 feet of snow for some and more to come

Sweeping avalanche buried 10 cars, trapping people for an hour.
Sweeping avalanche buried 10 cars, trapping people for an hour.
Over the last week our January blast of Winter weather has buried many Colorado mountains with 1 to over 4 feet of snow. While the eastern plains delt with an Arctic blast, our mountain areas have seen multiple waves of heavy snow and wind over the last 8 days. Steamboat Springs for example picked up 50 inches of snow since Wednesday of last week. For the month Steamboat has seen over 76 inches of snow!

Heavy snow in the Winter Park Area caused the closure of Berthoud Pass for several days due to avalanches. Berthoud Pass back currently open after avalanches, some Colorado travelers still hoping to avoid hours-long detour


Arrow Down

Evacuation underway for stranded tourists after avalanches trap 1,000 people in China

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Rescuers evacuated tourists on Tuesday from a remote skiing area in northwestern China where dozens of avalanches triggered by heavy snow have trapped more than 1,000 people for a week, state media said.


Arrow Down

Next frontier in government waste: Giant space mirrors could beam the sun onto solar panels

Reflectors in Space
© NASA
We know it's a cult when we have thousands of years of nuclear power available but scientists want to build giant mirrors in space to reflect the sun onto solar panels on Earth.

We know it's corrupt when governments won't pay for research into the suns role in our climate but they'll give 2.5 million Euros to a wild idea that might rescue their banker and investment friends last technological white elephant. This was funded under "EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)" don't you know?

They figure we could get teams of robots into space to assemble vast mirrors about 1 km across that would reflect the sun from 900km above Earth onto solar plants so they make electricity a bit more often. What could possibly go wrong, apart from mishaps that blind drivers, hurt wildlife, screw body clocks and waste gazillions of dollars?

As the huge reflectors pass over a solar plant, they will spin around and point at it to illuminate it "and it's immediate surroundings". Thus theoretically extending the working day of the solar panels, and delivering energy at breakfast and dinner time when the peak hour demand is killing our new fragile grids.

Supposedly when the plant on the ground rolls out of view, the giant mirrors will spin themselves edge on to the sun so they stop reflecting sunlight. Just imagine the maintenance nightmare and cost blowouts possible with large precision space infrastructure? Not to mention what happens when the software goes wrong, or hostile cyberhackers play "spot light" with highways, airports and military installations. How much fun can you have with a 10 kilometer wide beam? (That's just the inner intense core, the actual "stray light" could be an oval up to 70 km long.)

All the nasty surprises that make solar panels and wind farms so uneconomic on the planet would presumably multiply ten-fold in orbit as clouds get in the way, then solar flares and space junk damage the mirrors. How long will mirrors keep their smooth surface under the constant onslaught of the solar wind that runs at a million miles an hour?

Snowflake Cold

Arctic blast brings travel chaos: More than 7,000 flights are canceled or delayed and cars get stranded as 150 million face wind chill warnings

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DES MOINES, IOWA: Water is frozen coming out of a pipe during extreme cold weather on Caucus Day
A deadly artic cold is sweeping the nation this week, putting millions of Americans under wind chill warnings and creating slippery conditions on the roads causing traffic delays.

The National Weather Service said wind chills are expected to push temperatures 30 degrees below zero from the Northern Rockies to northern Kansas and into Iowa on Monday.

About 150 million Americans were under a wind chill warning or advisory for dangerous cold and wind, according to Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Sun

Birds 'falling from trees' as Aussie town on verge of record heat streak

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According to one local, birds are not coping well with the ongoing heat.
The history books are on the verge of being re-written with one Aussie town so hot that birds are reportedly falling from trees. Resident of Western Australia have been warned to brace for more extreme heat this weekend as one of the country's hottest towns continues to swelter through a brutal four-week stretch of daily maximum temperatures above 43C.

The temperature peaked at 45C in Marble Bar, in northwest Western Australia on Friday. If the streak continues through to Monday, it will be the town's longest run of consecutive days where the mercury has risen to such uncomfortable heights.

Caravan park manager Cath Nation said the extreme heat was tough on the small outback town and most people retreated indoors by about 9am each day to escape it. But sadly, most wildlife don't have the same luxury and as a result have been paying the price.

"We've got birds dropping out of trees," she told AAP. "I was just taking a walk down near the camp kitchen and there were dead birds laying there, carked it, keeled over, too hot."

Comment: Meanwhile over the same 4 week-period the eastern side of the country has endured record-breaking floods:


Snowflake Cold

Arctic freeze continues to blast huge swaths of the US with sub-zero temperatures

Ice forms along a dam built in the Des Moines River as temperatures remain below zero Fahrenheit on January 14, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa.
© Joe RaedleIce forms along a dam built in the Des Moines River as temperatures remain below zero Fahrenheit on January 14, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa.
A dangerous Arctic blast will continue sweeping across the U.S. on Monday and linger through at least midweek, prolonging a bitter cold that set record-low temperatures in parts of the country and threatens to further disrupt daily life, including an NFL playoff game and the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest in Iowa.

The National Weather Service said wind chills are expected to push temperatures 30 degrees below zero from the Northern Rockies to northern Kansas and into Iowa, testing the hardiness of caucusgoers willing to brave the deep chill on Monday.

"You can't sit home," former President Donald Trump told supporters Sunday. "If you're sick as a dog, you say, 'Darling, I gotta make it.' Even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it."


Snowflake Cold

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: The Great Freeze Are You Prepared?

A worker helps remove snow from Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday Jan. 14, 2024.
A worker helps remove snow from Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday Jan. 14, 2024.
Looking at almost every forecast model, the Arctic air front moving across North America will trip off power grids from both Canada to the USA all drawing record electricity demand. We have not seen an event like this before and expect power outages. Repair parts for damaged infrastructure is far delayed because of shipping disruptions across the planet. Help is far away, you are on your own through this event.


Igloo

Threat of rolling blackouts announced amid record cold in Canada, residents told to reduce power usage

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The extreme cold drove up demand on the power grid prompting Alberta's energy operator to declare a grid alert. Sarah Offin reports.

A critical emergency alert was issued on Saturday evening urging Albertans to reduce electricity use to minimize potential outages across the province.

In an alert sent at around 6:36 p.m., the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) said extreme cold is resulting in high power demand across the province, which places the electricity grid at a high risk of rotating power outages.


Comment: Indeed, in the year of global boiling, record cold is putting a strain on systems across the northern Hemisphere. However, it's not just Earth Changes that are responsible here, Western governments have brought these energy and infrastructure issues about through their deindustrialisation 'green' agenda.


Comment: Much of the West is at increasing risk of rolling blackouts:


Airplane

Over 2,000 flights canceled across US as major winter storms move in

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Over 2,000 flights have been canceled nationwide Friday as the Midwest is pummeled by snow and the South and Northeast brace for rough weather of their own.

The Midwest and the Great Lakes are facing blizzard warnings on Friday.

Whiteout conditions, heavy snow, wind gusts up to 50mph and low visibility will continue through rush hour Friday night from Iowa to the Great Lakes, including Chicago.

Days ahead of Monday's Iowa caucuses, the National Weather Service in Des Moines is urging drivers to stay off the roads.

The weather is also crippling travel by road and air in Illinois.