Extreme Temperatures
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Ice Cube

Rarely seen 'ice pancakes' form on rivers in Scotland and England

Harry Baker
Live Science
Fri, 16 Dec 2022 12:25 UTC
Unusual discs of frozen slush, known as
© Callum SinclairUnusual discs of frozen slush, known as "ice pancakes," were recently spotted on the River Bladnoch in Scotland. The rare structures were created by unusually cold temperatures in the U.K.
Dozens of eerily perfect circles of slushy ice, known as "ice pancakes," have been floating on the surface of a Scottish river after temperatures in the U.K. unexpectedly plummeted.

Callum Sinclair, project manager for the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative (SISI), spotted the stunning circular sheets of ice Dec. 9 on the River Bladnoch in Wigtownshire, Scotland. Pictures of the peculiar pancakes taken by Sinclair were shared on the SISI Twitter page on Dec. 13, along with a short video of the icy discs bumping into one another and being washed downstream by fast-moving currents.

"I've seen ice pancakes occasionally before," Sinclair told Live Science in an email. "But these were particularly interesting" because of their perfect shape, he added.


Comment: Another video record :
Pancake ice on the River Exe, Tiverton!

16 December 2022, Tiverton, Devon, UK

Pancake ice is a form of sea ice that consists of round pieces of ice with diameters ranging from 30 centimetres (12 in) to 3 metres (9.8 ft) and thicknesses up to 10 centimetres (3.9 inches), depending on the local conditions. It forms as a result of wave action on slush or ice rind.



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Ice Cube

Eco activists fail to glue themselves to road due to cold weather

Oldbrew
TallBloke Wordpress
Fri, 16 Dec 2022 18:45 UTC
The Daily Mail headlines it: 'Eco-mob's global warming protest fails...because it is too COLD!' — Climate obsession can do strange things to some people. Does the phrase 'sub-zero temperatures' mean anything to them?
Munich street

The orders were simple: Run out onto the road, glue yourself to the tarmac and stop drivers from getting through, says the Daily Mail.

But for two climate activists in Germany, that plan didn't work out quite as they'd hoped because sub-zero temperatures stopped the glue from working properly in an embarrassing lack of foresight.

The 'Last Generation' activists, who were protesting against global warming, desperately poured a bucket of glue over each other before sitting stone-faced in the middle of the road in Munich this morning.

But the freezing temperature scuppered their plans and instead of being stuck to the road, the pair of protesters sat glumly amongst a pool of glue mixed with snow.

Police officers at the scene - realising that the pair were not going to be sticking around for long - dragged the protesters off the road.
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Snowflake

Snow falls in Tasmania amid unseasonably cold start to summer in Australia's south-east

Mostafa Rachwani
The Guardian
Fri, 16 Dec 2022 14:50 UTC
Snow on Mt Wellington near Hobart, Tasmania, on Thursday. It was the coldest December day in Hobart since 1964, reaching a maximum of just 11.5C.
© Robbie MolesSnow on Mt Wellington near Hobart, Tasmania, on Thursday. It was the coldest December day in Hobart since 1964, reaching a maximum of just 11.5C.
Residents in parts of south-east Australia may be dreaming of a white Christmas, amid an unseasonably cold start to the summer.

Snow has been falling across the alps and on the Tasmanian highlands throughout the week, though warmer weather is on the horizon. Thursday was the coldest December day in Hobart since 1964, reaching a maximum of just 11.5C, with up to 10mm of snow falling on elevations above 1,5000 metres.

Temperatures near Mt Wellington dipped to below freezing on Thursday, with southerly winds making it feel colder than it was.

Melbourne has also faced unusually cold temperatures, shivering at a maximum of just 12C on Tuesday, and only hitting 17C on Thursday.

Cold air from the south kept temperatures between one and three degrees below average on Tasmania, with the first two weeks of summer wetter than average on the east coast.


Comment: Another report from 2 days prior: A week out from summer solstice in Australia snow and sub-zero temperatures hit the Snowy Mountains

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Arrow Down

Fusion works, but uses a supernova budget to make a mini sun for a fraction of a second

Jo Nova
joannenova.com.au
Thu, 15 Dec 2022 16:36 UTC
Solar Flare
© NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)Eruption of a solar flare by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Enhanced by rawpixel.
Fusion reactors will one day be the ultimate in "free energy", but judging by the latest news of holy grail moments, it won't be soon. The bonanza of energy that everyone wants was never going to come by catching photons from the sun with a million square kilometer PV net, but from recreating the source of those photons here on Earth. It's the energy released if we can smack two atoms together and make them fuse which requires extreme temperatures and pressures (a bit like the sun) and do it efficiently, reliably, and millions of times a day.

In the latest nuclear news round, the mini sun experiment at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory California gave back slightly more energy than was directly put in, which seems very exciting, but systemic total costs and energy used to "make this moment" happen are in a Supernova category all by themselves.
UPDATE: Just after publishing this blog post, news came out of a newer experiment just ten days ago:

The US's National Ignition Facility (NIF) has announced it successfully used a 192-beam laser to turn a tiny amount of hydrogen into enough energy to power about 15 - 20 kettles. This means that - for the first time - scientists were able to generate more power than the lasers put in to the experiment. — BBC

On Dec. 5, 2022, the National Ignition Facility shot a pellet of fuel with 2 million joules of laser energy - about the amount of power it takes to run a hair dryer for 15 minutes - all contained within a few billionths of a second. This triggered a fusion reaction that released 3 million joules. That is a gain of about 1.5, smashing the previous record of a gain of 0.7 achieved by the facility in August 2021. — The Conversation

The newer numbers are slightly better than the ones released last week. This is the same lab. The energy gain appears to have improved from 20% to 50%.
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Snowflake

Record-setting snowfall gives Anchorage, Alaska wettest year ever

Jackie Purcell
Alaskasnewssource.com
Thu, 15 Dec 2022 13:12 UTC
Anchorage records its wettest year ever in 2022
© KTUUAnchorage records its wettest year ever in 2022
It is now official, Anchorage recorded its wettest year ever.

According to weather data collected, in 2022, we have seen 27.65 inches of precipitation — this also includes the water ratio equivalent of snow.

Between snow and rain, Anchorage has seen a record amount of precipitation this year, and December isn't over yet. The latest round of snow — currently up to more than 18 inches for the month in the city — has put Anchorage in the top spot for "Wettest Years".

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Snowflake Cold

One-meter-high snow covers Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, after 30 hours of snowfall


AKI Press
Thu, 15 Dec 2022 12:47 UTC
NNNNNNNN
A record snowfall over the past six years lasted 30 hours non-stop in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. The height of the snow cover was more than one meter.

Utility services did not have time to clean the streets, roads were closed due to bad weather in the region, school students were transferred to distance learning, the Astana TV channel reports.

More than 200 utility workers are resolving the snowfall consequences.

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Snowflake

Massive storm crawls across U.S., bringing thunderstorms, heavy snow, tornadoes


CBS News
Wed, 14 Dec 2022 12:13 UTC
US Storm Brings Blizzards to Plains, Tornadoes in Texas
US Storm Brings Blizzards to Plains, Tornadoes in Texas
A massive storm system stretching from Canada to the Gulf Coast spawned several tornadoes across the Midwest Tuesday, before unleashing torrents of rain in the southeast. CBS News correspondent Elise Preston is in Shreveport, Louisiana, as the storm approaches.


Comment: A few days earlier in the west: Winter storm pummels western US with heavy snowfall - 5 FEET of snow in 48 hours at Soda Springs, California

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Snowflake Cold

Best of the Web: A week out from summer solstice in Australia snow and sub-zero temperatures hit the Snowy Mountains

Adriane Reardon
ABC News (Australia)
Wed, 14 Dec 2022 11:31 UTC
Plenty of snow has fallen at Charlotte Pass.
© Charlotte Pass Snow ResortPlenty of snow has fallen at Charlotte Pass.
Opinions always vary among locals in the NSW Snowy Mountains as to whether snow in summer is an unusual event.

But flurries of frost spotted on the alpine peaks less than two weeks out from Christmas this year are being considered by some as a bit of a novelty.

Jindabyne Chamber of Commerce chair Olivier Kapetanakos lives at 1,200 metres elevation and had snow on his property this morning.

He said it was "not normal".

"We had a good drift of snow this morning, but it's very surreal," he said.

"Our chickens don't like it too much."

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Sun

Sunlit Greece seeks to lure Europeans amid winter energy crisis

Yannick Pasquet
Yahoo! News
Mon, 12 Dec 2022 13:27 UTC
mmmmmmm
With most of Europe struggling with soaring energy costs, Greece has launched an initiative to put its mild winters to good use and attract sun-seeking travellers all year round.

The Mediterranean nation recorded November temperatures comfortably exceeding 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) -- quite a draw for Europeans eager to save on heating bills that have rocketed in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

The Greek government has earmarked 20 million euros ($21 million) for a poster campaign targeting mainly European pensioners that could boost an economy where the travel sector represents 25 percent of annual output.

"Wanna feel 20 again?" says the poster featuring an elderly pair nibbling watermelon and sipping drinks on a yacht.

"With warm winter temperatures up to 20 degrees Celsius, Greece is the place to be," it adds.
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Arrow Down

Skier dies in an avalanche in the Alps, the third in a week


California18.com
Sun, 11 Dec 2022 13:14 UTC
Rescue helicopter visible at the foot of the couloir yesterday evening
Rescue helicopter visible at the foot of the couloir yesterday evening
A 55-year-old skier died on Saturday December 10 in an avalanche in Vars (Haute-Alpes), the third fatal accident in a week in the Alps due to a very unstable snowpack, we learned this Sunday from the help calling for "greater caution".

The vigilance of Météo France extended to two days on extreme climatic events

The 50-year-old was caught in a casting in the afternoon, while he was off-piste, under the peak of Chabrières, a place accessible by the ski lifts of the station, indicated the CRS Hautes-Alpes. He was found dead by paramedics, as reported by " Dauphine Libere ".
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