Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Blizzard in the Himalayas traps trekkers, killing 9


Reuters
Thu, 06 Jun 2024 10:51 UTC
Snow-covered Nanda Devi mountain
© Reuters File PhotoSnow-covered Nanda Devi mountain is seen from the town of Auli in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, India.
At least nine Indian trekkers died in the Himalayas after getting trapped during a blizzard, authorities said on Thursday, as rescue teams airlifted their bodies and five survivors to safety.

The Indian Air Force shared footage on Thursday that showed rescue teams working near a helicopter in the snow-covered mountains.

The group of climbers from the southern state of Karnataka were hit by heavy snowfall in the remote mountains of Uttarakhand state in north India, said Krishna Byre Gowda, a top Karnataka minister.

"Snow intensified into blizzard. By 6 PM, 2 trekkers succumbed to bad weather. Snow and wind made movement impossible. Visibility dropped to nil. They huddled together for the night on the route. Some more succumbed in the night," Gowda wrote in a social media post on Wednesday.

A guide with the group alerted rescuers about the situation on Tuesday evening after trekking for a while to find mobile network connectivity, and teams reached the spot early on Wednesday, the minister added.


(Reporting by Shivam Patel and Tanvi Mehta; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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Solar Flares

Rethinking the sun's cycles - New physical model reinforces planetary hypothesis


Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
Mon, 27 May 2024 17:40 UTC
Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University of Latvia have posited the first comprehensive physical explanation for the sun's various activity cycles. It identifies vortex-shaped currents on the sun, known as Rossby waves, as mediators between the tidal influences of Venus, Earth as well as Jupiter and the sun's magnetic activity. The researchers thus present a consistent model for solar cycles of different lengths - and another strong argument to support the previously controversial planetary hypothesis. The results have now been published in the journal Solar Physics (DOI: 10.1007/s11207-024-02295-x).
Our Sun
© ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI TeamThe sun is currently approaching a maximum activity in the 11-year “Schwabe cycle” again, here a Solar Orbiter image from October 2023.
Although the sun, being near to us, is the best researched star, many questions about its physics have not yet been completely answered. These include the rhythmic fluctuations in solar activity. The most famous of these is that, on average, the sun reaches a radiation maximum every eleven years - which experts refer to as the Schwabe cycle. This cycle of activity occurs because the sun's magnetic field changes during this period and eventually reverses polarity. This, in itself, is not unusual for a star - if it weren't for the fact that the Schwabe cycle is remarkably stable.

The Schwabe cycle is overlaid by other, less obvious fluctuations in activity ranging from a few hundred days to several hundred years, each named after their discoverers. Although there have already been various attempts to explain these cycles and mathematical calculations, there is still no comprehensive physical model.
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Snowflake Cold

Snow in June on Scotland's mountains as Arctic air sweeps in


BBC
Wed, 05 Jun 2024 12:28 UTC
A dusting of snow at Cairngorm Mountain snowsports centre near Aviemore on Tuesday
© Peter JollyA dusting of snow at Cairngorm Mountain snowsports centre near Aviemore on Tuesday
Snow has been falling over some of Scotland's highest mountains with temperatures forecast to drop below -10C in the most exposed areas.

The Cairngorms were among upland areas to see a dusting on Tuesday.

Mountain Weather Information Service (MWIS) said Arctic air was affecting the hills, especially in the Highlands, and there had been significant wind chill.

BBC Weather said snow on mountain tops in June was not that unusual, and usually happened every three to five years on average.

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Snowflake

Snowfall hits parts of the Northern Cape, South Africa for the first time in about 40 years


TimesLIVE
Tue, 04 Jun 2024 13:36 UTC
The Southern African Large Telescope in Sutherland in the Northern Cape covered in snow as a cold front sweeps over the country. Snowfall continued in parts of the country and resulted in the closure of several roads in the Eastern Cape.
© NICO VAN DER MERWEThe Southern African Large Telescope in Sutherland in the Northern Cape covered in snow as a cold front sweeps over the country. Snowfall continued in parts of the country and resulted in the closure of several roads in the Eastern Cape.
It has been a winter wonderland for some and a morning of chaos for others as snowfall continued in parts of the country on Tuesday.

TimesLIVE Premium on Monday reported snowfall had hit parts of the Northern Cape for the first time in about 40 years as a powerful weather system sweeps across South Africa.

The cold weather was preceded by deadly storms along much of the Cape coast, with people missing, according to rescue officials.

The SA Weather Service (SAWS) issued a disruptive snow warning for Tuesday across high-lying parts of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Video clips and images emerged on social media on Tuesday showing homes and roads covered in a blanket of white. Others showed citizens braving the freezing weather to pose outside and take pictures in the snow.

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Snowflake

29 stranded hikers rescued from Germany's highest mountain Zugspitze, after over 6 feet of unexpected June snowfall


SnowBrains
Sun, 02 Jun 2024 12:53 UTC
29 hikers had to be rescued after becoming stranded on the Zugspitze.
29 hikers had to be rescued after becoming stranded on the Zugspitze.
A rescue operation was launched on Saturday, June 1, to evacuate dozens of hikers who found themselves stranded on Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze, due to treacherous weather conditions.

According to the Bavarian Mountain Rescue Service, 29 hikers attempted to scale the 2,962-meter (9,718-foot) peak despite heavy snowfall and poor visibility. At around 2,500 meters (8,202 feet), the hikers could not continue their ascent due to the accumulation of fresh snow, which reached depths of up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) in some areas.

The Mountain Rescue Service, in collaboration with staff from the Zugspitze mountain railway company, mobilized to locate and extract the stranded hikers. The rescue efforts were further complicated by the freezing temperatures, which caused partial icing of the cable car equipment, rendering it inoperable at times.

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Sun

Indian capital swelters as temperature hits all-time high of 52.9 Celsius

Sakshi Dayal and Priyanshu Singh
Reuters
Wed, 29 May 2024 10:58 UTC
A woman shields her child from the sun during a heat wave in New Delhi on Wednesday.
© Money Sharma/AFPA woman shields her child from the sun during a heat wave in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Delhi recorded an all-time high temperature of 52.9 degrees Celsius (127.22 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday as extreme heat conditions gripped the north and western parts of India, causing students to faint in schools and drinking water taps to dry up.

A heat wave alert has been in place for large parts of India since last week but on Wednesday the temperature in Mungeshpur, a densely packed corner of Delhi, crossed the 50 C mark, the weather office said.

The Indian capital has had temperatures of over 45 C in previous years but never gone as high as 52.9 C.

Streets in Mungeshpur in northwest Delhi were deserted and most shops were shut as people stayed indoors to avoid the searing heat, while residents handed out free cold drinks in Narela after temperatures went up to 49.9 C on Tuesday.


Comment: India's Met. Department has since admitted that there was an error at the measuring station. Link
It gets even better though, because that 52.9C (127.2F) doing the AGW rag rounds was from a faulty sensor. Temperatures in the area were actually around 47C (116.6F), according to the Indian Meteorological Department, some 6C lower than reported.

That near 53C posted in New Delhi suburbs, in Mungeshpur to be specific, was an error officially acknowledged by the IMD:

India Met Department's correction notice


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Cloud Precipitation

Texas town of Marathon deploys snow plows after 50-degree temperature swing and 2 feet of hail

Bill Hutchinson
abcnews.go.com
Thu, 30 May 2024 13:40 UTC
In this screen grab from a video, an accumulation of hail is shown in Marathon, Texas, on May 29, 2024.
© Harry WeinmanIn this screen grab from a video, an accumulation of hail is shown in Marathon, Texas, on May 29, 2024.
As severe weather continued Thursday through the Great Plains, residents of a southwest Texas town reported a dramatic temperature drop on Wednesday and hail so deep they had to deploy snow plows to clear the streets.

The temperature in Marathon, Texas, fell more than 50 degrees on Wednesday afternoon as thermometers tumbled from around 105 degrees to the mid-50s in about an hour, Brian Curran, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service Midland, Texas, told ABC News.

Curran attributed the wild decline in temperature to the severe hail storm that hit Marathon.

"It was like an air conditioner," Curran said.

Brad Wilson, chief of the Marathon Fire Department, told ABC News that it was as if conditions turned from summer to winter in an hour.

"There was about two feet of hail on our main street right in the center of town. It looked like snow," Wilson said. "We went out there with a tape measure last night before the road crews came and plowed the roads."

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Snowflake

Late May snowfall sweeps through Himachal Pradesh, India


The Indian Express
Fri, 31 May 2024 11:54 UTC
nnnnnnnnn
While plains across the nation sizzle in the summer heat, a cool escape is brewing in the hills. Himachal Pradesh's beloved Manali just threw a snowball of joy amidst the scorching season, welcoming tourists with open arms.

On Thursday, the heavens decided to gift Manali with a fresh coat of snow, turning Rohtang into a winter wonderland. Tourists, both locals and adventurers from afar, couldn't resist the call of the frosty peaks.

Videos capturing the snowfall and rain circulated on social media.

According to the weather reports, Manali got a good soaking with 10 mm of rain, followed by Keylong, Kalpa, Shimla, Bhuntar, and Sainj. The mercury decided to take a chill pill, dropping a couple of degrees in the mid and higher hills.

Watch the videos below:

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Blue Planet

Alaska's pristine waterways are mysteriously turning orange, coincides with increased snowfall

Tessa Koumoundouros
Science Alert
Sun, 26 May 2024 13:58 UTC
Kutuk River
© Ken Hill/National Park ServiceKutuk River, Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska.
Some of Alaska's clear, icy blue waterways are turning a startling rust orange - so intense it's visible from Earth's orbit.

"The stained rivers are so big we can see them from space," says University of California (UC) Davis environmental toxicologist Brett Poulin. "These have to be stained a lot to pick them up from space."

After first noticing the problem in 2018 from river banks and fly-overs, National Park Service ecologist Jon O'Donnell, Poulin and their colleagues used satellite imagery and public reports to identify over 75 remote streams recently tainted this unusual orange color, across almost 1,000 kilometers (1,610 miles) of Alaska's Brooks Range.

Comment: Volcanic activity in and around Alaska may be increasing, and, in turn, it's possible that so is geothermal activity - as also seems to be the case elsewhere on the planet:


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Snowflake

Georgetown Lake hit with a foot of snow during spring storm in Montana

John Emeigh
kxlf.com
Thu, 23 May 2024 19:05 UTC
mmmmmmm
Here in the Georgetown Lake area they are dealing with about a foot of snow, the really wet and heavy kind that's accumulating on all the branches, causing limbs to break and fall on powerlines. It's led to power outages, here and all over the state.

"Well, I think it's a little crazy, I just came back up from the south where it was nice and warm. I was hoping for spring, but apparently it's not coming today," said Georgetown Lake resident Joe Thomas.

Much of southwest Montana was hit with steady morning snowfall. NorthWestern Energy had crews responding to isolated power outages from Missoula to Bozeman.

"The heavy, wet snow is creating conditions for tree limbs to break or bend into power lines," said Jo Dee Black of NorthWestern Energy.

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