Extreme Temperatures
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Ice Cube

Deep freeze over the Great Lakes halts cargo shipments

Ian Austeh and Mary M. Chapman
New York Times
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:02 UTC
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© Canadian Coast Guard The ship Arthur M. Anderson got underway on Lake Erie on Saturday after getting help from Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers.
The trip to pick up a load of iron ore powder in Conneaut, Ohio, was supposed to take four days by way of the Great Lakes.

But within sight of its destination, the cargo ship, the Arthur M. Anderson, got trapped in ice. Two heavy icebreakers from the Canadian Coast Guard eventually broke the vessel free.

It was a 24-day ordeal, and the ship returned to its home port in Wisconsin without picking up the cargo.

A deep freeze this winter left much of the Great Lakes blanketed in thick ice, sidelining the ship lines and companies that move vast amounts of grain, cement and other commodities through this system of waterways. And now the spring thaw, which creates piles of impassable ice, will most likely create more delays.

"There's a lot of ice out there, and we need to understand the impact of that ice," said Mark Barker, the president of the Interlake Steamship Company, which carries mostly iron ore, coal and limestone on its nine ships. "Last year, we pretty much lost the month of April."
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Cloud Lightning

Best of the Web: Extreme weather, meteor fireballs, and Earth Changes in March 2015 (VIDEO)

Hawkkey Davis
YouTube
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 22:36 UTC
Image
© HawkkeyDavisChannel
Earth changes have taken place the past few weeks or so. Animals are listed among the dead.

I've been working 50+ hours a week, sorry if there's any mistakes. Thanks for watching and stay safe..

This series does not mean the world is ending! These are documentaries of series of extreme weather events which are leading to bigger earth changes. If you're following the series, then you're seeing the signs. It's much more than one video!


Follow me on Facebook for much more
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Cloud Precipitation

Giant hailstones fall in Queensland, Australia

Alfred Jacobs
youtube.com
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 14:58 UTC
Image
This shard of hail measuring about 12 centimetres crashed down in Chinchilla on Saturday afternoon
Weather watchers around the world have been stunned by giant chunks of ice that smashed an outback Queensland town in recent days.

Hailstones up to 12cm in diameter smashed cars and windows and left lawns checkered in the western downs town of Chinchilla during a freak storm on Saturday afternoon.

The downpour that stunned the state has now attracted interest overseas, with many in the US shocked at the "weird" weather that no one saw coming.

Some have pointed out the hailstones were about the same size as the small marsupials the town shares a name with.

"Shocking footage," wrote Keith Estiler, a New York City resident who shared video of the giant balls of ice bouncing off an oval in Chinchilla.


Comment: See also: Large hailstones kill horses, birds and ravage cotton crops in northern New South Wales, Australia

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Snowflake

250 villages cut off by heavy snowfall in Turkey

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Sun, 22 Mar 2015 12:19 UTC
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Snow removal in Turkey.
In Hozat and Ovacik snowfall exceeded half a meter (20 inches), says this article on gercekgundem.com. And there is 20 cm (8 inches) of snow in the city center of Pülümür.

Normal life in Tunceli is stopped

Due to the increasing snowfall during the night in Tunceli, the Tunceli-Pülümür and Tunceli-Erzincan highways remained closed to traffic due to the dozens of vehicles stuck on the road.

A large number of machines were sent to the area to open roads. Meanwhile, Tunceli-Hozat, it was learned that the Tunceli-Ovacik road transport in closed due to snow.

About 250 villages are cut off.
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Snowflake

First day of Spring brings blanket of snow to Northern Virginia, Massachusetts

Alex Sosnowski
Accuweather.com
Wed, 18 Mar 2015 09:55 UTC
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© Accuweather/junebug
A storm spreading rain across the South this week will take a northward jog and spread snow to part of the Interstate-95 and I-81 corridors of the Northeast on Friday.

Spring officially arrives on Friday, March 20, at 6:45 p.m. EDT, but Old Man Winter may have the last laugh.

Colder air will invade the Northeast during the middle days of the week, and the atmosphere is likely to remain just cold enough for some wet snow before the week draws to a close.
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Despite the colder air, temperatures will be marginal for the storm with a close call between rain and snow along the I-95 corridor in the mid-Atlantic, Long Island and along the southern coast of New England. Much of the snow that falls in this area may melt on roads. However, there will be some exceptions.

A wintry mix of rain and snow is most likely in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware, and Trenton, New Jersey. The storm is likely to impact travel in this area, including the potential for flight delays due to poor visibility and deicing operations. Motorists and pedestrians should be prepared for delays on Friday.

Areas farther north such as Harrisburg, Allentown and Scranton, Pennsylvania; New York City and White Plains, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; and Boston are likely to be cold enough for all or mostly snow. Airline delays due to deicing and poor visibility are likely in the New York City area and perhaps as far north as Boston. Most areas within this swath will receive 1-3 inches of snow with the greatest amount on non-paved surfaces.

Comment: See the latest SOTT video summary on the extreme weather we are having on the planet.



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Ice Cube

As snowfall records are set, ferry becomes stuck in sea ice off Nova Scotia

Andrew Freedman
mashable.com
Wed, 18 Mar 2015 20:07 UTC
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© Twitter/@MAFerriesThe MV Highlanders pictured from a Canadian Coast Guard vessel in Cabot Strait on March 17, 2015.
While the all-time snowfall record in Boston may have received most of the media attention in the U.S., Canada has had its fair share of unusually severe winter weather this season as well.

Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland have been slammed by back-to-back-to-back-to-back (you get the point) severe winter storms, producing a broad area of sea ice cover and mountainous snowbanks along the streets of cities such as Charlottetown and Saint John.

A Marine Atlantic passenger ferry with 190 people aboard was stuck in pack ice off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, on Tuesday, with Canadian Coast Guard ships trying to free the vessel. According to the Canadian Press, the MV Highlanders ran into heavy ice on Monday night, after leaving North Sydney, Nova Scotia, for Port aux Basques, Newfoundland.
#CCG Louis S St-Laurent assisting MV Highlanders and Blue Puttees in Cabot Strait. Slow progress in very thick #ice. pic.twitter.com/Do2HeFWiVW

— DFO_NL (@DFO_NL) March 17, 2015

In a statement to passengers, Marine Atlantic warned of travel delays.
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Chalkboard

200-pound ice boulder crashes through apartment roof in Wilmington, Massachusetts


CBS News - Boston
Wed, 18 Mar 2015 16:44 UTC
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© Wilmington Police Department
A huge chunk of ice crashed through the roof of a Wilmington Apartment building on Sunday. Luckily nobody was hurt.

The ice boulder weighing about 200 pounds landed in the back stairwell of the Avalon Oaks Apartments. Residents who were home when it happened say they heard a huge 'bang' when the ice came crashing through the ceiling.

"It was like this big," Kathleen Trowbridge said, holding her arms the width of her doorway, "and it just came through solid. It didn't break up." She then called 911.

Wilmington Police say the giant ice block fell from the highest part of the apartment building's roof, crashing onto a lower roof and through the back stairwell, leaving a gaping hole.

"Luckily nobody was there," a male resident said. "That was the most important thing. If somebody had been hit by that, they'd probably be dead."

Residents say that maintenance crews did shovel off the roof from past storms, but the ice buildup did not go away. Some are still concerned.

"If it's going to happen here, is going to happen in the front?" Trowbridge questioned. "There's icicles up there."

"I'm just very disappointed and very nervous for my health, for my kids' health," another resident voiced.
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Snowflake

Heavy snowfalls cause dearth of essential goods for 3 months in Mugu, Nepal

Raj Bahadur Shani
ekantipur.com
Tue, 17 Mar 2015 20:11 UTC
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Snow-covered roads have hampered movement in Mugu.
An acute shortage of daily essentials has been felt in the district due to the halt in transport services for the past three months.

As heavy snowfalls have blocked the roads that connect the remote mountainous district with the rest of the country, businessmen in district headquarters Gamgadhi have not been able to replenish their stocks and have started running out of daily essentials such as rice, lentils, flour, edible oil, spices, and noodles, among others.

Around two dozen trucks laden with daily essentials and other goods from Surkhet and Nepalgunj have been stranded in Ghucchi, Bulbule, and Dablek due to the blockade, causing a severe shortage of daily essentials in many parts of the district.
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Igloo

Twice as much snow falling in the Russian Ural mountains than 100 years ago...Leading to more tree growth

P Gosselin
NoTricksZone
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 19:15 UTC
German public radio Deutschlandfunk (DLF) reported earlier this year that scientists have discovered that twice as much snow has been falling in the Ural Mountains than 100 years ago.
Yugyd Va National Park
© Public domain photoYugyd Va National Park.
Hat-tip: Die kalte Sonne here.

The DLF reports:
Ural: snow causing the tree line to rise.

Climate change does not only mean that the temperature is increasing, it can also change the precipitation patterns. In the Ural Mountains of Russia significantly more snow is falling in the wintertime than 100 years ago. The development is having surprising consequences: The bigger amounts of snow is causing the tree line to rise. [...]

In the summertime in the Urals its has not gotten notably warmer over the past 100 years. The wintertime temperatures, however, have increased from minus 18°C to minus 16°C. Warmer low pressure systems are bringing more precipitation to the mountains. In the Urals today twice as much snow is falling than 100 years ago. And that is having an impact on the treeline."
According to the DLF, a team of German and Russian scientists say the tree line is currently rising at a rate of about 4 to 6 meters per decade.

The scientists believe that the doubled snowfall serves to protect young saplings during the winter and allow soil conditions that foster growth during the summer time. Photos of the region has allowed the scientists to determine treelines that today are up to 60 meters higher than 100 years ago.
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Snowflake

Blizzard warning in effect for eastern Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Sean Doogan
Alaska Dispatch News
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 18:51 UTC
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© KTUU / Austin BairdWinter driving.
A winter storm is expected to drop as much as a foot of snow across parts of Southcentral Alaska Sunday night into Monday, but forecasters say the blizzard is unlikely to reach Anchorage, where warm temperatures are expected to return after a brief cold spell.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the Portage Valley, about 50 miles southeast of Anchorage, and eastern Turnagain Arm Sunday. Areas that could be affected stretch from Whittier to Seward and include parts of western Prince William Sound. The warning goes into effect at 7 p.m. Sunday and lasts until noon Monday, and predicts winds gusting up to 50 mph and heavy snow, reducing visibility on the Seward Highway to less than a quarter-mile at times.

Snow-starved Anchorage residents, meanwhile, are not expected to get a late winter dumping of snow. The Anchorage NWS office said current cold temps -- which were hovering in the single digits on Sunday -- would warm to almost 40 degrees by Monday.
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