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Extreme TemperaturesS
There is four times as much ice on the Great Lakes as there was 20 years ago. Experts say that global warming is to blame.
The EPA wants to ban fossil fuels, because they are making lake ice disappear in the US
© Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society/József Mészáros and Dénes LaczikSnowy owl
The owl was photographed at the settlement of Bóly in Baranya county, after which bird-watchers from the ornithological society travelled to the scene to verify the sighting. Subsequently, several observers arrived to the area and a large number of good-quality photographs were taken.
© Kiichiro Sato/AP
Ice and snow lead to record freeze in the USA
Ice and snow lead to record freeze in the USA
A bitterly cold chill known as the "Siberian Express" has enveloped much of eastern America, sending temperatures plummeting up to 40 degrees below their normal February levels to record lows in at least 100 places.
Southern states such as Tennessee and Kentucky suffered some of the most extreme drops on the thermometer as bone-chilling air from Siberia settled on the region after snowstorms passed through.
The relentless cold has blanketed the country's north-east for weeks, alternating heavy snowfall with spells of clear but gnawingly chilly skies.
In New York's Central Park, temperatures were expected to fall to -17C, but that was before a windchill factor with gusts that made it feel another 10 degrees colder. The city is on course for its coldest February in history.
Turkish Airlines cancelled all domestic flights in and out of Istanbul Atatürk International Airport on Thursday morning, due to heavy snowfall.
Turkey's largest city İstanbul was hit by a storm that has dumped up enormous amounts of snow in some areas, wreaking havoc on roads. The depth of the snow reached its deepest on İstanbul's European side neighborhood of Çatalca at 70 centimeters.
Turkey's national carrier, the Turkish Airlines (THY), canceled its some flights on Thursday, both domestic and international, due to the two-day snowstorm. A list of canceled flights is available on the THY website. İstanbul authorities also closed some ferry lines on Thursday.
© Kathryn Reed-GarrettSummerside PEI
OMGosh!!!! - this is Summerside PEI this morning!! photo from CBC New Brunswick pic.twitter.com/MwpUuy2h57Snow always makes driving more difficult, but in Prince Edward Island, so much of it has fallen many people can't even find their cars.
A winter storm has dropped almost a metre of snow in the past few days, and it's often hard to see where the road ends and the ditch begins. On some rural roads, snowbanks are piled three times higher than the people standing next to them.
The Journal Pioneer reported that some residents dug an eight-metre-long tunnel to try to find their car under white stuff piled two storeys high. The island itself is nearly invisible when viewed from space, as satellite images show.
This next push of arctic air is expected to bring air that is just as cold, or even colder than the air that brought subzero lows to the Midwest and Northeast during the weekend.
Millions will shiver from Chicago to New York City as record lows are challenged during this bitter blast. Records may also fall across parts of the South where temperatures manage to fall into the teens and single digits.
Some southern cities forecast to dip into the teens or lower include Birmingham, Alabama; Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Nashville and Atlanta.
Floridians will even experience a taste of the arctic chill with temperatures dipping down to the lower 30s in cities such as Orlando, Melbourne and Daytona Beach.
The worst of the cold is expected to focus over the East for Thursday into Friday.
In the mid-Atlantic, some daily record lows set during the late-1800s will be challenged.
AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures below 0 F will be common across the regions during the daytime hours, including cities along the Interstate 95 corridor. These values can then drop by as much as 20 degrees during the overnight hours, making for a bitterly cold morning commute.
Snow showers are also likely to develop downwind of the Great Lakes late in the week even though the lakes are quickly becoming covered in ice.
Temperatures can be very dangerous, and possibly even life threatening during this arctic outbreak.
© NOAAGreat Lakes ice cover continues to grow rapidly, now surpassing the amount of ice at this time last year.
The total ice cover on the Great Lakes is now rated at 82.3 percent as of Tuesday. On the same date last year, the Great Lakes had 81.6 percent total ice cover.
The Great Lakes ice cover has grown over 5 percent in the past 24 hours. That's about 4,750 square miles of ice overnight. At that pace of ice growth, the Great Lakes would be almost totally iced over in the next four days.
The blast of arctic cold tonight through Friday will certainly help ice continue to grow.
The cold will come with a 10 mph to 20 mph wind, which could temporarily break up and reduce some ice. But the light wind days in the next 10 days also look very cold.
So it's going to be very interesting to watch the ice expand in the next few weeks.
From the bitter cold weather I'm expecting to head our way, combined with several days of light winds, I think we will surpass last year's total ice cover on the Great Lakes. In fact, I'm wondering if we could see the Great Lakes almost totally ice up by the end of February.
Comment: It sure isn't getting any 'warmer' is it? Read the book Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection to learn more about this topic. The New Ice Age might be just around the corner:
- New Ice Age 'to begin in 2014'
- Reflections on the Coming Ice Age
- Russian Scientist: New Ice Age to Begin in 2014
- Indian space scientists fear the return of a 'mini ice age'
Niagara Falls has frozen over due to temperatures which dropped to 16F on Wednesday
Among those beautiful sights is Niagara Falls, which has now frozen over due to temperatures which dropped to 16F on Wednesday.
And it looks like the popular tourist destination may stay frozen, as temperatures are expected to drop even lower come Thursday.
Barely a week after the last snowstorm pounded Turkey, another is bringing snow across much of the country as a trough of low pressure digs southward.
Moisture being pulled to the north from the Mediterranean Sea will combine with cold air from Russia to produce a widespread and long-lived snowstorm.
While western Turkey was hit hard by the previous storm, the worst of this snowstorm is expected to occur across central and east-central Turkey.
The higher terrain of northwestern Turkey can still get a significant snowfall, while Istanbul experiences rounds of snow squalls.
Additional accumulating snowfall is expected in Istanbul Tuesday night through Thursday. Rain will mix with the snow at times, especially during the afternoon hours and when light precipitation falls, but snow will be the primary problem.
Snow totals will vary greatly across the Istanbul area; however, the hardest hit areas could get total snowfall of 15-25 cm (6-10 inches) through Thursday. The period of heaviest snowfall is expected on Wednesday when low visibility and snow-covered roadways are expected.
Snow began on Monday across many areas in central and eastern Turkey, but the heaviest snow will fall into Wednesday in areas such as Erzincan and Erzurum. Occasional snow may even continue to fall into Thursday in some places.
Snow accumulations of 13-25 cm (5-10 inches) are expected to be widespread in central Turkey with local amounts in excess of 30 cm (12 inches). In the highest terrain, total accumulations could near 60 cm (24 inches), which is great news for the many ski resorts scattered across the region, but bad news for travelers.
Moisture being pulled to the north from the Mediterranean Sea will combine with cold air from Russia to produce a widespread and long-lived snowstorm.
While western Turkey was hit hard by the previous storm, the worst of this snowstorm is expected to occur across central and east-central Turkey.
The higher terrain of northwestern Turkey can still get a significant snowfall, while Istanbul experiences rounds of snow squalls.
Additional accumulating snowfall is expected in Istanbul Tuesday night through Thursday. Rain will mix with the snow at times, especially during the afternoon hours and when light precipitation falls, but snow will be the primary problem.
Snow totals will vary greatly across the Istanbul area; however, the hardest hit areas could get total snowfall of 15-25 cm (6-10 inches) through Thursday. The period of heaviest snowfall is expected on Wednesday when low visibility and snow-covered roadways are expected.
Snow accumulations of 13-25 cm (5-10 inches) are expected to be widespread in central Turkey with local amounts in excess of 30 cm (12 inches). In the highest terrain, total accumulations could near 60 cm (24 inches), which is great news for the many ski resorts scattered across the region, but bad news for travelers.
© Reuters/Nathan RochfordA man walks near a snow plow after a winter storm hit Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island February 16, 2015. Canadian media reported that 80 cm (2.6 feet) of snow hit the province, breaking a single storm record.
It worked. You win, East Coast. We concede.
Kevin McGrath, a resident of Dieppe, probably wasn't expecting his home video showing off the amount of snow congregating around his house to hit almost 84,000 views on YouTube in two days but that's precisely what happened.
Comment: Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction!