Parts of South Australia have just shivered through some of their coldest January days on record — with Adelaide missing out on beating its 1970 record by just 0.7C.
The temperature at Adelaide's West Terrace weather station reached just 16.6C on Sunday — about 13C below the average for the time of year, and below the city's previous lowest January max temp on record, the 17.1C from 1970.
However, because of the controversial way the BOM now measures Australia's maximum temperatures "as the highest reading during the 24 hours to 9am each day," an observation of 17.8C at Adelaide's West Terrace site just before 9am on Monday has gone down as the official max for the 24 hour period.
Patrick Thorne Inthesnow.com Tue, 07 Jan 2020 21:12 UTC
Snow depths have passed the three metre (10 foot) mark in Western USA and the two metre mark in western Canada after heavy snowfall hit the region.
Ski areas have reported up to 2.3 metres (nearly eight feet) of snow in the past 7 days, the biggest accumulation reported by Mt Baker, in northern Washington state close to the US border. It is also posting the deepest base on the continent at 3.1 metres (10.3 feet).
Mt Baker holds the record for the most snow ever reported in one season, and for the most snow on average each season (both unofficial records); 29 metres / 95 feet set in winter 98/99 and 16.3m / 54 ft respectively.
It's been quite a day for areas of Newfoundland this Monday, which got hit with a huge blizzard and is currently covered in up to 50 centimetres of snow. Residents woke up to mounds of the white stuff, and the shovelling looks like it's going be intense. Newfoundland's weather is on a rampage right now, and it's expected to continue throughout the week.
Thousands are without power, according to The Weather Network, as nearly 40 centimetres have fallen so far, and the number is expected to rise as it keeps falling.
Environment Canada has issued a weather warning for the province, and it is likely that more of the winter precipitation will arrive on Wednesday, so get ready, Newfoundlanders!
Wind speeds are extremely high, and traffic has been a mess. The winds are reportedly travelling at up to 80 km/h across the province, according to TWN.
The center said 30 to 40 cm (about 12 to 16 inches) of snow fell on the slopes on Sunday into Monday and announced that they would be closed on Monday, January 6, due to the snowstorm.
News reports said a winter weather front brought snow and freezing rain to areas across Greece, including in both the Southern and Northern Aegean islands and the central regions.
Storms, strong winds and heavy rain have battered Turkey for the past two days, disrupting daily life everywhere from Istanbul to Mersin, where two people were killed in floods
A harsh winter has arrived in full force across Turkey this week with no improvements to the bad weather expected until at least Friday in most regions.
A mix of storms, strong winds, rain and snow took its toll on daily life from the western to the southern regions. In the Mediterranean province of Mersin, two people were killed in floods and landslides.
Greenland sets its lowest temperature ever recorded for any month or any year EVER! The global drop in temperatures registered by UAH leaves 2019 in 3rd place behind 1999 and 2016. This reflects the disconnect in 102 climate models which are running 0.3C warmer than reality. More spending pullbacks globally this time in the Swiss Watch Sector and gold up.
A relatively short but intense snow blizzard event is expected across the western half of Iceland tomorrow morning, Saturday, Jan 4th. The event is related to the rapidly intensifying cyclone to the northwest of Iceland, creating dangerous heavy snowfall and severe winds with blizzard conditions across the Southern Peninsula, the capital Reykjavik, Snæfellsnes and Westfjords. Heavy snowfall changes to rainfall during the day due to strong warm advection from west to east, but remains over the Highlands.
The pattern responsive for this severe event is a new trough developing from the Labrador Sea towards southern Greenland, developing an intense cyclone towards Iceland. Conditions will worsen significantly with the rapid intensification of the cyclone. A strong ridge expands to the south across the rest of North Atlantic and west-southwest Europe.
Snowfall for 6 hrs ending Tuesday 07 Jan at 1am NZDT
Southlanders could be forgiven for thinking it was the middle of winter as they woke to snow on the hills on Monday morning.
Snow fell in the high country in Northern Southland overnight on Sunday as a January cold snap continued in the province.
Out on the coast, Metservice issued a strong wind warning for southwest gales up to 120kmh for coastal Southland, Clutha and Stewart Island, warning gusts in exposed places could bring down trees and powerlines.
The graph shows the lowest temperature across the Northern Hemisphere, from 50-90°N latitude, where the coldest area of the polar vortex usually is.
The polar vortex has been gaining strength and has reached its peak climatological strength. It is set to be connected with the lower levels, pushing its influence on the weather patterns.
On January 3rd, a radiosonde has made measurements of the mid-stratospheric layers. Measuring over Reykjavik, Iceland, it has recorded the lowest temperature in the stratosphere in the past 40 years, at -96°C (-141°F). The image and data below from the Universtiy of Wyoming, shows the direct measurements made, where we can see the temperature line disappearing below -90°C near the 20mb level. The raw data shows the temperature and altitude, where we can see the -96°C being reached at 17.2mb level, which was around 25.6 km altitude.
North Dakota resident Mike Odegaard captured video of an ice jam that formed through Hoge Island on the Bismarck side of the Missouri River on New Year's Day.
The video shows ice sheets piling on the shores of the river bank.
Comment: Greenland just set a new all-time record low temperature