Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Heavy snow in Japan causes power blackouts and stranded train passengers

heavy snow japan
Over 1,300 passengers spent the night trapped in trains stranded due to power blackouts caused by heavy snowfalls in Japan's northern Niigata Prefecture.

Some 1,350 passengers found themselves spending the night on trains stranded in Japan's northern Niigata Prefecture on Sunday, according to The Japan Times.

The trains were stranded by a power outage resulting from heavy snowstorms.

Comment: Temperatures have been declining for the past 16 years and it looks like that is going to continue, so we will probably be seeing much more of the above scenarios.

30 leading scientists predict global cooling


Snowflake Cold

30 leading scientists predict global cooling

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The Earth is about to begin a steep drop in global temperatures off its present global temperature plateau. This plateau has been caused by the absence of growth in global temperatures for 18 years, the start of global cooling in the atmosphere and the oceans, and the end of a short period of moderate solar heating from an unusually active secondary peak in solar cycle #24.

Average global atmospheric and oceanic temperatures will drop significantly beginning between 2015 and 2016 and will continue with only temporary reversals until they stabilize during a long cold temperature base lasting most of the 2030's and 2040's. The bottom of the next global cold climate caused by a "solar hibernation" (a pronounced reduction in warming energy coming from the Sun) is expected to be reached by the year 2031.

The predicted temperature decline will continue for the next fifteen years and will likely be the steepest ever recorded in human history, discounting past short-duration volcanic events.

Global average temperatures during the 2030's will reach a level of at least 1.5° C lower.


Comment: See also: The Little Ice Age predicted to start in 2014

Last Ice Age took just SIX months to arrive

Ice Ages start and end so suddenly, "it's like a button was pressed," say scientists


Igloo

Mastodons weren't hunted to extinction by Ice Age humans - they simply froze to death, new study finds

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© National PostPaleontology student Hillary McLean pieces together a tusk of an ancient mastodon, part of an extensive discovery unearthed from Snowmass, Colo., inside a workroom at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Despite popular belief that North American mastodons were hunted to extinction by Ice Age humans, a new Canadian-led study is claiming that the prehistoric beasts simply froze to death.

"To think of scattered populations of Ice Age people with primitive technology driving huge animals to extinction, to me is almost silly," said Grant Zazula, chief paleontologist for the Yukon Territory and the study's lead author.

"It's not human nature just to see everything in your path and want to kill it," he said.

The paper, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, carbon dated 36 mastodon bones from across Canada and the United States.

Snowflake

Major snowstorm to plaster Northeast U.S.

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A major storm will impact the Northeast through Thursday, complete with gusty winds, substantial snow, heavy rain, a wintry mix and flooding.

A strengthening storm along the mid-Atlantic coast will push northward on Tuesday, then inland Tuesday night through Thursday.

According to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "This will be a snowstorm for some areas well inland, while impacts similar to a tropical storm will occur along the coast, including much of Interstate-95."

Heavy Interior Snow

The heaviest snow, a general 6 to 12 inches is forecast to fall on the Endless, Catskill and Adirondack mountains. Locally higher amounts can occur.

While the snow will be welcome by those with skiing interests, travel will become extremely treacherous and AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Ben Noll stated that the "wet-clinging nature of the snow could lead to downed trees and power outages."

Comment: Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction!


Igloo

Experts say that record heat causes record ice

Growing Ice
© International Business Times
It is one of the greatest puzzles in the science of climate change, and has been used by skeptics to cast doubt on global warming: Why, when the world is getting hotter, is the Antarctic getting colder?

Now, a scientist thinks she may have uncovered the answer.

Cecilia Bitz, an atmospheric scientist from the University of Washington in Seattle, believes that oceanic currents are taking heat away from Antarctica and carrying it north, reports the Sunday Times.

Snowflake

Northern Hemisphere snow cover this fall the most extensive ever recorded

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© Rutgers Global Snow LabFall snow cover extent in the Northern Hemisphere, 1967 to 2014
Data from Rutgers University Global Snow Lab show that Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent exceeded 22 million square kilometers this fall (September, October, and November) exceeding the previous greatest fall extent recorded in 1976.

During November alone, North America had its most extensive snow cover on record, the Lower 48 had its most extensive snow cover on record, and Canada had its second most extensive snow cover on record,

Not unexpectedly, The Washington Post goes to great lengths to explain why snow cover can increase in a warming world.

Thanks to Jason Cragg for this link

Calendar

New study finds California drought worst in 1,200 years

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© 2014, Daniel GriffinKevin Anchukaitis collects an tree-ring sample from a 300-year old blue oak in California.
The last three years of drought were the most severe that California has experienced in at least 1,200 years, according to a new scientific study published Thursday.

The study provides the state with breathtaking new historical context for its low reservoirs and sinking water tables, even as California celebrated its first good soaking of the season.

Analyzing tree rings that date back to 800 A.D. -- a time when Vikings were marauding Europe and the Chinese were inventing gunpowder -- there is no three-year period when California's rainfall has been as low and its temperatures as hot as they have been from 2012 to 2014, the researchers found.

Kevin Anchukaitis collects an tree-ring sample from a 300-year old blue oak in California. 2014 image by Daniel Griffin.

"We were really surprised. We didn't expect this," said one of the study's authors, Daniel Griffin, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota's department of geography, environment and society.

The report, published in the journal of the American Geophysical Union, was written by researchers at Massachusetts' Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Minnesota.

The scientists measured tree rings from 278 blue oaks in central and southern California. Tree rings show the age of trees, and their width shows how wet each year was because trees grow more during wet years.

The researchers compared the information to a database of other tree ring records from longer-living trees like giant sequoias and bristlecone pines, dating back 1,200 years.

Meanwhile, the rain that California received this week provided a promising start to a winter that water managers say needs to be relentless and drenching to break the drought cycle.

Comment: Read Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection for the science behind the electric universe and the crazy weather we've been having here on the big blue marble.

See also:
SOTT Talk Radio show #70: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?


Snowflake

Waist-deep snow in China with the most severe snowstorm seen in years

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The snow is up to 3 feet (90 cm) deep, leaving residents struggling to open doors.

A blizzard lasting more than 60 hours hit Fuyuan County, a border town in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Thursday.

Local communities banded together to clear snow from roads, and the county government said a contingency plan is in place to relieve economic stresses due to the snow.


Snowflake

First winter snowfall breaks Juneau, Alaska records

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© Matt Miller/KTOOReturn of the berm: Sunday’s record snowfall in Juneau was partially cleared by Monday morning’s commute, but it also brought the return of those familiar white piles.
The National Weather Service says Saturday night's winter storm brought record-setting snowfall to Juneau.

Eight-and-half inches of snow fell at Juneau International Airport over the 24-hour period that ended at midnight on Sunday. That broke a record of 6.3 inches of snow set back in 1946.

Just over 9 inches (9.1) fell at the National Weather Service office on Back Loop Road. That broke the record of 5.4 inches set in 2010.

An 11-year-old record of 5.8 inches of snow at Lena Point was broken with Sunday's snowfall of 9.6 inches.

At Outer Point on Douglas Island 5 inches fell, while 4.5 inches fell in Pelican on Sunday. That was nearly double the old record of 2.5 inches that fell in Pelican on Nov. 30, 2006.

Snowflake Cold

Ice storm with deep snow in Serbia: People experiencing mental breakdown after 48 hours without electricity, water and heating

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© Tanjug
3 Dec 14 - "48 hours of agony in Majdanpek, people mentally break!" says headline.

Put on your coat and hat and get under a blanket and wait to pass this evil, say angry residents of Majdanpeka. At night it is very cold.

The city is bound by snow and ice, without electricity, water and heating, and the torture is far from over. The fourth attempt to connect pokidna transmission network, this afternoon failed. It's agony.

Business is great, joked a shop owner: he has sold burners for gas. These gadgets over the past two days in Majdanpeku have become worth gold, because it is only on them that food can be prepared.

Comment: A map of locations for many of the early and extreme cold weather events for the past month, is shown below -