Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa wakes up to winter wonderland

Lyse Comins
The South African
Wed, 02 Jun 2021 11:37 UTC
Snow
Parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Freestate woke up to a winter wonderland on Wednesday morning after snow dusted the peaks of the Drakensberg mountains and some foothills as well as Harrismith and the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.

Snow seekers are already planning their weekend and berg resorts are expecting demand for accommodation bookings to rise as families seek to take their children to view the snow capped mountains.


Comment: Rare 'Level 5 snow warning' in place for parts of South Africa

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Attention

Delhi, India suffers coldest day in June ever

Sadia Akhtar
Hindustan Times
Wed, 02 Jun 2021 06:19 UTC
India man on river
A dust storm and late-night rain brought Delhi's minimum temperature on Tuesday down to 17.9 degrees Celsius, the lowest ever recorded in June, ensuring that the city continued the trend of breaking some historical weather record every month since August 2020.

According to IMD data, the previous lowest minimum temperature recorded in Delhi in June was 18 degrees Celsius on June 17, 2006.

HT reported last week that the Capital was on a weather barrier-breaking streak for at least the last nine months.

In August 2020, the city recorded 236.5mm rainfall, the highest for the month since 2013. In September, it recorded the warmest month in almost two decades. The Capital's average maximum temperature that month was 36.2 degrees Celsius, breaking the previous record of 36.1 degrees Celsius in 2015. The last time Delhi recorded higher average maximum temperature in September was in 2001, when the mercury soared to 36.3 degrees Celsius.

In October, the city broke a 58-year-old record by clocking a mean minimum temperature of just 17.2 degrees Celsius. In November, it broke an even older record, with the month's mean minimum temperature dropping to 10.2 degrees Celsius, a level last seen in 1949.
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Attention

Oxygen levels declining in hundreds of lakes across US & Europe over last 40 years

Drew Costley
Reuters
Wed, 02 Jun 2021 21:16 UTC
fish die off
© Jennifer Reynolds/The Galveston County Daily News via AP, FileFILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, file photo, Kim Bertini looks over some of the 15,000 dead fish that washed up near her backyard on Lake Madeline in Galveston, Texas. Bertini said she and her husband, Chris, noticed dying fish on a Saturday and woke up the following morning to the dead, floating fish. The Galveston County Daily News reported that experts blame low levels of dissolved oxygen for the fish kill in Lake Madeline. Oxygen levels have dropped in hundreds of lakes in the United States and Europe over the last 40 years, a new study has found.
Oxygen levels have dropped in hundreds of lakes in the United States and Europe over the last four decades, a new study found.

And the authors said declining oxygen could lead to increased fish kills, algal blooms and methane emissions.

Researchers examined the temperature and dissolved oxygen — the amount of oxygen in the water — in nearly 400 lakes and found that declines were widespread. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, found dissolved oxygen fell 5.5 % in surface waters of these lakes and 18.6% in deep waters.

Comment: Overall, our planet is cooling; and so it begs the question: if warming is involved, is the source of heat geothermal? As is the case in Antarctica? It's also notable that during previous periods of climatological and geologic upheaval - as is undoubtedly afoot during our own era - ocean anoxia has been identified as one factor involved in mass extinction events:

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Snowflake Cold

Exceptional snowfall - the biggest in over 2 decades - pummels Patagonia, Argentina

Cap Allon
Electroverse.net
Wed, 02 Jun 2021 16:49 UTC
snow
Ushuaia is a city in Argentina. It is located on the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, the southernmost tip of South America, nicknamed the "End of the World" — for a full week now, historic accumulations of snow have been inundating the city.

The (ongoing) snowstorm delivered more than 50 cm (1.65 ft) of global warming goodness to Ushuaia over the weekend alone, and has dumped over a meter (3.3+ feet) since the storm began around a week ago.

"We have not had a record of such a large snowfall for more than two decades," said Cristian Elías, the region's Civil Defense coordinator, and as reported by ambito.com.

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Arrow Down

29-year-old mountaineer 'in prime of life' falls to death near Telluride, Colorado


Out There Colorado
Tue, 01 Jun 2021 13:50 UTC
aval
A 29-year-old man from Telluride was found deceased on Monday in high-altitude terrain approximately 3.5 miles north of town.

Identified as Patrick Eells and as an experienced mountaineer, Eells was hiking alone on the Dallas-Gilpin ridge near Telluride when he took an apparent fall. It is believed that the traumatic injuries sustained from the fall resulted in his death.

Eells was reported missing by his girlfriend on Sunday night around 11 PM after he failed to return from a trip to the mountains. He had told his girlfriend he was going for a run on the Sneffels Highline with the possibility of summiting Mount Emma at 13,581 feet above sea level. After Eells was reported missing, a Search and Rescue mission launched early on Monday with approximately a dozen crew and aerial support. Eells was located by 2 PM and determined to be deceased, prompting a recovery mission.

The San Miguel County Sheriff said the following of the incident: "We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Eells who so clearly was in the prime of his life."
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Arrow Down

39 died in avalanches in France last winter - nearly double the average for last 50 years


Planetski
Wed, 02 Jun 2021 13:39 UTC
aval
It is much higher than previous years and is nearly double the average over the past 50 years. Covid-19 restrictions, the growth in ski touring and unstable snow are to blame.

With ski lifts closed in France there was comparatively little precautionary measures taken to trigger avalanches and make slopes/ski areas safe.

Many people also took to ski touring in the off piste - some without the necessary skills, training and safety equipment.

In addition there was a highly unstable snow pack, particularly in January.

See here for the full statistics from the National Association for Snow and Avalanche Research (ANENA).
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Snowflake

Best of the Web: FOUR metres of snow dumped on Mount Hutt Ski Area in New Zealand over 2 days


Star News
Wed, 02 Jun 2021 11:36 UTC
Four to five metres of fresh snow has fallen at Mt Hutt Ski Area over the last two days.
Four to five metres of fresh snow has fallen at Mt Hutt Ski Area over the last two days.
Mt Hutt has had a dumping of fresh snow and ice as the severe weather sweeps across the South Island.

Two to three months of rain pelted Canterbury in the space of a few days in the deluge.

Mt Hutt Ski Area manager James McKenzie said four to five metres of snow fell at the summit between Monday and Tuesday.

About 40-50cm has also fallen at the base.

He said they were having access issues getting to the top of the mountain and took a helicopter up.

"It was pretty impressive, right up to the top of our big wind fence up there.

"The Hutt is pretty much buried in snow at the summit."

McKenzie said the snow at the summit is crusted with ice.


Comment: Related: New Zealand - Emergency declared after floods in Canterbury - up to 11 inches of rain in 21 hours

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Snowflake

Rare 'Level 5 snow warning' in place for parts of South Africa

Tom Head
The South African
Tue, 01 Jun 2021 14:06 UTC
Snowy road
Brace yourselves, winter is... well, it's not just coming. It's actually here. A cold snap has embedded itself in the central interior of the country, but chillier conditions are yet to reach us here in South Africa. Through Wednesday 2 June, a lesser-spotted 'Level 5 snow warning' will be in place for several rural regions.

The SA Weather Service made the announcement on their social media pages earlier this afternoon. In total, four districts have been slapped with an 'orange alert', due to potentially disruptive snow showers. Mountain passes along the Drakensberg Range expected to be closed ahead of schedule, and drivers are asked to make alternative plans.

The Level 5 snow warning has been implemented across these locations in the Eastern Cape:
  • Senqu / Barkly East
  • Elundini and Maclear
  • Matatiele
  • Sakhisizwe / Elliot
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Attention

Adelaide in Australia shivers through coldest May morning in almost 100 years

Robert W. Felix
Ice Age Now
Mon, 31 May 2021 12:55 UTC
cold
For some reason, the adelaide.com headlined that it was the coldest May morning in Melbourne in 70 years. You have to read almost to the bottom of the article before finding that it was the coldest May morning in Adelaide since 1927.

__________

From adelaiade.com

It was a frosty morning across southeast Australia, with many inland places plunging well below zero and Adelaide dipping to 3.5C — the equal coldest May morning since 1927.

Meanwhile, Melbourne shivered through its coldest May morning in more than 70 years, the Bureau of Meteorology said on Sunday.

Temperatures fell to 1.7C, which is the lowest for the city since mid last century.
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Attention

Record cold across Northeast US dating back to the 1800s

Robert W. Felix
Ice Age Now
Mon, 31 May 2021 12:28 UTC
DREARY
Dozens - more likely hundreds - of cold records were broken or shattered on Saturday.

Many locations broke daily low temperature records, while others shattered lowest daily high temperature records.

Some of these records for lowest high temperature dated back to the 1800s.

For some reason unfathomable to me, AccuWeather forces you to muddle through several rambling unimportant paragraphs before you get to the heart of this story, which is:

Record cold across a huge expanse of the northern tier
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