Extreme Temperatures
Cows in southern Germany will have to stay in their stalls a little longer, as their grazing pastures in the Alps are still covered in snow, German media reported on Sunday.
At this time of year, farmers traditionally begin transporting tens of thousands of cattle up into the Alps for the summer, before driving them back down into the valleys in autumn.
What is the situation?
With pastures covered and mountain roads tricky to navigate, the traditional cattle drive will have to wait, news agency dpa reported.
Local business associations in the regions of Allgäu and Upper Bavaria said most farmers will need to wait another two weeks before releasing their cows into the mountainous pastures.
For areas that are even higher up — some farmers might have to wait until mid-June, the associations said.

Nick and Patrick Matheson, from Northumbria, went skiing at Cairngorm mountain, where fresh snow fell yesterday.
With just days left until the start of June, Scotland was hit by snow.
And while we all wait for summer to finally arrive, forecasters have warned we're on course for the coldest May in more than 40 years.
Srdjan Lulic found himself a bit exposed at the Cairngorm National Park, near Aviemore, Inverness-shire, as he headed out for a stroll with girlfriend Catherine Stewart, of Edinburgh.
Another driver had to clear a mound of snow from his windscreen, which had built up overnight.
Catherine said: "We'd planned on going for a walk to the summit of Ben Macdui but I think we will be limited to the lower slopes as there looks like there is a lot of snow on the higher ground.
The National Weather Service reported snowflakes falling on the mountain this morning on their Twitter feed.
SNOW ALERT: The ski and snow season at Lee Canyon on Mount Charleston near #Las Vegas is over but no one told Mother Nature. https://t.co/v6eI838eJH (Video: Lee Canyon) pic.twitter.com/hErz0fplIP
— KTNV 13 Action News (@KTNV) May 22, 2021
One runner who had been missing was found at 9:30 am, but "had already lost their vital signs", state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing the local rescue command headquarters.
"This suggests that this incident caused 21 deaths in total," CCTV said. City officials had earlier confirmed 20 deaths and one person missing at a briefing earlier on Sunday.
Extreme weather hit a high-altitude section of the race held in the Yellow River Stone Forest near Baiyin city in northwestern Gansu province Saturday afternoon, city officials said.
Baiyin city mayor Zhang Xuchen said that at around midday a section of the ultramarathon course -- between kilometres 20 and 31 -- was "suddenly affected by disastrous weather".
"In a short period of time, hailstones and ice rain suddenly fell in the local area, and there were strong winds. The temperature sharply dropped," Zhang said.
Snow was so heavy and unexpected in the higher elevations that it closed two mountain passes on U.S. Highway 550 and prompted a winter weather advisory for parts of the San Juan Mountains.
Both lanes of U.S. Highway 550 reopened Friday afternoon after a temporary closure over Coal Bank and Molas passes, south of Silverton, because of adverse, snowy weather conditions.
The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for areas of the southwestern and eastern San Juan Mountains above 10,000 feet in elevation. The advisory, which advises drivers to use caution on the roads, is in effect until midnight Friday.
After beginning the week with some of the first 30-degree weather of the year, the mid-summer like heat quickly gave way to tumbling temperatures, setting the scene for a much more wintry end to the week. Snowfall and freezing rain warnings spanned Alberta and Saskatchewan through Friday morning, with difficult travel being reported on some major highway routes.
As much as 10-20+ cm of snow was forecast through the hardest hit areas, as temperatures hovered close to the freezing mark -- a 30-degree drop for most places from Monday. Persistent freezing rain has also taken a toll across parts of southern Saskatchewan, snapping tree branches and resulting in local power outages.
The good news is, conditions will gradually improve through Saturday, as temperatures attempt to rebound to more seasonal values. Some of the warmest weather will actually be felt across northern Alberta, with daytime highs reaching the lower 20s by Sunday.
The air temperature in Ulan Bator, which was around 20 degrees Celsius midday Friday, has dropped to 1 degree Celsius by Saturday noon.
In Mongolia, March, April and May are spring months, with weather conditions changing widely day-to-day or hour-to-hour.
Source: Xinhua
"Nobody back home is going to believe this," she said.
The late spring Sierra storm even caught locals off guard. They heard about the winter storm advisory but didn't expect to see a winter wonderland this late in May.
"I'm used to the snow but I'm not used to the snow when it should be almost summer," said Mike Lake.
"Usually the weather is really nice during this time of year but I guess it just decided to up and dump on us randomly," Talia Moore said.
But not everyone was surprised. Scott Lee says he's seen snowfall in the Sierra well into summer.
"Wet, heavy snow on freshly leafed-out trees is causing plenty of broken limbs and weighing on power lines, resulting in a bunch of smaller outages, per the [NorthWestern Energy] outage map," the NWS reported.
The NWS issued winter weather warnings and advisories for most of central Montana, advising that some areas in higher elevations could get up to 18 inches of snow by Saturday, May 22.
AUSTRALIA
Swathes of Australia are shivering through a record-breaking cold snap, with the frosty mornings set to continue across eastern parts through the weekend.
The mercury in Sydney dropped to 8.6C (47.5F) at 7am early Thursday, marking the fifth-straight day of mornings below 9C (48.2F).
Not since the year 1967 has Sydney experienced a colder streak in May.
Back then, the temperature fell below 9C (48.2F) for six nights in a row.













Comment: A video of the snowy, wintry conditions in the nearby Austrian Alps on May 19: