Extreme Temperatures
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Ice Cube

Climate-change expedition scrapped due to 'very severe ice conditions'

Ice breaker ship
© Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans
A team of scientists - aboard an icebreaker, mind you! - had to abandon their expedition because of hazardous ice conditions. Ice chunks measured 16 to 26 feet (5 to 8 m) thick. The "very icy conditions" were caused by climate change, says the group's leader.

About 40 scientists were using the icebreaker CCGS Amundsen for a 133-day expedition across the Arctic, part of a $17-million, four-year project to look at the effects of climate change. They began their trip on May 25 in Quebec City, but due to bad ice conditions off the coast of Newfoundland, the icebreaker was diverted to help ferries and fishing boats stuck in the ice. Some had even took on water.

'Very severe ice conditions'

According to the Canadian Coast Guard, the conditions were unlike anything ever seen before in the area. "It was just extreme ice conditions that required everything that we've got in order to make sure we were able to provide the services," said Julie Gascon, the coast guard's assistant commissioner for the central and Arctic region.

Ice Cube

Record cold across Nevada - Heavy snowfall in the mountains

sierra nevada snow June 2017
Several daily low temperatures and rainfall records were set yesterday across central and northern Nevada. On the same day, the state's mountainous regions received an estimated 6 - 12 inches (15 - 30 cm) of snow.

The rare winter-like storm hit parts of California and Nevada on June 11 and 12, 2017, dumping measurable snow on Lake Tahoe on the California/and Nevada border.

Snowflake

Winter storm in June brings up to 9 inches of snow to Idaho

Snow near Arco.
© National Weather ServiceSnow near Arco.
The storm that brought snow in June to East Idaho is expected to exit the region Wednesday morning but the hazardous conditions it has created on the region's waterways could continue for the remainder of the week.

The National Weather Service urges people to keep small children and pets away from East Idaho's rivers, streams and reservoirs because of the rising water levels and powerful currents caused by the storm that began hitting the region on Sunday night.

The weather service wants everyone to use extreme caution around the region's waterways until calmer waters prevail by the end of the week.

The weather service said the storm dumped several inches of snow Monday and Tuesday on many of the region's higher elevation areas — which is "highly unusual" for this time of year.

The mountains near the Pomerelle ski area received the most snow from the storm — 9 inches. The mountains near Island Park got nearly 7 inches of snow, while the higher elevations in Teton County received nearly 6 inches of snow.

Snowflake

Big Sky Resort in Montana sees 6 inches of snow a week before official start of summer

Big Sky Resort
Big Sky Resort
A week ahead of the official start of summer, several inches of snow fell over Big Sky Resort on Tuesday. It was a sprinkling compared to the several feet that fell on this day 16 years ago.

"When I got here there was about six inches of snow on the ground and it was a bit colder," Lyndsey Owens, marketing director at Big Sky Resort, said.

It is not the first time Owens has seen June snow.

"We got 32 inches on June 13, 2001. The resort opened. They opened a gondola and two runs off of that. I was actually here and I went skiing that day," Owens said.

Snowflake

Unseasonably strong Spring storm brings snow to Wyoming

June snow in Wyoming
Webcam shot of US 26, Wind River Lake, WY – 13 June 2017 (0.7 miles west of Teton/Fremont County Line)
An unseasonably strong late Spring storm will produce significant snowfall across the Western Wyoming Mountains late tonight and into Tuesday.

Late Season Accumulating Snow Expected for Western Wyoming Late tonight and Tuesday

The low pressure center will be tracking northeast across Yellowstone Park tonight. This low will be producing numerous showers and thunderstorms this evening. Sharply colder moisture laden air will be circulating around the back side of this low as the low tracks northeast into Montana. This much colder air will lower snow levels all the way down to the valley floor at times by Tuesday morning.

Snow amounts will likely range anywhere from from 4 to 12 inches above 7500 feet along with some isolated amounts of up to 14 inches in the Tetons by Tuesday evening. 1 to 3 inches of snow is expected to accumulate in the Western Wyoming Valleys by Tuesday before melting off Tuesday afternoon.

Snowflake

Sierra Nevadas in California get June snow storm

snowfall
Blue skies over soda Springs just after 4 p.m. Sunday gave way to light hail and then a steady dose of heavy snow for the next couple of hours.

In that time, about an inch and a half of snow stuck to cars and hillsides.

Travelers on Interstate 80 had to battle the elements on the road and the cold temperatures, which some were not expecting.

"We thought we might get some rain, even hail, but we didn't expect snow," says Tami Johnson as she headed back home to Reno.


Snowflake

Snow and heavy rains disrupt mining operations in desert region of northern Chile

snow halts mining in Chile
© REUTERS/StringerBHP Billiton's Escondida, the world's biggest copper mine, is seen snow covered after heavy rains lashed the high altitude desert region of Antofagasta overnight and into Wednesday in northern Chile June 7, 2017.

Mines in northern Chile have suspended key operations after heavy rains lashed the high altitude desert region of Antofagasta overnight and into Wednesday, companies told Reuters.

BHP Billiton's Escondida, the world's biggest copper mine, said it was snowing and all operations had been suspended.

State-run Codelco [COBRE.UL] said mining activities at its flagship Chuquicamata deposit and at nearby Radomiro Tomic and Ministro Hales had been suspended as a preventative measure, while Antofagasta said Centinela and Zaldivar had suffered intermittent interruptions.

Polish miner KGHM's Sierra Gorda said it was considering whether to restrict some operations as a precaution.


Ice Cube

Heavy pack ice traps boats, triggers rescue operation off Newfoundland

Boats are shown trapped in heavy ice off La Scie, Newfoundland in a handout photo from the Department of Fisheries and Ocean.
© Department of Fisheires and OceansBoats are shown trapped in heavy ice off La Scie, Newfoundland in a handout photo from the Department of Fisheries and Ocean.
Unusually heavy Arctic pack ice has trapped multiple vessels, stymied the fishing season and triggered a high-stakes rescue operation from a sinking ship off Newfoundland.

Five fishermen were rescued Wednesday from the Avalon Princess fishing boat, which started to take on water after getting stuck in thick sea ice near La Scie, N.L.

Trevor Hodgson, the Canadian Coast Guard's superintendent of ice operations for the Atlantic region, said the heavy ice is more than two metres thick in some areas off the province's northeast coast.

"We had a bit of stuff that forms over the winter, the normal ice in the area," he said. "What we're experiencing now is the ice that has come south through the Arctic due to melting up there."

What's unusual this year, Hodgson said, is the way the winds have pushed the thick pack ice towards land rather than out to sea.

Snowflake Cold

June snow again in USA as inter-tropical convergence zone shifts

June snow USA
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
More June snows across the western states of the USA and a Nor'easter travels up the east coast of the USA and Canada this week with snow possible. The trend is clear that later and later snows have begun in 2015 with July snow through 3 of the last 3 years in the western USA. As with every grand solar minimum the inter-tropical convergence zone shifts, and with it brings unseasonable weather patterns as the new norm.


Snowflake

More snow for the Rockies and Cascades

rocky montain snow
Six or more inches (15 cm) of snow are possible this weekend across the highest elevations of the Washington and Oregon Cascades.

Several inches of snow could also hit higher parts of Idaho, western Montana, western Wyoming, northeast Utah, and northern Colorado into Tuesday, according to the Weather Channel.

With temperatures running 10 to 20 degrees colder than average at times, snow levels are forecast to fall to between 5,000 and 6,500 feet.

Where's all that vaunted global warming?!!

Thanks to Dean Koehler, Craig Adkins and Gordon Broussard for this link

Comment: And Summer is just a few weeks away:
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