Extreme Temperatures
S


Snowflake

Watch: Saudi Arabia's Tabuk mountains blanketed in snow, 'pleasant to the soul and the eye'

Photographer Fahd Al Masoudi captured this stunning scene on Tuesday.
Photographer Fahd Al Masoudi captured this stunning scene on Tuesday.
In an unusual yet breathtaking transformation, the mountain peaks of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia have been adorned with snow.

Photographer Fahd Al Masoudi captured the stunning scenes on Tuesday, showcasing the snow-covered heights and valleys of the region in a spectacular display.


Comment: Related: Makkah streets flooded as heavy rains lash region of Saudi Arabia


Ice Cube

Brand new electric buses paralyzed in Oslo

Electric Bus
© solarisbus.comThe city of Oslo only bought 183 electric buses from Solaris in April 2023.
Oslo, Norway - Winter is here and with it the freezing cold. And now public transport is also paralyzed. Oslo's brand new fleet of electric buses is not designed for these temperatures - their batteries are failing miserably in the icy cold.

Too cold for the batteries - Brand new electric buses paralyzed in Oslo

The transport operator confirms that the electric buses are simply not reliable enough in winter: "The range of the electric buses decreases drastically in the cold. The batteries run out more quickly." In total, around 140 departures were affected.

Snowflake Cold

Second cold wave envelops China's Beijing in snow, ice

mmmmmm
People play with snow amid snowfall in Beijing, China December 13, 2023.
Snow, blizzards and plunging temperatures swept northern China in what could be one of its most severe cold snaps in December, spurring authorities in the capital to halt train services, shut schools and tell people to stay home.

A mass of cold air drifted into Beijing from the west, the second cold wave this week. City officials have issued the second-highest alert for blizzards through Thursday, the only such warning yet in the country.

To avert chaos threatened by what was expected to be a "long-lasting" round of snowfall, the city of nearly 22 million shut all schools from Wednesday and moved classes online. Businesses were told to offer employees flexible working conditions and staggered commutes.

"We'll try not to travel," said a 36-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Liu, whose child's school had closed as snow fell for the second time since Monday.


Comment: Report from 2 days earlier: Schools, train service and roads closed as heavy snow blankets northern China


Arrow Down

Heavy rain and melting snow cause flooding and landslides in Switzerland

The road between Les Valettes and Champex, near Orsieres in canton Valais, subsided after heavy rain on Tuesday December 12, 2023.
© Etat Du Valais / KeystoneThe road between Les Valettes and Champex, near Orsieres in canton Valais, subsided after heavy rain on Tuesday December 12, 2023.
The Meteonews service reported on Tuesday that up to 100 litres of rain per square metre had accumulated in affected regions. The heavy precipitation on already humid soil and melting snow have raised the levels of many watercourses. Maximum levels are expected in many places on Thursday.

The situation is particularly critical in canton Valais, especially on roads, where many incidents have been reported across the southern region.

"The situation is dangerous all over," Frédéric Favre, the head of the Department of Security, Institutions and Sport, told reporters on Tuesday.


Snowflake

Snowfall blankets Kara-Kulja, Kyrgyzstan reaching 1.3 meters (51 inches) in depth

mmmmmmmmm
Snowfall measuring 1.30 meters in depth has covered Kara-Kulja district of Osh region.

Heavy snow fell in a number of areas of Kara-Kulja district, and Alayku roads were closed.


Snowflake

Heavy snow breaks trees in Slovak Paradise National Park in Slovakia

mmmmmm
Branches and trees are breaking under heavy snow even in the Slovak Paradise national park in northeast Slovakia.

The village of Hrabušice should start removing fallen trees in the most visited gorge of Slovak Paradise, Suchá Belá, on Monday.

It has been closed since Thursday last week.

At the beginning of last week, there was a plan to replace the ladders in the gorge, but the weather complicated the situation and it is now uncertain.

Snowflake

Schools, train service and roads closed as heavy snow blankets northern China

This photo taken on Dec. 11, 2023 shows the sno
© Xinhua/Li XinThis photo taken on Dec. 11, 2023 shows the snow scenery of the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China.
Overnight snowfall across much of northern China prompted road closures and the suspension of classes and train service on Monday.

A red alert for a blizzard was in effect until mid-morning in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, and schools were closed there and in two other cities in Henan, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The Zhengzhou airport was also closed until 11 a.m.

A total of 134 road sections in 12 provinces, including 95 on highways, were closed as of 7 a.m. because of snowfall and icy conditions, CCTV said. Several trains in two parts of Shanxi province were suspended.

It was the first significant snowfall this year in much of China, outside of mountainous areas and in the northeast near the border with Russia's Siberia.

A thin layer of snow blanketed rooftops and parked cars in downtown Beijing. The roads were mostly clear and workers swept remaining snow from the sidewalks. The Beijing Public Transport Group said that 187 bus routes were suspended on Monday morning. Some subway lines were adding additional trains during the morning rush hour, CCTV said.


Snowflake Cold

Best of the Web: Coldest start to winter in decades for Russia: Parts of Siberia are enduring extreme cold below minus-70 degrees Fahrenheit

russia siberia cold
© weatherbell.comA major cold snap has hit eastern Russia in recent days
As the icebox of the Northern Hemisphere, Russia's Siberia is notorious for its frigid weather. But the cold so far this December — the most severe in decades in some areas — is extreme even by its own bone-chilling standards.

Temperatures around minus-58 degrees (minus-50 Celsius) and even lower have spread over northeastern Siberia in recent days and will persist for several more. The mercury has dipped as low as minus-73.7 degrees (minus-58.7 Celsius) thus far.

Most of Russia is predicted to endure temperatures much below average through the next week. The coldest conditions relative to normal will tend to drift toward the central and western parts of the country with daily temperature some 20 to 40 degrees below average.

The punishing chill in Siberia is a massive departure from abnormally warm weather prevailing over much of the rest of the planet. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Service announced Wednesday that last month was the warmest November ever observed by a wide margin and the sixth month in a row to set a record high. This year is a virtual lock to be the planet's warmest on record.


Comment: That's according to 'satellite data', which is 'cooked' to produce 'the right results'. The actual, lived November for most Europeans was a cold and wet one.


Climate scientists still expect bouts of extreme cold in a warming world, but they are projected to become less frequent and intense, while covering smaller areas, over time.

Comment: See also: Temperatures in Siberia dip to minus 56 Celsius as record snow blankets Moscow


Igloo

Embarrassed experts flip-flop, now warn: 'Will snow more heavily in coming years'!

Much of Europe has been hit with cold temperatures and heavy snow falls so far this month, taking Europeans by surprise. "Experts" blame warming.
Early December snow
© P. GosselinRare early December snow at the German North Sea coast, December 2, 2023.
Not "a thing of the past"

Don't be surprised by all the surprise. After all, global warming-obsessed climatologists and media told us back in 2020 that snow and frost would be rare - a thing of the past!

Now with the heavy, record snowfall, global warming astrologists are looking a bit foolish and embarrassed. Their predictions are wrong. Already in November snow arrived and record amounts have already fallen, like in Munich. This has sent the media scrambling for an explanation, and they have concocted one, reports German news magazine FOCUS. Here's the explanation:
"Experts agree: Heavy snowfall is a sign of climate change!"
Strange how whenever there's a winter with very little snowfall, that too is a sure sign of climate change. And when there are a couple of years of drought, it is the new climate normal. But when there's too much rainfall, that too proves the climate is warming. No matter what happens, it's a sign of climate change!

Snowflake

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming reaches 100 inches of snowfall already

mmmmmmmmm
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) has announces that it will open four additional lifts and a variety of terrain in the coming days after a strong winter storm recently pushed the resort's snowfall to over 100 inches (2.5 metres) this season. Another winter storm is currently hitting the Tetons, giving visitors improving early-season conditions across the resort.

JHMR officially opened the Casper lift on Wednesday and will open both the Bridger Gondola and the Marmot lift today, Friday, Dec. 8. Jackson Hole will also open both the Thunder and Sublette lifts on Saturday, Dec. 9, offering a wide expanse of intermediate and advanced terrain in addition to runs on the north side of the mountain already available via the Teewinot, Après Vous, Teton, and Sweetwater lifts.

Last weekend's winter storm brought the resort's snowfall since Dec. 1 to 31 inches (77cm), and heavy snow has resumed is expected to continue throughout the weekend.