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Extreme TemperaturesS
Arctic sea ice extent is almost exactly "normal."
There has been a huge increase in extent since this date last year.
© John Hodder – Collection CIVC
Unseasonable late April weather damaged vineyards in France and England
French Bordeaux vineyards could lose half of harvest due to frost on Sat May 6, 2017
REUTERS BORDEAUX, France "Bordeaux vineyards in southwest France could lose about half of their harvest this year after two nights of frost damaged the crop at the end of April, a wine industry official said on Saturday. ... Wines from the Cognac, Bergerac, and Lot-et-Garonne regions had also been affected ... 'For Bordeaux wines...we estimate that the impact will be a loss of about 50 percent, depend on how many buds can regrow'".
English vineyards report 'catastrophic' damage after severe April frost
GUARDIAN.COM "Chris White, the chief executive of Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey, said up to 75% of its crop was damaged by last week's sub-zero temperatures: "The temperature dropped to -6C and at that level it causes catastrophic damage to buds," he said. White said staff had worked in vain using special fans and heaters to protect the vineyard, which at 265 acres in the UK's biggest, after an Arctic blast swept across the UK. ... 'It's been a stark reminder of the difficulties faced by wine producers in the country, and yes ... at this moment we are asking ourselves whether we were mad to try and grow vines in England,' said Wenman"
He pointed to the water levels in Jackson Lake and the Bureau of Reclamation's apparent inaction in the face of imminent flooding. According to his estimations, the lake could fill up in as few as 10 days of heavy runoff. If enough water hasn't already been released from the dam by peak runoff, Teton County will end up under water, he argued. His proposed solution was to release as much water from Jackson Lake as possible now in anticipation of the devastating snowmelt.
But it's not that simple, says Bureau of Reclamation water manager Corey Loveland. His job is a balancing act. Releasing all the water now would deprive essential irrigation systems in Idaho down the road (err, river). They must release enough water, Loveland said, to make room for future snowmelt without running the dam dry. And that's precisely what they're doing. "We're balancing filling the reservoir with not flooding people downstream," he said.
Earthquakes were found to be the largest hazard, with the number of people potentially affected jumping from 1.4 billion in 1975 to 2.7 billion in 2015. Now, they say one in three people is exposed to the risk of earthquakes.
In the last few decades, the risk has dramatically increased; the number of people living in seismic areas, for example, has increased by 93 percent in just 40 years.
The findings, compiled in the Atlas of the Human Planet 2017, reveal the global exposure to natural disasters has doubled since 1975, largely as a result of population growth and development.
Additional images
© National Park ServiceTrail Ridge Road covered in snow, as seen in this photo taken on Monday.
The road had been clear of snow this time last week, but the snowstorm that hit the Front Range late last week dumped more snow over the road.
High winds have led to snow drifts, but crews began trying to clear the road today. It is not clear when the road might be re-opened, officials said.
© Ed Hoskins
Each of the notable high points in the Holocene temperature record, (Holocene Climate Optimum - Minoan - Roman - Medieval - Modern), have been progressively colder than the previous high point.
For its first 7-8000 years the early Holocene, including its high point known as the "climate optimum", temperatures have been virtually flat, with an average drop of only ~0.007 °C per millennium.
But the more recent Holocene since a "tipping point" at around 1000BC, 3000 years ago has seen temperature fall at about 20 times that earlier rate at about 0.14 °C per millennium .
The Holocene interglacial is already 10 - 11,000 years old and judging from the length of previous interglacial periods, the Holocene epoch should be drawing to its close: in this century, the next century or this millennium.
"The Modern Warming phase began around 1690 or so," says reader. "This means, if going by past long warm cycles, it is almost over."
"The warmth seems to last around 350 years or so. Not only that, we are near the time for a big dip in the temperature in the Northern Latitudes as well, since they happen around a 1,000 years apart and it has been about a 1,000 years now since the last big dip.
"Notice how they happen right after a long warming phase ends?"
After visiting the Mt. Shasta area to photograph Whitney Glacier (which is growing, by the way), I decided to drive north to Bend, Oregon. According to the map, it looked like I could easily drive along the west side of Crater Lake.
Oops. Maybe not.
As I got closer and closer to the lake, the snowbanks got higher and higher. Can you even see the automobile in this photo?
From the American Museum of Natural History and the "no ice ages here" department:
Fossil beetles suggest that LA climate has been relatively stable for 50,000 years
New radiocarbon dating of La Brea Tar Pits beetles indicates that Southern California's Paleoclimate was very similar to today
Research based on more than 180 fossil insects preserved in the La Brea Tar Pits of Los Angeles indicate that the climate in what is now southern California has been relatively stable over the past 50,000 years.
The La Brea Tar Pits, which form one of the world's richest Ice Age fossil sites, is famous for specimens of saber-toothed cats, mammoths, and giant sloths, but their insect collection is even larger and offers a relatively untapped treasure trove of information. The new study, published today in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews, is based on an analysis of seven species of beetles and offers the most robust environmental analysis for southern California to date.
"Despite La Brea's significance as one of North America's premier Late Pleistocene fossil localities, there remain large gaps in our understanding of its ecological history," said lead author Anna Holden, a graduate student at the American Museum of Natural History's Richard Gilder Graduate School and a research associate at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum. "Recent advances are now allowing us to reconstruct the region's paleoenvironment by analyzing a vast and previously under-studied collection from the tar pits: insects."
© Nancy SmithNancy Smith says: 'Here is a picture of my husband Nelson Smith with Frosty the Snowman on May 2-4 weekend in Mary's Harbour, Labrador.'
About 30 cm (12 inches) of snow fell Roddickton and Englee areas, while about 20 cm fell in La Scie.
Thanks to Terry Homeniuk for this link
Comment: "Smoking gun" on Ice Ages revisited