Extreme Temperatures
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Cloud Precipitation

Second Japan snow storm leaves thousands stranded as toll rises to 23

Elaine Lies
Reuters
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 01:37 UTC
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© Reuters/Japan Ground Self-Defense ForceA Japan Ground Self-Defense Force excavator removes snow covering a bridge at Hinohara village, west of Tokyo.
Snow-choked roads cut off thousands on Tuesday as parts of Japan struggled to dig out from its second storm in a week, with the death toll rising to at least 23.

Train services were suspended in some areas after the Valentine's Day storm dumped more than a meter of snow in parts of central Japan and blanketed the capital with record snow for the second weekend in a row, snarling airline traffic and slowing production at some Japanese automakers.
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Snowflake Cold

India: heavy snowfall in Himachal


Zee News India
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 13:07 UTC
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© UnknownPeople walking on the snow covered road after heavy snowfall in Shimla on Sunday.
Heavy snowfall in many parts of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday has bring down temperatures and affected the normal life.

The state capital Shimla which experienced the coldest night at minus 2.4 degrees Celsius and key tourist resort of Manali were cut off from rest of the state due to heavy snowfall.

People remained without milk, bread, vegetables and other commodities and there was no supply of newspapers in the morning.
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Cloud Precipitation

South Korea resort roof collapses under heavy snow, 9 dead

Hyung-Jin Kim
Associated Press
Mon, 17 Feb 2014 13:56 UTC

The roof of a resort auditorium collapsed during a welcoming ceremony for South Korean university freshmen, killing nine and likely trapping about 10, officials said Tuesday.

The dead included seven students and an adult; officials weren't sure yet if the ninth victim was a student. About 80 people were sent to hospitals with minor injuries, according to officials at the state-run National Emergency Management Agency who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.
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Snowflake Cold

No rest for the frigid: New storm brings more snow to Northeast U.S.

Mike Brunker
NBC News
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 03:56 UTC
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© AP Photo/The News Journal, Suchat PedersonJames Farley digs over a foot of snow from his sidewalk and driveway in Hockessin, Del.
Winter administered a fresh whipping to parts of the Northeast overnight, as a new storm brought more snow and high winds to the region.

The latest blast came as residents were still digging out from a major storm that caused at least 25 deaths, and at its height, left hundreds of thousands without power on the East Coast and in the South.

New England was absorbing the worst of the weekend storm, which was moving in Saturday evening. Up to 12 inches of snow fell in eastern Massachusetts, and parts of Maine and Rhode Island overnight, Weather Channel meteorologist Mark Swaim said.

New York City and Boston, which both saw flurries overnight, were waking up to lower than average temperatures: Upper 20s in Beantown and lower 30s in the Big Apple.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on Saturday warned drivers to stay off the roads for a 12-hour period beginning at 5 p.m., saying, "It won't be possible to keep up with the clearing of the roads."
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Binoculars

Thousands of Arctic songbirds invade Ohio farmstead

Jim McCormac
jimmccormac.blogspot.co.uk
Sun, 09 Feb 2014 10:14 UTC
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A tsunami of Snow Buntings

At first blush, this rural farmhouse may not appear to harbor what may be the most extraordinary bird feeding operation in Ohio. But indeed it does. If there is anything out there that rivals this in terms of sheer numbers, and the atypical "feeder" species involved, I am unaware of it.

I visited this Delaware County residence yesterday, after being tipped off to the amazing assemblage of birds by Dick Miller, whose sister and brother-in-law, Mike and Becky Jordan, reside in the home. Mike and Becky have been very gracious in extending their hospitality to visitors, including your narrator, which is much appreciated!

I'm not going to post their address on the Internet, but Mike and Becky do welcome birders who would like to witness the phenomenon that unfolds in the following photos. If you would like to visit, just send me an email at: jimmccormac35@gmail.com, and I'll pass along the pertinent information.


Comment: See also : Rare Arctic bird turns up in Darwin, Australia

UK storms bring in rare Arctic gulls to Pembrokeshire

Storm blows Canadian bird 3,000 miles on to Tyrone lough, Northern Ireland

Bird watchers flock to Portland, UK after a rare Arctic Brunnich's Guillemot spotted

Ice Age Cometh: Snowy Owl invasion coming in North America?

Maine experiencing a Canadian owl invasion

Incredible Hawk Owl invasion in Estonia!

Huge Snowy Owl invasion becomes official in Canada and U.S.

Thousands of Hawk Owls descend on Finland as food in northern Russia runs out

Ice Age Cometh: Unprecedented influx of Arctic Ivory Gulls into UK

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Bizarro Earth

Widespread polar vortex freezing, erupting volcanoes, strange loud booms, big waves, earthquakes and lots of meteors - Something in space lurks close to earth

Shepard Ambellas
Intellihub
Tue, 04 Feb 2014 15:48 UTC
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© China DailyMount Sinabung, Indonesia
Current worldwide weather anomalies and drastic changes with the earth and sun give indication that some type of massive celestial object may be moving in to range, possibly even threatening the inhabitants of earth as emergency preparations by various nations have been taken

It's no big secret that weather patterns are drastically changing worldwide. In Indonesia alone 19 volcanoes were raised to alert status Tuesday, after the Mount Sinabung eruption in North Sumatra killed 16 people last week. Three volcanoes in the region still remain on "high alert". This doevtails with seismic activity in the U.S. Yellowstone region which was also reported to have picked up recently, showing a clear trend of noticeable earth changes worldwide.

And what about the recent cold spell which broke cold weather records in over 50 cities across the U.S.? Shockingly, the temperatures even ran into the frigid negatives throughout pockets of the U.S. that typically never fall that low in temperature.

Influential weathermen, like NBC's Today's Al Roker, are now claiming that the "polar vortex" is to blame, a term listed in some 1959 weather publication entitled the "Glossary of Meteorology" and almost unheard of by modern society. Some weathermen say that the dense cold air has migrated down from the poles causing unusually abnormal weather patterns further south into the United States, making for the coldest spell in decades.

Strangely on Jan. 8, the Today show made mention of a "left winged global conspiracy" regarding the polar vortex, giving a force-fed tidbit to the masses. Take note that the seeding has already begun and corporate propaganda is already in full swing.

Comment: There is evidence that these environmental events may be caused by a companion star to the Sun:

"Check out the Wikipedia page on the so-called 'Nemesis' hypothesis. (And see here for additional resources.) It was introduced in 1984 by two teams of astronomers (Whitmire & Jackson, and Davis, Hut & Muller) to explain the periodically spaced extinction events observed in the earth's fossil record. The idea was that a companion sun passing through or close to the spherical Oort cloud would send a death-dealing swarm of comets in earth's direction every 26 million years or so. Its presence may also help explain the non-random trajectories of certain long-period comets, as well as the strange and unexpected elliptical orbit of the recently discovered transneptunian object Sedna."

You can read more here: The Cs Hit List 07: Sun Star Companion, Singing Stones and Smoking Visions



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Snowflake

Winter storm killed at least 12 across the Southern U.S.


CBS News - Atlanta
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 07:23 UTC
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© Davis Turner/Getty ImageStudents carry provisions as they walk through icy and slushy conditions back to the Emory University campus on Feb. 12, 2014, in Atlanta, Ga.
Small armies of utility workers labored to turn the lights - and the heat - back on for hundreds of thousands of Southerners as a winter storm that left them without power threatened major cities further up the East Coast.

The Deep South remained a world of ice-laden trees and driveways early Thursday after several unusual days of sleet and snow brought by a powerful system that could bring more than a foot of snow to such metropolises as Philadelphia, Washington and Boston.

At least 12 deaths across the South have been blamed on the stormy weather and nearly 3,300 flights nationwide were canceled with another day of complicated air and road travel ahead Thursday, particularly in the Northeast.

Drivers in and around Raleigh, N.C., became snarled Wednesday in huge traffic jams and abandoned cars in scenes reminiscent of motorist woes in Atlanta during a storm two weeks earlier. In Atlanta, many streets were eerily quiet this storm, with drivers heeding dire warnings to stay off the roads. State troopers say they worked more than 200 crashes in Georgia. Snow was forecast to stop falling and temperatures to rise in most of the state by late morning, but ice remained a concern, with refreezing possible overnight and into Friday.

For some on slick, snow-covered interstates in North Carolina, commutes that should take minutes lasted hours after many got on the highways just as soon as snow and sleet began at midday.
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Ice Cube

Blasted by storm: U.S. East Coast buried, death toll 20 - new storm on the way


Reuters
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 20:28 UTC
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© REUTERS/Chief Petty Officer Alan Haraf/U.S. Coast Guard/Handout via ReutersCoast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay, a 140-foot ice-breaking tug, sails the waters near Chicago and toward the shores off Indiana, in this picture taken February 12, 2014 provided by U.S. Coast Guard.
The U.S. East Coast was blasted by the end of a four-day winter storm on Friday, freezing sales of Valentine's Day flowers and sweets but revving up snowmobiles and ski areas desperate to salvage a lackluster season.

As the storm blew out with a last salvo of thunder snow and lightning, the death toll rose to at least 20, including a 36-year-old pregnant woman killed by a snow plow in a Brooklyn parking lot. Her baby boy remained in critical but stable condition, a New York City Police spokeswoman said.

Snowfall measured 28.5 inches in Pilot, Virginia, about 200 miles west of Richmond, said Chris Vaccaro, spokesman for the National Weather Service. A new storm system was on its way, expected to dump up to 3 inches on the East Coast into Saturday, he said.

Across the South, hundreds of thousands of people were still without power on Friday as the result of broken tree limbs stressed by heavy snow and thick layers of ice falling onto power lines. South Carolina customers may not be back to normal service until late Sunday, said Duke Energy spokeswoman Jennifer Jabon.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike was shut for more than seven hours while it was cleared of twisted metal from up to 50 vehicles in multiple accidents that injured 27 people, said Renee Vid Colborn, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The injuries were not life-threatening, she said.

About 1,700 U.S. flights were canceled and roughly 6,600 were delayed on Friday, said flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.
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Stop

Up to 100 cars pile up on icy Pennsylvania highway


RT
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 21:03 UTC
PA turnpike accident
© AFP/William Thomas CainRescue and fire personnel assist on the scene of a 100 car chain reaction pileup accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike eastbound February 14, 2014 in Feasterville, Pennsylvania
Several huge multi-car pile-ups totaling 100 vehicles have shut down part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Friday morning, as icy driving conditions made for a treacherous commute.

The first crash occurred close to 8 a.m. and set off a chain reaction of accidents involving roughly 75 vehicles, while a separate crash managed to snare another 30 cars or so, according to CBS Philadelphia.

So far, up to five individuals have been hospitalized, though no fatalities have been reported.

There's no word on exactly what caused the pile-ups, but local news station Fox 29 said the first accident took place around 7:40 a.m. and involved a tractor trailer. That accident triggered a chain reaction of collisions, which state police believe was caused by the icy road and people driving too fast.
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Ice Cube

Great Lakes almost completely frozen! Will they break 1994 record?

Rob Quinn
newser.com
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 05:53 UTC
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© AP Photo/ Traverse City Record-Eagle, Keith King PoolThe Mackinac Bridge over the the Straits of Mackinac spans an ice cover that stretches into the horizon in Michigan.
They haven't frozen over this much since 1994

The Mackinac Bridge over the the Straits of Mackinac spans an ice cover that stretches into the horizon in Michigan.

It's been so cold for such a long time in the Great Lakes region that the lakes are now almost completely covered with ice for the first time in 20 years. Ice cover has now reached 88% across the five lakes, the most since 1994, when 94% of their surface was frozen, the AP finds. Average ice cover has receded around 70% over the last four decades, so this year's deep freeze will do much to replenish lake water levels by limiting evaporation.
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© NOAALake Superior is almost completely frozen over
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