Extreme Temperatures
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Blackbox

Megacryometeor? Giant ice meteor slams to Earth near kids playing in Tennessee


The Extinction Protocol
Tue, 14 May 2013 08:50 UTC
A Tri-Cities man has video of what appears to be a large chunk of ice that he says fell from the sky on Wednesday (May 8) and landed in a yard in Gray, TN. Andy Miller says his children were playing outside along Keeview Drive off Hales Chapel Road around 4 p.m. when they heard what sounded like a rocket. "They ran into the house shaking," Miller said. He used his phone to record video of the children inspecting the pile of pure white ice sitting in a gouged out hole in the ground near where they were playing. Miller did a quick web search and found information that lead him to believe it's a megacryometeor. For what it's worth, here's a quick definition we found on line: "A megacryometeor is a very large chunk of ice which, despite sharing many textural, hydro-chemical and isotopic features detected in large hailstones, is formed under unusual atmospheric conditions which clearly differ from those of the cumulonimbus cloud scenario (i.e. clear-sky conditions). They are sometimes called huge hailstones, but do not need to form in thunderstorms." -WBTW

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Snow Globe

Many bluebirds couldn't survive this cold spring in Loveland, Colorado

Kevin J. Cook
reporterherald.com
Wed, 08 May 2013 05:07 UTC
Image
Eastern Bluebird

The phone rang. Again.

I didn't want to answer it. The two previous calls were from people who had found dying bluebirds in their yards. They wanted to help, but they needed someone to help them help the birds.

Yesterday, the call was from someone who had found a dead bluebird. Three emails about bluebirds also came. One person had found a dozen dead or dying bluebirds in her yard. Another person recognized me at the coffee shop and wanted to relate yet another woeful bluebird tale.

The loss of a bluebird counts as nothing more than just one of those life and death things that happen in nature. But so much loss at once is stunning.

People everywhere love bluebirds, but Coloradans have special reason to esteem them.

The bluebirds are members of the thrush family. Considering we also have some blue warblers, blue buntings and blue jays the reality becomes obvious: all blue birds are not bluebirds. Just three species can claim the name "bluebird" and they are relatives of the robins, solitaires and thrushes.
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Igloo

Ice plows into Northern Minnesota lake homes

Cassie Hart
KSTP.com
Sat, 11 May 2013 14:13 UTC

Ice outs are still happening on lakes in northern Minnesota because of our cold and snowy spring.

Now, homes along the shore of Mille Lacs Lake are getting damaged because the ice is moving like a glacier, and pushing up against the homes.

In a video sent to us by KSTP viewer, Darla Johnson, you can see the ice making its charge onto shore. Then in a matter of minutes the wind pushes the ice about 15 feet from the shore to the doors of a home.
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Igloo

Massive wall of ice destroys Canadian lakeside homes


CBC News
Fri, 10 May 2013 10:10 UTC
Residents 'devastated' after ice from Dauphin Lake pushed ashore

A local state of emergency has been declared in a western Manitoba municipality after homes in Ochre Beach were destroyed and seriously damaged by a wave of lake ice.

Area officials told CBC News the wind pushed built-up ice off Dauphin Lake on Friday evening and caused it to pile up in the community, located on the lake's southern shore.

The piles of ice, which were more than nine metres tall in some cases, destroyed at least six homes and cottages, according to the Rural Municipality of Ochre River.

Another 14 homes suffered extensive damage, with some structures knocked off their foundations.

Clayton Watts, Ochre River's deputy reeve, said it's a miracle no one was hurt.

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Snow Globe

Prolonged winter weather grounds birds in Northland, Minnesota


northlandsnewscenter.com
Fri, 10 May 2013 10:32 UTC
It's a rite of spring, birds flying back to the Northland after a long winter.

But an especially long winter this year has caused big problems for the loon population.


"He needs a much larger area to achieve lift," said Erica LeMoine, Program Coordinator for LoonWatch, of a lone loon in a pond near Ashland.

The loons are turning up grounded because many Northland lakes, the bird's springtime landing pads, are still frozen.

"This late spring definitely has a detrimental effect. Especially when we have this type of weather," said LeMoine, "They found a loon in a wet, paved parking lot, in farm fields down by Rhinelander."

The loons are grounded, unable to move on land due to the mechanics of their body.

Raptor Education Group, Inc. has rescued 57 loons so far this spring.
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Snow Globe

27,000 Dead goats. Is it Pashminas turn next?

Baba Umar
tehelka.com
Fri, 10 May 2013 14:53 UTC
Since January, 13 percent of the Changra goats has been wiped out, threatening the lucrative Pashmina industry in the Kashmir Valley

This summer, Pashmina shawl weavers like Ashiq Ahmed have a tough choice to make. They can either buy raw wool at inflated rates or abandon the 600-year-old weaving craft.

In 2006, the ban on Shahtoosh (woven with the hair of the Tibetan antelope) left 50,000 weavers and an equal number of traders in the lurch in the Kashmir Valley. Now, the rise in the price of Pashmina wool after the death of 27,000 goats is threatening the industry's very existence.

"The price of 1 kg of Pashmina wool has gone up from Rs 9,000 to Rs 12,500. It will continue to rise. Thousands of shawl weavers, who earn just Rs 5,000 a month, will think twice before buying raw material at such prices," says Ahmed.

The crisis started in January when heavy snowfall in the Changthang hills of the Ladakh region in Jammu & Kashmir killed nearly 27,000 goats (13 percent of the total population), threatening supplies of silky Pashmina wool used to make fine and expensive shawls and scarves.

Changthang is located 175 km to the east of Leh on the border with China. The average altitude of the area is 14,600 ft above sea level. This area is also known as Rupsho Valley where the main occupation of the nomads is rearing yaks and Changra goats. The unforgiving winter makes the goats grow extremely warm and soft veneer, which is six times finer than human hair and is used to make Pashmina wool.

Usually, Changthang receives only 5 cm of snow in winters when temperatures dip to as low as -35°C. This year, it witnessed 121 cm of snowfall, which many say is a direct result of climate change.
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Cloud Grey

Mystery fog ruins Bank Holiday break for thousands of beachgoers as it engulfs south coast


The Telegraph UK
Mon, 06 May 2013 13:36 UTC
Britain's coast was shrouded in mist for the Bank Holiday weekend due to warm air clashing with an unusually cool sea because of the cold spring.
Image
© James BoardmanA sea mist descends rolls on to Brighton beach in East Sussex

Temperatures up to 22C meant thousands flocked to beaches around the South and South West Coasts.

But they were greeted with a strange sea mist.

The "haar" or "sea fret", as it is known, is caused by warm air condensing over the cold sea and creating a fog. It is typical for this time of year but more pronounced than usual as the air is so warm and the sea is so cold following the coolest April for 24 years and the coldest March for 100 years.

The sea fog was worse over the south coast and south west as the wind was blowing the fog onto land. Today (Tues) the hear is more likely to settle over the north and east, where it is more common, as the wind changes direction.

Calum Maccoll, forecaster at the Met Office, said the sea was unusually cold.

"The sea temperature is 9C, it should be in the double figures but the cold March has brought it right down.

"As it takes a long time to warm up it is colder than it normally would be at this time of year, and as mild air is passing over the surface, mist is being created."
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Ice Cube

Historic snowstorm hits U.S. Plains to Upper Midwest

Alex Sosnowski
accuweather.com
Thu, 02 May 2013 13:53 UTC
Image
The list of locations that have received record May snowfall from a storm that brought up to 2 feet of over the central Rockies continues to grow over portions of the Plains and Upper Midwest.

The storm will continue to drop accumulating snow through Friday morning and reaching even more unlikely locations over the Plains, Midwest and the South before it is all said and done.

Omaha, Neb., Mason City, Iowa, and Rochester, Minn., are but only several cities that have been clobbered by their biggest May snowfall on record. In many cases in the major cities in the Plains, those records date back to the 1800s.

While snow is not unheard of away from the Rockies and northern tier states during May, it is the amount of snow and the extent of that snow that is so unusual. Snowstorms during May in the Midwest are typically highly localized.

Minneapolis/St. Paul managed to avoid the heaviest snow from this storm. However, areas less than 50 miles to the southeast of the Twin Cities received between 6 and 12 inches of snow Wednesday night into Thursday. As much as 18 inches fell on part of southeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.
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Snowflake

May snowstorm still pummeling Wisconsin, up to 17 inches reported

John Myers
Duluth News Tribune
Thu, 02 May 2013 17:08 UTC
snow
© Cindy Cowell
Heavy snow continues to fall this afternoon in parts of northern Wisconsin, with Rice Lake already reporting 17 inches on the ground.

The heaviest snow had moved east of Hayward at noon but was still falling in Park Falls, Ironwood and Ashland.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation earlier advised no travel because of heavy snow on U.S. Highway 53 between Spooner and Gordon; U.S. Highway 63 from Spooner to Hayward; and state Highway 70 from Stone Lake to Siren.

Other highways are reported to be snow-covered, including U.S. Highway 2 east of Iron River.

The unusual May snowstorm moved just south and east of the Twin Ports but hovered over southeastern Minnesota, north-central Wisconsin and into Washburn, Bayfield, Ashland and Iron Counties where up to 14 inches fell overnight.
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Snow Globe

Big freeze - UK livestock death toll hits 100,000

Jonathan Riley
Farmers Weekly
Thu, 02 May 2013 13:43 UTC
The death toll for stock killed during the freezing winter and early spring weather has hit 100,000 and is still rising, the National Fallen Stock Company (NFSCo) has said.

The NFSCo figures show 64,000 more animals died on farms in England, Scotland and Wales between January and April 2013 compared with the same period 12 months ago. It is a rise in deaths of more than 24%.

In addition to this, Northern Ireland recorded stock losses of 29,000 in the blizzards at the end of March. A further 8,000 animals died on the Isle of Man, taking the toll to 101,000 animals over the four-month period.

A statement released by NFSCo pointed out that the figures excluded animals collected privately and those categorised as "special services" by collectors.

Special service operations are carried out by collectors where losses are more numerous than normal, the NFSCo statement said.

"Consequently the figures here will be a minimum, and will increase as new data is received," it warned.

The toll

English, Scottish and Welsh sheep losses in April were 50% higher than April 2012 costing 35,000 extra lives

Welsh cattle losses in April were more than double 2012's equivalent to almost 2,700 head

Cattle losses in England and Scotland in April were about a quarter more than 2012 (23% and 25% to 13,800
and 9,700 head respectively)

Cattle losses for England, Scotland and Wales were up 34% and more than 7,000.
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