Extreme Temperatures
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Blackbox

Siberian Crater Mystery: Are Exploding Gas Pockets Really to Blame?

crater on the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia
© Itar-Tass/ZumaA crater on the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia. Scientists aren't sure what caused these craters to form in the Siberian Arctic, where the permafrost is thawing.
Is the Siberian permafrost exploding? Recent reports out of the Arctic Circle suggest that methane pockets are erupting and causing huge craters, but scientists aren't so sure that these features are necessarily the result of detonations — or that they are even new.

A Siberian Times article suggested that 7,000 underground gas bubbles are set to "explode" on the peninsulas of Yamal and Gydan as a result of melting permafrost. The article differentiates these small gas bubbles from enormous craters in the tundra landscape, but asserts that the huge craters are the result of subsurface methane gas exploding as global warming heats up Earth. That is far from certain, scientists told Live Science. In fact, the craters may be thousands of years old.

"These craters are recently discovered by scientists," said Katey Walter Anthony, a biogeochemist at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, who studies methane release from permafrost. "It doesn't mean they are new."

Comment: Is there something much bigger happening on our planet? Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection


Umbrella

Spring snow falls in Madrid, Spain

Snow in Madrid, Spain
© YouTube/Rafael New
Fuerte nevada a mediodía en Madrid el 23 de marzo de 2017.

Strong snow blizzard in Madrid March 2017...Springtime!! :)


Comment: Spain experiences its heaviest snowfall in 35 years


Snowflake

Ottawa, Ontario breaks 145-year snow record

Ottowa snow
© Ottowa Sun
Yes, the fresh blanket of snow in the morning can be a soulful experience.

But, at some point, it must be said, the beauty disappears, and a snowy vista prompts a negative response.

We would venture to say that moment has been reached in the capital area. We're getting more than a little tired of setting records.

More than 20 cm of snow fell across the region Friday, more in some places, making it the snowiest March 24 in history, according to one veteran observer.


The "YOW Weather Records" Twitter account said it was Ottawa's snowiest Mar 24 since records began in 1872.

Meanwhile...If the forecasters are to be believed, we're finally going to get some TRUE spring-type weather. Or, at least warmer.

Arrow Down

Drought fake news update - It's all about money and power

A few months ago, the fake news New York Times and fake governor Jerry Brown announced the California Permanent Drought.
Jerry Brown
California is having their second wettest year on record, and precipitation has increased slightly over the last 120 years.

Rainfall Graph

Fireball

Earth's worst-ever mass extinction of life holds 'apocalyptic' warning about climate change, say scientists

earth
Runaway global warming saw the planet's average temperature hit about double what it is today about 250 million years ag
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Researchers studying the largest-ever mass extinction in Earth's history claim to have found evidence that it was caused by runaway global warming - and that the "apocalyptic" events of 250 million years ago could happen again.

About 90 per cent of all the living things on the planet were wiped out in the Permian mass extinction - described in a 2005 book called When Life Nearly Died - for reasons that have been long debated by scientists.

Comment: Aha! Finally a reasoned voice who admits that we have to 'wait and see' but that we are definitely in for some seriously dangerous and destructive weather patterns, which he probably concluded by checking the monthly Sott Earth Changes Summary!


Ice Cube

'Ice volcanoes' erupting on shores of the Great Lakes

Ice volcanoes were visible Wednesday on the Lake Erie shore at Evangola State Park.
© Robert Kirkham/Buffalo NewsIce volcanoes were visible Wednesday on the Lake Erie shore at Evangola State Park.
In a rare March appearance, a phenomenon of nature known as ice volcanoes formed on the shores of a few Great Lakes and began erupting this week in plumes of sand, water, ice and, yes, even fish, according to The Buffalo News.

Dave McCoy, an environmental educator at Evangola State Park in New York, told the News that more than two-dozen ice volcanoes sprung up along Lake Erie's shoreline for the fourth time this winter season.

"I've never seen them form in March," McCoy told the News.

They also formed on Lake Superior and Lake Ontario, the latter shown in video provided by The Weather Network:


Cloud Precipitation

Lanzarote in the Canary Islands turns white after freak hail shower

hail cover
Lanzarote turned white on Sunday, after a hail storm turned parts of Teguise and Tinajo white.

The surprise weather came after a weather warning for heavy rain was issued for the area. However the rain fell as hail in a number of places, creating the wintry scene.


Igloo

Northern Manitoba town desperate for groceries after series of blizzards

Snow in Churchill, Manitoba
© Keith McDougal/YouTubeChurchill has been under a local state of emergency since March 10, after the area was hit with 60 cm of snow over three days.

Comment: According to the Canadian Press, after three weeks of blizzards, the first food arrived in Churchill, Manitoba on Tuesday.


Another winter blizzard is hitting the remote northern Manitoba community of Churchill, where people are already desperate for groceries that have been delayed since the last blizzard two weeks ago.

But there could be relief as soon as Monday afternoon, if the train can get all the way through to the town of about 900 residents.

OmniTrax, the Denver-based company that owns the rail line that brings supplies into Churchill, cleared the tracks and is trying to get supplies delivered as soon as possible. A train with supplies departed from the northern Manitoba town of Gillam, about 270 kilometres southeast of Churchill, at around noon Monday.

"A lot of families are suffering because they have young children and they need milk," said local resident Lana Bilenduke. No bread or vegetables are for sale at the local store and meat is scarce, she said. "Everyone's in a crisis until we get our groceries in."

Empty grocery shelves in Churchill, Manitoba
© Lana BilendukeLocals say there is hardly any meat left at the one store in Churchill.

Arrow Down

Most of South Carolina's peach crop lost due to extreme cold weather

Damaged peach blossom
Damaged peach blossom
The freezing temperatures last week killed most of South Carolina's peach crop, but strawberries fared better.

"Peaches are a signature South Carolina crop, and this weather anomaly has devastated peach farmers," said Hugh Weathers, South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture.

South Carolina is the largest peach producing state on the East Coast. The state is second only to California nationally.

Weathers said 85 to 90% of the peach crop was lost last week during the extreme cold weather, and the impact will be felt in lots of areas across the nation.

He said, "The South Carolina peach has a great reputation moving up the East Coast, losing the South Carolina peach this summer will bring some tears to New York City."


Snowflake Cold

Chicago, Illinois an example of emerging Mini Ice Age climates

snow in Chicago
This years weather in Chicago, Illinois, USA is what we can expect for the beginning of an intensifying mini ice age climate. Out of place seasonal weather events as our jet stream shifts due to a weakening magnetic field on the Sun and a weakening magnetosphere here on Earth.


Sources