Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

'Bomb cyclone' leaves frozen wake of destruction and kills 22 in eastern US

people in snow
© Mike SegarManhattan, New York January 4, 2018.
The 'bomb cyclone' cold weather system that hit the US east coast this week has moved on, leaving freezing temperatures and more than 20 dead in its wake.

At least 22 people have died as a result of the extreme conditions, CBS News reports. The casualties include a girl who was hit with a pickup truck whilst sledding in Richmond, Virginia, and a man who was killed by a snow plow, also in Virginia.

The National Weather Service said the "arctic airmass [is] to remain entrenched over the eastern US this weekend."

"Bitterly cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills are likely over the eastern third of the country this weekend," it warned.

Comment: Chicago hasn't seen a cold snap this long (12 days) since 1936 and 1895 before that, with areas reaching 21 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. There's a wind chill warning for the rest of the weekend in the northeast, where temps may drop as low as 45 below with the wind chill:
Daily record lows within reach Sunday morning include (record to beat is shown): Boston (2 degrees below zero); Providence (1 degree below zero); New York City (4 degrees); Philadelphia (4 degrees).

If Philadelphia slips below zero on Sunday morning it would be the first subzero low temperature in the city since 1994.

New York City could record just its second subzero low temperature since 1994 on Sunday morning. The last time the Big Apple was below zero was on Valentine's Day in 2016

Some relief from the cold will arrive in the Midwest on Sunday as temperatures rise to near or above average in most locations. This return to near-average temperatures will sweep into the Northeast by early next week.
The past 2 weeks have seen daily record lows in the area.


Fire

Melted roads and bushfires strike Australia during catastrophic heatwave

australian fire crews
Emergency services in southeast Australia are warning people to stay indoors as a dangerous heatwave batters the country, with temperatures so high that the asphalt on some roads has been melting.

The "catastrophic" hot weather caused a 10km stretch of the Hume Highway, near the Victoria state capital Melbourne, to become soft and sticky, causing havoc for motorists trying to enter the city.

Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania have now declared a total fire ban after blazes on the outskirts of Melbourne raged out of control, destroying buildings and threatening lives.

It took a team of 300 firefighters, 50 trucks and three helicopters to tackle one fire in Victoria's Carrum Downs on Saturday, which threatened dozens of homes.

Attention

Global Weather: Freezing temperatures in China, powerful winds in U.K. and floods in New Zealand mean U.S. is not alone

The road to the Adelboden ski resort in Switzerland, which was swept away by a rain-induced mudslide, on January 5.
© GettyThe road to the Adelboden ski resort in Switzerland, which was swept away by a rain-induced mudslide, on January 5.
The U.S. has been immersed in a "bomb cyclone," the technical meteorological term for the winter storm plaguing the East Coast from Florida to Maine. The weather followed a blustery arctic blast, causing below-freezing temperatures for days and record-breaking lake-effect snow near the Great Lakes.

Extreme weather struck other parts of the world, too. From flooding and snowfall to high wind speeds and waves, here are a few extreme weather conditions happening beyond the I-95 corridor.

Snowflake

Heavy snowfall in Alpine regions leaves 30,000 skiers stranded

The Italian resort of Cervinia had two metres of fresh snow.
© Twitter/Anna G MilanThe Italian resort of Cervinia had two metres of fresh snow.
Winter storms have swept across western Europe, with the blizzard conditions turning chairlifts into swings and leaving thousands of people stranded in ski resorts.

Heavy snowfall saw the avalanche risk raised in Alpine regions across Italy, France and Switzerland, and resulted in the closure of roads and railways leading into popular resorts.

Up to 10,000 tourists were stuck at the Cervinia ski resort in Italy,
local media reported.

At Val Thorens in France, Europe's highest ski resort, local media reported that 20,000 skiers staying in the resort were stuck when the main access road was closed due to avalanche risk.

The Alps stretch for more than 1,000 kilometres across eight Alpine countries, including France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany.


Snowflake Cold

Ice-cold iguanas plunge from Florida trees during winter storm cold snap - UPDATE (VIDEO)

iguana
© Jorge Silva / Reuters
Frozen iguanas are tumbling off their perches in Miami's suburbs, as South Florida and much of the US Southeast are in the grips of a frigid winter storm, as the freezing weather grows in intensity as it moves up the East Coast.

The iguanas were seen dropping from the trees Thursday because they are cold-blooded creatures, and if the temperature drops below 50 degrees, the reptiles become sluggish. If the temperature drops lower than 50, as it has in some parts of South Florida, the creature becomes completely immobilized, according to the Daily News.

The National Weather Service (NWS) reported Thursday morning that some parts of South Florida experienced temperatures below 40 degrees.

Snowflake Cold

Antarctic dry valleys experiencing significant shifts in flora and fauna

In Antarctic dry valleys, early signs of climate change-induced shifts in soil
© Ashley ShawThere are no plants, birds or mammals in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, which are located in the largest region of the Antarctic continent.
In a study spanning two decades, a team of researchers led by Colorado State University found declining numbers of soil fauna, nematodes and other animal species in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the world's driest and coldest deserts. This discovery is attributed to climate change, which has triggered melting and thawing of ice in this desert since an uncharacteristically warm weather event in 2001.

There are no plants, birds or mammals in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, located in the largest region of the Antarctic continent. But microbes and microscopic soil invertebrates live in the harsh ecosystem, where the mean average temperature is below -15 degrees Celsius, or 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Comment: The climate is certainly changing, it's getting colder and weather events are becoming much more intense, but it has nothing to do with the global warming lie and this is becoming clear for all to see, even Al Gore has had to change his tune: Al Gore's Global Warming: 'Bitter cold' is 'exactly what we should expect from the' err 'climate crisis'

The planet experiences periods of cyclical cooling and other more dramatic changes driven by much more massive influences than cow farts and old cars, see:


Snowflake Cold

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Bombogenesis USA - Icy sea flooding - Blizzards rage (VIDEO)

Boston icy floods
© Nancy LaneBilly Carey and Justin Plaza, at right, from Boston Fire Rescue swift water team haul their boat after saving a man from his flooded car on Commercial Wharf during the storm on Thursday, January 4, 2018.
Here we are again same as 2016, Bombogenesis. Once considered rare, now twice in two years. The grand solar minimum is here. Ten thousand flights cancelled, blizzard warnings from Alabama to Maine, Florida swimming pools freeze, NYC snow bound, ocean ice floats in on floods from 100MPH + winds. The amplification begins, 2018 will be the year the world wakes up.


Comment: An update to this report can be found here.

See also:


Binoculars

Rare ivory gull from Arctic turns up in Lake County Fairgrounds, Illinois

An adult ivory gull, pure white with yellow tip on black bill, sits in the parking lot at the Lake County Fairgrounds on Jan. 3, 2018.
© Amar AyyashAn adult ivory gull, pure white with yellow tip on black bill, sits in the parking lot at the Lake County Fairgrounds on Jan. 3, 2018.
If anyone deserves to find an ivory gull at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake, it's Amar Ayyash.

Known throughout the nation as a gull expert and the administrator of the North American Gulls Facebook page, Ayyash of Orland Park has found plenty of rare gulls for birders to look at.

Still, Ayyash said it was pure luck that he discovered on a bitterly cold January day a very rare, small, all-white gull that flew into the parking lot and landed next to his car near several other much more common gull species called herring gulls.

Ivory gulls nest in Russia, Greenland and Canada, and, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, spend winter on icy waters north of Newfoundland. The gull's population is estimated to be at the most 27,000 individuals in the world, according to Birdlife International.

"It's a dream bird," said Ayyash. "It's one of the holy grails. There are not a lot of people who get the chance to find their own ivory gull in the lower 48 states."

Snowflake Cold

15k New Yorkers lose heat, airports close amid 'very serious storm'

New York City
© Benjamin Kanter / Mayoral Photography Office

Thousands of New Yorkers were left in the cold as parts of the city were blanketed under more than a foot of snow. All inbound and outbound flights at JFK and LaGuardia airports were temporarily suspended.

Winter Storm Grayson hit New York City hard Thursday, causing more than 6,500 New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) apartments to lose power. Six NYCHA developments, which house more than 15,000 people, all lost heat, hot water, or both at some point, according to New York City Patch.

Snowflake

Heavy snowfall grips most areas of China (VIDEO)

Aerial photo taken on Jan. 4, 2018 shows the snowy view at the Feicui Lake Park
© Xinhua/Guo ChenAerial photo taken on Jan. 4, 2018 shows the snowy view at the Feicui Lake Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. Many places across China saw snowfall from Wednesday.
Most parts of China experienced snowstorms on Jan 4 with east China's Jiangsu province being covered in snow for the first time this winter.