Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Canada-U.S. border crossing closed at Coutts, Alberta due to winter storm

A highway camera in Montana shows near white-out conditions near Sweet Grass, Mont., at 7:50 p.m. Wednesday
© MDT Travel InfoA highway camera in Montana shows near white-out conditions near Sweet Grass, Mont., at 7:50 p.m. Wednesday
Thursday, November 28th 2019, 9:07 am - Last time storm caused closure was nearly two decades ago, town official says

A winter storm information alert was issued Wednesday evening, warning travellers to turn back if they're headed to the Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta. and Sweet Grass, Mont.

The border crossing was closed at 6:30 p.m. Highway 4 remains open in Canada, but travel is not recommended, while the I-15 is closed from the border to Shelby, Mont., where multiple vehicles have slid off the highway.

"If you come to U.S. Customs, they're turning you back," said Lori Rolfe, the Village of Coutts' chief administrative officer. "We have lots of snow and lots of blowing so visibility is not great."

Rolfe said the closure was extremely unusual — the last time she recalls a similar incident was in 2000.

Sun

How the sun affects temperatures on Earth: Interview with Professor Valentina Zharkova

400 year of sunspots observations
© NOAA
The sun is going through a stage known as a solar or Maunder Minimum. This is where the solar activity that ignites solar flares or sun spots has decreased. It's a normal cycle and one that has been linked to the mini ice age that lasted more than 50 years starting in the mid-1600s.

According to space weather since 2015, the number of days without a recordable sun spot has been rising year over year. NOAA, NASA and others all appear to agree the sun is entering a solar minimum phase.

What it means is open to interpretation because as Professor William Happer pointed out when I asked him about the growing number of people and agencies that suggest a solar minimum could lead to a cooling off period, he directed me the Danish proverb: "It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future."

It has been suggested that mathematics can establish patterns and back them up with empirical evidence to support a prediction. We reached out to Professor of Mathematics Valentina Zharkova of Northumbria University, one of the first people to raise awareness of the decrease in solar activity, for a Conversation That Matters about the sun, its reduced activity and her reading of the impact it will have on temperatures on earth.


Comment: Professor Valentina Zharkova explains and confirms why a "Super" Grand Solar Minimum is upon us


Snowflake Cold

Heavy snow on one end, 'bomb cyclone' on the other threatens U.S. Thanksgiving travel

A jet passes snow-covered cars parked at Denver International Airport on November 26, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. Flights were delayed and rescheduled due to a winter storm that dropped nearly a foot of snow in the city.
© Joe MahoneyA jet passes snow-covered cars parked at Denver International Airport on November 26, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. Flights were delayed and rescheduled due to a winter storm that dropped nearly a foot of snow in the city.
Heavy snow and wind shut down highways Tuesday in Colorado and Wyoming, closed schools in Nebraska and forced more than 1,000 travelers to sleep overnight in Denver's airport after hundreds of flights were canceled just as Thanksgiving travel moved into high gear.

The storm was heading to South Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, while a "bomb cyclone" weather phenomenon began toppling trees, knocking out power and dumping snow as it barreled into California and Oregon — making for a double whammy of early wintry weather.

Authorities on both sides of the California-Oregon border reported numerous crashes and closed roads. The National Weather Service urged people to wait to travel for the holiday until the weather improves.

At Denver International Airport, about 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow mixed with winds that limited visibility prompted the cancellation of about 30 percent of the airport's average daily 1,600 flights.


Comment: Blizzard slams Denver and Colorado's Front Range - with up to 33 inches of snow dumped, more on the way


Snowflake

Parts of Minnesota get close to a foot of snow

snow
Many Minnesota roads are covered with snow on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday (6:28). WCCO This Morning - November 27, 2019


Snowflake

Heavy snowfall at Lake Tahoe, Mt. Rose gets almost 2 feet, Heavenly a foot and it's still coming down

The view Wednesday morning from near the top of Ski Run Blvd at South Lake Tahoe.
© Bill Rozak / Tahoe Daily TribuneThe view Wednesday morning from near the top of Ski Run Blvd at South Lake Tahoe.
Heavenly Mountain Resort is expected to open today and will do so with about a foot of fresh snow.

The resort received 11 inches of snow Tuesday into Wednesday according to onthesnow.com and it's still snowing at Lake Tahoe.

Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe received almost 2 feet of snow. The resort above Incline Village is reporting 20 inches.

The National Weather Service in Reno is maintaining its winter storm warning through Thursday at 4 p.m.

Until then, 5 to 10 more inches of snow are expected at Lake Tahoe with 10 to 18 inches above 7,000 feet.


Snowflake Cold

FRIGID cold spreads across northeast Russia, down to -54 °C reported in Verhojansk!

record cold air in Russia
An intense Arctic outbreak has developed over parts of Russia lately. During the mid/late November temperatures usually already drop below -25 to -30 °C, but NE parts of Russia have now slipped even more - below -50 °C in the last days! Although such temperatures are nothing off the charts in the region, getting below -50 °C at the end of November is rather extreme even there! While it was still 'only' around -35 °C last week!

The pattern supporting such evolution is led by disturbance of the polar circulation, allowing outbreaks of frigid cold airmass to spread south into Russia. As it happened this time, extremely cold airmass spread into parts of north and northeast Russia. Many areas are experiencing below normal temperatures as 850 mbar temperatures are even below -30 °C, supporting daytime maximum values not higher than -25 °C and mornings below -50 °C!

Snowflake

Blizzard slams Denver and Colorado's Front Range - with up to 33 inches of snow dumped, more on the way

snow
A major snowfall for some areas and significant for others brings the Front Range to a near halt Tuesday morning as snow continues.

Here are some preliminary totals through 10 am Tuesday, which will climb higher in some cases.

09:00 am MST - 11/26/2019 3 NNE DRAKE, CO 33
07:30 am MST - 11/26/2019 4 ENE RED FEATHER LAKES, CO 32
07:00 am MST - 11/26/2019 11 SE ESTES PARK, CO 31.7
06:45 am MST - 11/26/2019 4 WSW DRAKE, CO 29
08:47 am MST - 11/26/2019 1 N GENESEE, CO 24.5
07:00 am MST - 11/26/2019 11 WSW LIVERMORE, CO 24
03:03 am MST - 11/26/2019 1 N MEEKER PARK, CO 24


Snowflake Cold

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Sudden Stratospheric Warming event to freeze Northern Hemisphere with huge ozone hole forming

Heavy snow in Austria
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
Remnants of tropical storm Sebastian slam European Alps dropping five feet of snow and nine inches of rain. Sudden Stratospheric warming event to begin last week of November 2019 and run through first weeks of Jan 2020 dropping temperatures far below normal. During the SSW event a huge ozone hole will form over some of the same locations with extreme UV.


Snowflake Cold

Solar minimum madness: Is this Thanksgiving a preview of the bitterly cold winter to come?

snow plow
This week, three major winter storms will batter most of the country with ice, snow and bitterly cold temperatures just in time for Thanksgiving. It is being projected that 55 million Americans will be traveling this week, and so this bizarre weather comes at a very bad time. But of course we have already seen a series of blizzards roar across the nation in recent weeks and hundreds of record cold temperatures have already been shattered and we are still about a month away from the official start of winter. Normally, it isn't supposed to be this cold or this snowy yet, but we don't live in "normal" times.

Scientists tell us that solar activity becomes very quiet during a "solar minimum", and when solar activity becomes very quiet we tend to have very cold winters. And in recent months solar activity has been very, very low. In fact, we haven't seen any sunspots at all "since November 2"...
We have not seen any sunspots since November 2, and at that time they were only visible for two days, and prior to that no sunspots since October 2.

Snowflake

Still more huge November snowfalls in the Alps - up to 5 feet in 72 hours

snow
It has been another weekend of massive November snowfalls in the Alps, with ski areas reporting up to 1.5 metres (five feet) more snow in the past 72 hours.

The most intensive snowfall was in the Southern Alps, along the French/Italian border, although there was snowfall almost everywhere again, as well as more snow in Bulgaria, the Dolomites, Pyrenees and Scandinavia.

The Italian ski centre of Limone reported nearly 1.5m (five feet) of snow and there was 95cm (just over three feet) for Prato Nevoso - where the pictures used in this report were taken yesterday.

Other areas reporting at least 50cm of fresh snow includes Montgenevre, Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx, Tignes and Isola 2000 in France and Saas Fee in Switzerland - which already had its full 1800 metres of vertical open with a 9km descent - the biggest in the world to open so far.