Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Heavy snowfall buries southern Maine; 15,400 left without power

Wet snow coats a stop sign in Kennebunk Thursday morning. Stop is what many Mainers may be thinking as they wake up to yet another day of digging themselves out.
© Gregory RecWet snow coats a stop sign in Kennebunk Thursday morning. Stop is what many Mainers may be thinking as they wake up to yet another day of digging themselves out.
The most snow fell in York County, where the National Weather Service reported 18 inches in Sanford and nearly 17 in Limington

It's time to dig out. Again.

A winter storm that blew into Maine Wednesday delivered another foot of snow on some areas that were buried under nearly 2 feet of snow on Monday. The heavy snow downed tree limbs and power lines overnight, knocking out electricity to thousands of homes.

The storm brought heavy rain to Portland and coastal communities for most of the day Wednesday while burying inland areas under a blanket of wet, heavy snow. The most snow fell in York County, where the National Weather Service reported 18 inches in Sanford and nearly 17 inches in Limington. Coastal areas saw far less snow, including in Scarborough where 3.4 inches of snow fell once the rain turned to snow overnight.

The National Weather Service said Mainers should expect slippery roads during the morning commute before snow ends by mid-morning.

Ice Cube

New Orwellian meaning of 'ice free' - One million square kilometers of ice is considered 'ice free'?

polar bears
The Guardian today enthused about a new study proposing a £400 billion (US$500 billion) plan to refreeze the Arctic "before the ice melts." Physicist Steven Desch and his colleagues at Arizona State University want to replenish Arctic sea ice "by building 10 million wind-powered pumps over the Arctic ice cap," the Guardian reports.

"The pumps could add an extra metre (3 ft) of sea ice to the Arctic's current layer, Desch argues. The current cap rarely exceeds 2-3 metres in thickness and is being eroded constantly as the planet succumbs to climate change." "The 2015 Paris agreement to limit global warming will be insufficient to prevent the region's sea ice disappearing completely in summer, possibly by 2030," said Desch. "Thicker ice would mean longer-lasting ice."

Reminds me of Al Gore's ridiculous 2007, 2008 and 2009 assertions that the Arctic could expect ice-free summers by 2013. The article goes on to bemoan the "paucity of sea ice," warning that "most scientists expect that, at current emission rates, the Arctic will be reliably free of sea ice in summer by 2030."

"By "free", the article continues, "they mean there will be less than 1m sq km of sea ice left in the Arctic." Did you catch that? Words are so conveniently malleable, aren't they? They want us to accept their definition that "ice-free" means there will be less than one million square kilometers of sea ice left in the Arctic.

Comment: Greenland ice sheet defying alarmist predictions, shows massive growth this season


Snowflake Cold

Disruptions from heavy snowfall continue to strike parts of Japan; over 6 feet for the town of Kami

A traffic jam is seen in front of JR Tottori Station in Tottori, on Feb. 13, 2017.
© MainichiA traffic jam is seen in front of JR Tottori Station in Tottori, on Feb. 13, 2017.
Disruptions from heavy weekend snow continued in Tottori Prefecture and other areas along the Sea of Japan on Feb. 13, a day after a path was cleared for some 250 vehicles that had been stranded on an expressway and national route.

The Tottori Prefectural Board of Education cancelled classes at 131 public elementary, junior high and high schools.

It continued to snow on and off in many areas of western Japan along the Sea of Japan coast on Feb. 13 as a result of a wintry atmospheric pattern that has brought the coldest air of the season to the region.

As of 9 a.m. on Feb. 13, the Hyogo Prefecture town of Kami had recorded 194 centimeters of snow, followed by 134 centimeters in the Yogocho district of Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, 124 centimeters in Ono, Fukui Prefecture, 75 centimeters in the city of Tottori and 36 centimeters in the Kyoto Prefecture city of Maizuru, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).


Ice Cube

Greenland ice sheet defying alarmist predictions, shows massive growth this season

Look at this graph from the Danish Meteorological Institute!

The dark gray line shows the mean from 1990 to 2013. The blue line shows the massive growth this season.

chart
I don't know if this is an all-time record (perhaps someone can enlighten me), but it sure far surpasses any growth in the past 27 years.

Source

Sun

Over 700 flying foxes 'cooked' during heatwave in Singleton, Australia

Some of the bats were found lifeless hanging from the trees, while others littered the grounds of the town's central park.
Some of the bats were found lifeless hanging from the trees, while others littered the grounds of the town's central park.
More than 700 flying foxes have died during a heatwave in the New South Wales Hunter region town of Singleton, with many of their corpses still hanging from trees.

The mass death at the Burdekin Park colony began Friday and peaked as temperatures hit 47C over the weekend, Wildlife Aid Inc bat coordinator Jaala Presland told 9news.com.au.

Video shows the native animals' lifeless bodies hanging upside down from trees and littering the ground of the town's central park.


"We had half a dozen [live bats brought in] on Friday evening. Saturday we knew the temperatures were looking high again and we had 80 come in, and the death was sort of starting to tally," Ms Presland said.

Snowflake

Village evacuated for fear of dam break as heavy snow and rainfall continues to hit Iran

This February 13, 2017 photo released by Iran's Tasnim news agency shows a car covered with snow in the central Iranian city of Arak.
This February 13, 2017 photo released by Iran's Tasnim news agency shows a car covered with snow in the central Iranian city of Arak.
Fears that a dam could break in southern Iran has prompted officials to evacuate a village as the country continues to be hit with heavy snowfalls not seen in years.

Reports on Monday said that officials had ordered the evacuation of Kazemabad, a small village on the outskirts of the city of Fasa, in the province of Fars.

The order came after the local authority responsible for water and sewerage management warned about a spillway failure at Salman Farsi Dam
, which is located near Fasa. Initial reports said the villagers had resisted evacuation.

Local Iranian media said Sunday that 28 out of 31 provinces were affected by heavy rain and snowfall. According to reports, around 4,500 people were attended to on the roads and some 380 people were rescued from heavy snow. One single person was hospitalized, officials said without elaborating.

Rainfall also caused power cuts in parts of the southwestern province of Khuzestan.


Snowflake Cold

Snow piles on across New England for second time in a week

A Waterville Public Works department employee struggles to clear the sidewalk of snow along Elm Street in Waterville during the storm on Monday.
© David LeamingA Waterville Public Works department employee struggles to clear the sidewalk of snow along Elm Street in Waterville during the storm on Monday.
Heavy snow fell Monday across the Northeast, closing schools and government offices, snarling roads and cancelling flights with a forecast for 8 to 16 inches expected from New York to Maine.

By morning, some towns in Upstate New York already had a foot of snow on the ground.


The storm, called a nor'easter, will bring blizzard conditions across Maine with strong winds, which the weather service warned could bring heavy snow and reduced visibility.

Travel could be dangerous during the height of the storm as road crews have difficulty clearing roads, according to AccuWeather.com. Blizzard warnings are in effect for eastern Maine, according to the weather service.


Snowflake Cold

Severe weather closes every major highway in British Columbia's lower mainland

Coquihalla Highway
© Daniel HirnerCars on the Coquihalla Highway, a major route in and out of B.C.'s Lower Mainland, were stuck until at least 10 a.m. Friday after the road closed Thursday afternoon.
A 24-hour period of freezing rain across the south coast of B.C. led to the closure of every highway heading into the Lower Mainland — stranding hundreds of drivers — as well as blackouts across the region.

The rain began Wednesday night and carried into Thursday morning, blanketing the area with slick sheets of ice.

By Thursday afternoon, Highways 1, 3, 5 and 99 had all shut down due to the dangerous conditions. Many parts of those highways remained closed on Friday morning.

North Vancouver's Joanna Hirner and her family had been stuck on Highway 5 — known as the Coquihalla — since 8 p.m. PT on Thursday. They were trying to get to Big White Ski Resort, near Kelowna.

Snowflake Cold

Blizzard conditions, feet of snow forecast to bring New England to a standstill by Monday

WEATHER MAP
A snowstorm with blizzard conditions will unleash feet of snow and threaten to bring travel to a halt across New England late on Sunday into Monday.

In some areas, this will be the second storm in less than a week to unleash a blizzard and over a foot of snow.

Behind a weak system that returned snow to New England to start the weekend, a second and more potent storm will follow late on Sunday into Monday.

"The storm has the potential to bring 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 cm) of snow to parts of central and northern New England and parts of the Maritime Provinces of Canada," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

Locally higher amounts can occur in parts of central and eastern Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

There will be a sharp variation in snowfall across northern and southern New England, where a distance of a few dozen miles could mean the difference between a slushy inch or two of snow and well over half a foot.

Cloud Lightning

People experience rare thunder snow across New England

A commuter walks through the snow at the Metro North Greenwich train station in Connecticut.
© Timothy A. ClaryA commuter walks through the snow at the Metro North Greenwich train station in Connecticut.
The nor'easter battering New England Thursday has wrought a rare phenomenon: thunder snow.

As the storm swept across the region, people posted videos that captured the rumbling snowfall — and sometimes their startled reactions — online.

"It shouldn't surprise you if you hear thunder and see some lightning during the storm," Boston.com meteorologist Dave Epstein said of Thursday's storm. "If this is the case, you are experiencing thunder snow — and some of the most intense snowfall rates we'll see."

According to Epstein, the heaviest snow Thursday will occur from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with some areas seeing a foot or more of accumulation.


While none of these reactions can top The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore's thunder snow excitement in 2015, it's still getting a lot of love from New Englanders.
We just had Thunder Snow here at the NWS Office in Taunton.

— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) February 9, 2017
#Thundersnow in Northern RI @JimCantore @PinpointWXTeam @NWSBoston 10:15am pic.twitter.com/9hcfO803FX

— John Piascik (@Woods826) February 9, 2017