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Snowflake

Cold stagnant weather pattern turns Calgary into a winter wonderland in May


Calgary Herald
Sun, 04 May 2014 13:24 UTC
Image
© Alexandra Baker
Five deer were wandering around 90th - Glenmore Landing and Pump Hill area on a snowy May 3. This one put in the extra effort for a snack.
Calgarians traded in their slickers and umbrellas for parkas and mittens after rain turned to snow overnight, transforming the city into a winter wonderland Saturday morning.

Heather Smith, a meteorologist with the weather agency, said the snow was being generated by a strong low pressure system in the pacific pushing moisture into the province combined with an arctic high ushering in cold air.

"It's a stagnant weather pattern and not much is changing," Smith said on Saturday. "It will snow on and off for the next few days."

The spring snowstorm forced city officials to cancel the 47th annual pathway and river cleanup event, which had been scheduled for Sunday morning. Approximately 2,900 volunteers had been set to pick up thousands of garbage along 200 kilometres of pathway, the river's edge, and in city parks.

The event has been moved to May 25th.

      Read More...
Ice Cube

Slow ice melt on the Great Lakes could lead to chilly summer

Keith Matheny
Detroit Free Press
Thu, 01 May 2014 12:49 UTC
Image
© Photo: Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press
A freighter makes its way along after passing under the Mackinac Bridge on April 15. The shipping season is off to a very slow start because of unseasonably heavy ice.
The Winter of 2013-14 demands that it be remembered.

A relatively cool spring will give way to a colder-than-usual summer locally, all because of the continuing impacts of the intensely frigid, snowy winter, scientists said. And at least one Great Lakes ice researcher thinks that the domino effect could continue into a chilly fall and an early start to next winter - and beyond.

The reason is the unusually late ice cover that remains on the Great Lakes. Heading into May, the Great Lakes combined remain 26% ice-covered, with Lake Superior still more than half-blanketed in ice. By comparison, at this time last spring the lakes were less than 2% covered with ice.

The remaining levels of ice cover are amazing, said Jia Wang, an ice climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor.

"This prolonged winter will affect summer temperatures. This summer will be cold, and then a cooler fall," he said.

In addition to wreaking havoc on the Great Lakes shipping industry and impacting fish and other aquatic species, the miles of ice cover serve as a vast, white reflector.

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Binoculars

Rare nonmigratory Arctic bird seen on Point Peninsula, New York

Todd Moe
northcountrypublicradio.org
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 14:30 UTC
Image
© Jeff Bolsinger.
A Willow Ptarmigan along eastern Lake Ontario. The sighting this week is a first for New York State.
Carloads of birders from across the region have visited the shore of Lake Ontario, near Watertown, over the last few days hoping to glimpse a rare avian visitor from the Arctic tundra.

Late last week, Eugene Nichols was birding near Point Peninsula and found an all white bird that didn't belong in northern New York. Nichols contacted Jeff Bolsinger, a bird biologist at Fort Drum, who confirmed that it's a Willow Ptarmigan. Bolsinger says the bird normally lives only in northern Canada and Alaska. He says the sighting this week is the first documented sighting of a Willow Ptarmigan in New York State, and the second recorded in the lower 48 states in a century.

Bolsinger told Todd Moe he's not sure how the bird ended up this far south, but it's become an instant celebrity in the birding community.

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Binoculars

Rare Arctic Ross's gull found in Torbay, Newfoundland


vocm.com
Thu, 01 May 2014 15:33 UTC
Image
© Bruce Mactavish
Ross's Gull at Torbay, Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland
Birdwatchers in Torbay had a treat this week when a rare Ross's Gull was spotted. Bird expert Bill Montevecchi says the seagull is recognizable for its pink colour, making it perhaps the flashiest gull on the water. Montevecchi says the bird, along with many European golden plovers, have made it here because they have been blown off-course by strong northerly and northeasterly winds.

He says birders looking for rarities are watching the weather. He says these winds are the most interesting because that's how European birds wind up here.

Montevecchi says for birds blown off course, Newfoundland is a welcome rest for them before they get back on their way.

He says a lot of the birds probably don't make it, and perish in the ocean. But for the ones who do, they get a chance to refuel. He says they most likely do get back on track after they rest.

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Ice Cube

Wind pushes 8-foot high ice slab ashore on Keweenaw Peninsula, Lake Superior damaging property

Angie Jackson
mlive.com
Fri, 02 May 2014 13:55 UTC
Image
© National Weather Service
Strong winds on Lake Superior pushed a mass of ice against homes and outhouses in the Keweenaw Peninsula along Big Traverse Bay on Monday, April 28.
Strong winds on Lake Superior this week slowly edged an 8-foot mass of ice against outhouses and homes on the Keweenaw Peninsula, an event that meteorologists say is rare for the area.

Dave Petrovich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Negaunee Township, said outbuildings and other structures along Big Traverse Bay were damaged Monday, April 28, when easterly winds stronger than 27 mph pushed the ice mass to shore.

"It was moving this mass of ice westward, not very fast mind you, but inexorably when it got to the eastern shores," Petrovich said. "The ice itself was not like the thick ice skating rink ice that you would imagine on a lake."

Petrovich said the slow and steady ice formation called ice shelving isn't unheard of - there have been other recent formations in Gladstone that moved into a city park, he said - but it is rare for Lake Superior, which was still about over 60 percent covered when the ice mass formed.

"They happen quite regularly when the conditions are like this," Petrovich said. "In recent history we've not had as much ice."
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Ice Cube

Will Lake Superior still be ice-covered in June?

Mike Creger
Duluth News Tribune
Thu, 01 May 2014 13:40 UTC
Image
© NASA photo
A photo of Lake Superior taken on April 20 with NASA’s Aqua satellite shows an ice-coverage level of about 67 percent.
Duluth's corner of Lake Superior on Wednesday was a curio cabinet of strange times on the lake this spring.

Seven lakers bore through gloppy ice and passed under the Aerial Lift Bridge during the noon hour. It was a sign of how slow-going things have been on the lake because of lingering ice and, earlier this week, gale warnings. Strong wind blew in ice from the eastern part of the lake, and areas off shorelines 15 miles north and south of Duluth were cluttered with a soup of ice, tree trunks and other detritus.

"It's fun," said a hustling Beth Duncan at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitors Center, near the lift bridge in Canal Park. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park ranger was on the loudspeakers inside and out, calling out facts about each ship for the few dozen boat watchers braving a pelting rain and the handful inside the museum. The Canadian ship Thunder Bay had just passed through - the third ship in 15 minutes - and she was gathering information on four more ships lined up in the distance, painted with mist and fog.

She said it was unique that seven ships in succession slipped into Duluth. It was more like a Tall Ships festival than everyday shipping business.
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Snowflake Cold

Unexpected snowfall kills 2,000 hectares of crops in Adjara, Georgia

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Fri, 02 May 2014 13:24 UTC
Image
Most of the perennial crops grown on 2000 hectares (5,140 acres) died due to snowfall, said correspondent Levan Bolkvadze.

"As a result of an unexpected snowfall, which hit the mountainous regions of Adjara on April 22 affected 200 hectares of vineyards, 650 hectares of walnut (of which 120 grow large varieties), as well as 600 hectares and 650 hectares of persimmon stone fruits (tkemali,)" said Bolkvadze.

According to Bolkvadze, 70 percent of those vineyards under the snow will not yield this year, walnuts will give only 20 % of the expected yield, and the persimmon do not even ripen - the trees are just green leaves.
Adjara is an autonomous republic in the southwestern corner of Georgia, bordered by Turkey to the south and the eastern end of the Black Sea.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hectare is defined as 10,000 square metres (100 m by 100 m). An acre is about 0.4047 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.
Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link.
      Read More...
Ice Cube

Antarctic sea ice extent 50% above previous record

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Thu, 01 May 2014 11:29 UTC
Image
© NASA/GRACE team/DLR/Ben Holt Sr.
Have you read about this startling news in the mainstream media?

If Antarctic sea ice had shrunk by even a minuscule .000001 percent, the media would be all over it.

Why is Antarctic sea ice growing at such a rapid rate?

Image
"Antarctic sea ice has been growing rapidly over the last 30 years, because Antarctica is getting colder," says Steven Goddard website

Antarctic_Sea_Ice-28Apr2014

April 28 Antarctic sea ice area anomaly 50% above the previous record

Thanks to George Martinez for this link.

Source: arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu
      Read More...
Fish

Thousands of dead fish along Wisconsin shorelines after harsh winter


Star Tribune
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 07:01 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Daily Tribune Media
In this photo taken April 28, 2014, a pair of dead fish lies in the sand along the East shoreline of Lake Petenwell in Rome, Wis. Thousands of dead fish are washing up on the shores of some central Wisconsin lakes.
Thousands of dead fish are washing up on the shores of some central Wisconsin lakes.

Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources says the phenomenon is likely the result of thick ice that trapped fish in waters with low oxygen, Daily Tribune Media reported (http://bit.ly/1rB4iJ6 ) Monday.

"They're all over the lake, probably thousands and thousands," said Rome bar owner Tom Koren.

Residents near Lake Petenwell are seeing a second unusual sight - pelicans have come to scoop up the dead carp, walleye and other fish.

"We don't normally have pelicans here," resident Jim Kiehl said. "Then, I saw dead fish lying on the bank."

DNR Fish Team supervisor Justine Hasz says it's likely the pelicans are turning up because their normal staging grounds on Lake Michigan are still frozen.

The DNR expects the cold winter will result in more dead fish in lakes throughout the state. The department expects winter kill to be worst in shallower, backwater areas. Castle Rock Lake also may have been hit hard, Hasz said.

Hasz said the DNR planned to investigate the issue further on Tuesday.

Source: Associated Press
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Igloo

Amusing tales of the warmist fantasy and other Smithsonian climate scare stories

James Delingpole
Breitbart
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 07:23 UTC
Too Warm for Golf!
© Breitbart
The Smithsonian Institution - established in 1846 "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge" - has weighed into the debate on climate change. And the news is grim.

Soon golfers in hotter parts of the world - such as Arizona - may find themselves unable to play a round. Indeed, according to one expert, quoted in the Smithsonian's online journal, that moment has already arrived.
"When I worked in Atlanta it was hot and humid, but there was never a day I couldn't go outside and hit a tennis ball," says Royal Norman, a meteorologist for station KTVK. "But there are days here where I'm never outside except to get in and out of my car."
But this is only the beginning of the horror of the burning hell we can expect to experience as a result of climate change, according to The Smithsonian - a world-renowned science institution which no way would prostitute its reputation by running some half-baked article in its house magazine based on little more than a few desperate quotes and some dodgy, parti-pris research from politicised university departments cherry-picked by an author to support his tendentious thesis.

Here are a few more of the tragedies that lie ahead.
      Read More...
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