Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake Cold

Two cold temperature records broken in Saskatchewan, Canada

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© Neil Longmuir/Global News
Environment Canada says a couple of cold temperature records were established on the May long weekend in Saskatchewan. It released a weather summary early Monday morning.

An arctic high pressure ridge settled over southern areas of the province last night producing clear conditions and widespread frost.

A new record low temperature was set in North Battleford at -4.5°C. The previous mark was set in 1895 at -3.3°C.

Swift Current also broke a record at -5.9°C, beating out -5.6°C, which was set in 1923.

The federal agency says these figures may be preliminary and do not constitute a final report.

Snowflake Cold

More snow in autumn shows that South Africa is in for a very cold winter

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Snow on the mountains in Elliot, Eastern Cape
Warnings of a bitterly cold winter this year is fast becoming a reality for South Africans, as snow fall was reported again this weekend in the higher parts of the country and Lesotho on Sunday, 10 May.

Snow fall was reported to Snow Report SA's Facebook page by travellers on the Sani Pass in KwaZulu-Natal, and from Lesotho's AfriSki Mountain Resort.

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Snow at Sani Mountain Lodge

Ice Cube

Hailstorm with golf ball sized hail causes injuries in Germany

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Residents described seeing large hailstones
At least nine people have been injured and dozens of homes damaged in a hailstorm in southern Germany.

There were reports of hailstones the size of golf balls in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Winds of up to 120 km/h (75mph) were reported on Wednesday night and residents near the Bavarian city of Augsburg spoke of seeing a tornado.

Roofs were badly damaged, blocks of flats had to be evacuated and a local school had to be closed on Thursday.


Snowflake

8 inches of snow falls in May in Flagstaff, Arizona

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© National Weather ServiceThe National Weather Service office in Bellemont just west of Flagstaff had received 8.4 inches of snow from the storm through late Friday afternoon.
May is looking like March in Flagstaff -- and the National Weather Service in Bellemont is right in the middle of it.

The most recent storm to roll through the Flagstaff stalled over the Weather Service office early Friday, dumping more than 8 inches of snow into its gauge through 5 p.m.

"It's always good to see rain and snow this late in the season," said Brian Klimowski of the National Weather Service. "Every storm we get like this helps push back the onset of our fire season."

Meanwhile, just to the east, Flagstaff's Pulliam Airport recorded just 0.3 inches of snow along with a half-inch of rain.

The snow was coming down so fast early Friday morning that snowplows were dispatched to the I-40 and I-17 corridors.


Bizarro Earth

Scientists image gravity waves through atmosphere

Gravity Waves
© Hanli Liu, NCARA model simulation illustrates how gravity waves kicked off by a cyclone east of Australia build as they travel toward space.
Whether it's a drunk camper diving carelessly into a river, or a mass of air rising over a mountain, the rule is the same: What goes up must come down.

With respect to the latter, the rising and falling of air also generates gravity waves. While such atmospheric changes usually only have a regional impact on the lower atmosphere, these ripples can stretch all across the globe in the upper atmosphere and their impact is far more dramatic.

For the first time, researchers have found a way to observe what happens when gravity waves rise towards into the upper atmosphere. A team of researchers at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research led by Senior Scientist Hanli Liu improved upon the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model, pushing it to a resolution fine enough to pick up small gravity waves at their source.

Previously able to clearly view only phenomena that were 2,000 kilometers across, they are now able to view gravity waves when they are still relatively small—only 200 kilometers across—and accurately model how this activity appears later in the upper atmosphere.

Bizarro Earth

Mother's Day blizzard underway in South Dakota

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© South Dakota DOT/Handout/ReutersSnow covers the ground off Interstate 90 east of Sturgis, South Dakota, in this view from a highway camera taken Sunday.
Blizzard Warnings are in place for parts of South Dakota through 6:00 p.m. Sunday evening. Elsewhere Winter Storms Warnings are in effect that include the panhandle of Nebraska.

Area's in the panhandle, such as Chadron, could see more than a foot of the white stuff by the time all is said and done. Meanwhile, the Black Hills and Rapid City, SD could see up to two feet of snow! Winds are going to be whipping it around as well, they could see gusts near 60 mph.

This is a very late season storm, likely to break records. You'll remember back to the blizzard of October 2013 when western South Dakota and Nebraska panhandle picked up unprecedented snowfall. Some areas saw over four feet. The early season storm was to blame for weeks-long power outages and the deaths of millions of cattle and livestock. Our own Brad Sugden was working in the area at the time covering that blizzard.

Comment: A YouTuber posted the following video about the blizzard: "It's May...and last week it was in the 70's...today it's 30 and we have over a foot of snow!"







Snowflake

May snowstorm dumps over a foot of snow on South Dakota's Black Hills

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The white stuff.
A May snowstorm has dumped more than a foot of snow in South Dakota's Black Hills.

Meteorologist Kyle Carstens of the National Weather Service in Rapid City says between 10 to 18 inches of snow already has fallen in the Black Hills as of Sunday morning. Snowfall could total 20 to 24 inches by the time the system passes.

Rapid City reports 8 to 11 inches of snow and could see a foot.

Carstens says the snow is not unusual for this time of year. He says this is the wettest time of the year for the Rapid City area, and temperatures have been hovering just below freezing.

Carstens says many roads have deep slush, but the snow won't stay. Temperatures are expected to reach the 60s by mid-week.

Source: Associated Press

Snowflake Cold

New cold climate to devastate global agriculture within a decade

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Crops damaged by snow.
The Space and Science Research Corporation (SSRC) announces today that the predicted new cold climate will soon begin to end the historic era of growth in US and global agricultural output that began after the end of World War II. Specifically, as a result of recent events on the Sun and changes in the Earth's climate, the SSRC again warns that record crop yields and volume in the US and Canadian corn, wheat, and soybean belts are about to end. The SSRC expects the first substantial damage could be observed at any time but certainly within the next ten years.

This new announcement is based on a well researched set of new climate trends of oceanic and atmospheric temperatures, and solar activity.

The SSRC believes as long as the Sun continues its solar hibernation (a once every 206 year cold climate event) that we are on the precipice of a long term drop in global temperatures. It is entirely possible that the decades-long period of record global agricultural output that our world has enjoyed will soon be over, perhaps for many decades.

Snowflake Cold

Heavy snowfall in the Irkutsk region of Russia

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The weather on May 2 in Irkutsk.
The month of May began with hail and snow.

Today, May 2, in some areas of Irkutsk was at one degree, with snow.

Yesterday almost the entire territory of the Irkutsk region had heavy snowfall . Especially in the evening, snow fell abundantly in Slyudyanka area.

On social networks, perturbed Irkutsk citizens have asked if they could return to April, because it was warmer than it is now.

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link

Snowflake

Severe weather warning for snow in May in Scotland

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© PA A Yellow snow warning for Scotland has been issued which may affect parts of the A9.
A severe weather warning for snow which could make higher roads hazardous was issued today by the Met Office.

It said accumulations of up to 20cm (8in) were likely, mainly above 400m but possibly as low as 300m, with drifting caused by strong easterly winds.

Main routes which could be affected include the A9 around the Drumochter pass, the A82 north of Tyndrum and the A87 west of Invergarry.

The agency warned: "The public should be aware of the risk of difficult driving conditions on higher roads.