Aaron Frost, 25, was travelling home from work when he was caught in a freak ice storm which caused him to lose control of his BMW and crash into a concrete barrier

A motorist died when a hail storm turned a busy road into a thick sheet of ice, an inquest heard.

Aaron Frost, 25, was travelling home from work when he was caught in a freak ice storm.

He lost control of his BMW saloon and crashed into a concrete barrier at the side of the road.

The car then hit a lamp post and overturned before coming to rest on its side in a ditch.

The inquest heard the kitchen fitter was travelling back home to Bognor Regis, West Sussex on the on the A27 near Emsworth, Hampshire.

Lund University have published a reconstruction of solar activity vs snow accumulation in Greenland, which indicates a strong correlation between solar minima and a colder climate.

'The study shows an unexpected link between solar activity and climate change,' Dr Muscheler said in a press release.

'It shows both that changes in solar activity are nothing new and that solar activity influences the climate, especially on a regional level. 'Understanding these processes helps us to better forecast the climate in certain regions.'

According to the study abstract;
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2225.html

"We find that during the Last Glacial Maximum, solar minima correlate with more negative δ18O values of ice and are accompanied by increased snow accumulation and sea-salt input over central Greenland. We suggest that solar minima could have induced changes in the stratosphere that favour the development of high-pressure blocking systems located to the south of Greenland, as has been found in observations and model simulations for recent climate9, 10. We conclude that the mechanism behind solar forcing of regional climate change may have been similar under both modern and Last Glacial Maximum climate conditions."

Breaks record for the entire month of August.

A new record for the coldest August night was set on the night of 23rd/24th August for Northern Ireland.

The Met Office said temperatures plunged to a bone-chilling -1.9C (28.6F) at Katesbridge, Co Down, beating the previous record of -1.1C at Loughermore Forest in 1964.

Note: This wasn't just the coldest in Katesbridge, it was the coldest on record across all of Northern Ireland.

Thanks to Chris Beal, Sonya Porter, John McC and Caroline S for these links

Britain could freeze in years of super-cold winters and miserable summers if the Bardarbunga volcano erupts, experts have warned
Depending on the force of the explosion, minute particles thrust beyond the earth's atmosphere can trigger decades of chaotic weather patterns.

Tiny pieces of debris act as billions of shields reflecting the sun's light away from earth meaning winter temperatures could plunge lower than ever before while summer will be devoid of sunshine.The first effect could be a bitterly cold winter to arrive in weeks with thermometers plunging into minus figures and not rising long before next summer.

The Icelandic Met Office has this week warned of "strong indications of ongoing magma movement" around the volcano prompting them to raise the aviation warning to orange, the second highest and sparking fears the crater could blow at any moment.The region has also this week been hit by a magnitude-four earthquake - the strongest for almost 20 years, officials said.The British Met Office said the effects of an explosion on Britain's weather depends on the wind direction in the upper atmosphere. Spokeswoman Laura Young said: "If the upper winds are north-westerly it will have an effect on our weather."If the upper winds are westerly then it won't."

A climber stumbled across a 120-metre snow tunnel on the east side of the Drummochter Pass that has miraculously survived the summer due to its hidden position.

A hillwalker discovered an 120-metre glacial snow tunnel when he went for a summer climb on a Scots mountain.

Les Smith came across the incredible sight in a gully on Carn na Caim - the most northerly of the two Munros on the east side of the Drumochter Pass in the Highlands.

The 69-year-old, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, said: "The tunnel stays in shadow for most of the day and rarely sees the sun. Because of that, the snow is still several metres deep in places and below it, the stream has run through to create this spectacular tunnel. It's like a mini glacier.

"I climbed down to the mouth of the tunnel. With the correct gear you could probably climb the glacier from within."

See the table:
Source

Daily records Tmax=368 Tmin =1072
Monthly records Tmax=6 Tmin= 17
3 new snow records.

I had noted earlier this year that the data feed from NCDC that allowed independent plotting of high/low temperature records has suddenly disappeared. HAMweather has been running this map of record events for several years, and I have used it frequently in WUWT reports.

Source

There's quite a row developing after a scathing article in the Australian, some news clips follow. h/t to Dr. Benny Peiser at The GWPF
The [Australian] Bureau of Meteorology has been accused of manipulating historic temperature records to fit a predetermined view of global warming. Researcher Jennifer Marohasy claims the adjusted records resemble "propaganda" rather than science. Dr Marohasy has analysed the raw data from dozens of locations across Australia and matched it against the new data used by BOM showing that temperatures were progressively warming. In many cases, Dr Marohasy said, temperature trends had changed from slight cooling to dramatic warming over 100 years. - Graham Lloyd, The Australian, 23 August 2014

The escalating row goes to heart of the climate change debate - in particular, whether computer models are better than real data and whether temperature records are being manipulated in a bid to make each year hotter than the last. Marohasy's research has put her in dispute with BoM over a paper she published with John Abbot at Central Queensland University in the journal Atmospheric Research concerning the best data to use for rainfall forecasting. BoM challenged the findings of the Marohasy-Abbot paper, but the international journal rejected the BoM rebuttal, which had been prepared by some of the bureau's top scientists. This has led to an escalating dispute over the way in which ­Australia's historical temperature records are "improved" through homogenisation, which is proving more difficult to resolve. - Graham Lloyd, The Australian, 23 August 2014

When I first sent Graham Lloyd some examples of the remodeling of the temperature series I think he may have been somewhat skeptical. I know he on-forwarded this information to the Bureau for comment, including three charts showing the homogenization of the minimum temperature series for Amberley. Mr Lloyd is the Environment Editor for The Australian newspaper and he may have been concerned I got the numbers wrong. He sought comment and clarification from the Bureau. I understand that by way of response to Mr Lloyd, the Bureau has not disputed these calculations. What the Bureau has done, however, is try and justify the changes. In particular, for Amberley the Bureau is claiming to Mr Lloyd that there is very little available documentation for Amberley before 1990 and that information before this time may be "classified": as in top secret. - Jennifer Marohasy, 23 August 2014

Congratulations to The Australian again for taking the hard road and reporting controversial, hot, documented problems, that few in the Australian media dare to investigate.

This won't be remembered as a good year for Nebraska's grape industry. The last few weeks of August are usually harvest season for Nebraska grape growers, but vineyards across the state have been affected by severe weather in the last fews months, losing crops to everything from late freezes in May to high winds and hailstorms in June and July.

Typically, grape growers have at least one severe weather event to contend with during the growing season, said Jennifer Montgomery, executive director of the Nebraska Winery & Grape Growers Association. But this year, there were at least four distinct weather events that damaged crops throughout the state.

"It's been a very interesting year," Montgomery said. "It depends on where you were. Maybe you were OK after winter, but then the wind damage did you in. (The damage) is pretty widespread. It's pretty much all over the board." Stefan Kegley, owner of George Spencer Tasting Room in Gibbon and president of NWGGA, said only 10 percent of his grape crop will be harvested this year. Kegley owns 16 acres of grapes around Gibbon and Kearney. He usually sells grapes to Miletta Vista Winery in St. Paul.

A vineyard he owns north of Kearney was ruined by the late frost and a good portion of the rest was wiped out by the July 9 storm that rolled through the Gibbon and pelted the area with large hail. "The vines were completely stripped off," Kegley said. "It looked like winter the next morning."

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Hikers should prepare for raw, winter-like conditions ... in August!

Up to 5″snow possible at 6,500 feet.

Temperatures 20 degrees below normal.

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National Weather Service - Missoula, Montana - 22 August 2014

An unseasonably cold and very wet weather system will bring significant impacts to outdoor activities & backcountry recreation plans beginning today and lasting through Sunday.

Temperatures in many locations will be 20 degrees below normal with widespread moderate to heavy valley rain and breezy winds.

Conditions will become even more variable throughout the higher terrain where snow levels will be lowering to near 6500 ft. in Glacier National Park and 7000 ft. along the Continental Divide.

Snow accumulations are expected to be light at Logan Pass, but confidence is increasing that higher elevations could see several inches or more through Saturday morning.

Anyone with plans to hike or travel throughout the higher terrain of western Montana should prepare for raw, winter-like conditions.

Thanks to Kenneth Lund for this link

Hazards common in arctic and alpine areas but described as "extremely unusual" in the UK during the summer have been found on Ben Nevis.

A team of climbers and scientists investigating the mountain's North Face said snowfields remained in many gullies and upper scree slopes.

On these fields, they have come across compacted, dense, ice hard snow call neve.

Neve is the first stage in the formation of glaciers, the team said.

The team has also encountered sheets of snow weighing hundreds of tonnes and tunnels and fissures known as bergschrunds.

The large, deep cracks in the ice are found at the top of glaciers.