With an upper-level trough moving east, heavy snow swept northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from Thursday, drastically lowering temperature and forcing closure of some highway sections.
The lowest temperature in Kuitun City in northern Xinjiang dropped significantly to minus 14 degrees Celsius. Local residents put on thicker clothes to combat the cold wave.
The snow also battered Manasi County in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, with the mercury dipping below 10 degrees Celsius. The local sanitation department dispatched six snow plows to clear thick snow that had already accumulated on roads.
Thursday, November 28th 2019, 9:07 am - Last time storm caused closure was nearly two decades ago, town official says
A winter storm information alert was issued Wednesday evening, warning travellers to turn back if they're headed to the Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta. and Sweet Grass, Mont.
The border crossing was closed at 6:30 p.m. Highway 4 remains open in Canada, but travel is not recommended, while the I-15 is closed from the border to Shelby, Mont., where multiple vehicles have slid off the highway.
"If you come to U.S. Customs, they're turning you back," said Lori Rolfe, the Village of Coutts' chief administrative officer. "We have lots of snow and lots of blowing so visibility is not great."
Rolfe said the closure was extremely unusual — the last time she recalls a similar incident was in 2000.
The sun is going through a stage known as a solar or Maunder Minimum. This is where the solar activity that ignites solar flares or sun spots has decreased. It's a normal cycle and one that has been linked to the mini ice age that lasted more than 50 years starting in the mid-1600s.
According to space weather since 2015, the number of days without a recordable sun spot has been rising year over year. NOAA, NASA and others all appear to agree the sun is entering a solar minimum phase.
What it means is open to interpretation because as Professor William Happer pointed out when I asked him about the growing number of people and agencies that suggest a solar minimum could lead to a cooling off period, he directed me the Danish proverb: "It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future."
It has been suggested that mathematics can establish patterns and back them up with empirical evidence to support a prediction. We reached out to Professor of Mathematics Valentina Zharkova of Northumbria University, one of the first people to raise awareness of the decrease in solar activity, for a Conversation That Matters about the sun, its reduced activity and her reading of the impact it will have on temperatures on earth.
Heavy snow and wind shut down highways Tuesday in Colorado and Wyoming, closed schools in Nebraska and forced more than 1,000 travelers to sleep overnight in Denver's airport after hundreds of flights were canceled just as Thanksgiving travel moved into high gear.
The storm was heading to South Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, while a "bomb cyclone" weather phenomenon began toppling trees, knocking out power and dumping snow as it barreled into California and Oregon — making for a double whammy of early wintry weather.
Authorities on both sides of the California-Oregon border reported numerous crashes and closed roads. The National Weather Service urged people to wait to travel for the holiday until the weather improves.
At Denver International Airport, about 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow mixed with winds that limited visibility prompted the cancellation of about 30 percent of the airport's average daily 1,600 flights.
An intense Arctic outbreak has developed over parts of Russia lately. During the mid/late November temperatures usually already drop below -25 to -30 °C, but NE parts of Russia have now slipped even more - below -50 °C in the last days! Although such temperatures are nothing off the charts in the region, getting below -50 °C at the end of November is rather extreme even there! While it was still 'only' around -35 °C last week!
The pattern supporting such evolution is led by disturbance of the polar circulation, allowing outbreaks of frigid cold airmass to spread south into Russia. As it happened this time, extremely cold airmass spread into parts of north and northeast Russia. Many areas are experiencing below normal temperatures as 850 mbar temperatures are even below -30 °C, supporting daytime maximum values not higher than -25 °C and mornings below -50 °C!
A major snowfall for some areas and significant for others brings the Front Range to a near halt Tuesday morning as snow continues.
Here are some preliminary totals through 10 am Tuesday, which will climb higher in some cases.
09:00 am MST - 11/26/2019 3 NNE DRAKE, CO 33 07:30 am MST - 11/26/2019 4 ENE RED FEATHER LAKES, CO 32 07:00 am MST - 11/26/2019 11 SE ESTES PARK, CO 31.7 06:45 am MST - 11/26/2019 4 WSW DRAKE, CO 29 08:47 am MST - 11/26/2019 1 N GENESEE, CO 24.5 07:00 am MST - 11/26/2019 11 WSW LIVERMORE, CO 24 03:03 am MST - 11/26/2019 1 N MEEKER PARK, CO 24
Remnants of tropical storm Sebastian slam European Alps dropping five feet of snow and nine inches of rain. Sudden Stratospheric warming event to begin last week of November 2019 and run through first weeks of Jan 2020 dropping temperatures far below normal. During the SSW event a huge ozone hole will form over some of the same locations with extreme UV.
Comment: Professor Valentina Zharkova explains and confirms why a "Super" Grand Solar Minimum is upon us