Extreme Temperatures
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Fire

Extreme fire danger for Victoria, Australia: Temperatures soar to 45 degrees with strong north winds

Darren Gray
The Age
Sat, 19 Dec 2015 07:07 UTC
Victoria bushfire
© 9NEWSThe Wandin North bushfire in Victoria, Australia
Victoria will roast under temperatures tipped to soar as high as 45 degrees in the state's north-west on Saturday, with Melbourne not expecting a reprieve from the dangerous heatwave until Sunday afternoon.

"Extreme" fire danger ratings have now been applied to four Victorian fire districts for Saturday, Central - which includes Melbourne and surrounds - North Central, Wimmera and South West. A further four districts are facing "Severe" fire danger conditions.

A total fire ban has been declared for the whole weekend and a number of parks have been closed. Ambulance Victoria meanwhile is bracing for what could almost be a "perfect storm" on Saturday night, due to the extreme heat and the potential for people to party too hard.

Higher wind speeds than were earlier expected, which could gust to 70 or 80km/h on Saturday and Sunday, have increased fire danger ratings.

Melbourne is expecting a staggering 41 degrees on Saturday - an unusual peak before Christmas - with northerly winds in the morning of 35 to 50km/h. The hottest temperature for Saturday, 45 degrees, is forecast for in the Mallee including the small towns of Werrimull and Underbool.
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Snowflake

Daily snowfall record broken in Denver, Colorado

Chris Spears
denver.cbslocal.com
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 15:07 UTC
Snow near Loveland
© CBS4Snow near Loveland
The biggest winter storm to hit Denver so far this season has also broken a daily snowfall record for the city.

As of 5 p.m. the official measurement since midnight at Denver International Airport was 7.7″.

That is both the biggest one day snowfall so far this season and a new record for December 15.

The previous daily record for Dec. 15 was 2.8″ set in 1897.
The snowfall record for Dec 15th in Denver is only 2.8" set in 1897. 3-6" expected along the I-25 Corridor. #COwx pic.twitter.com/cClpNx0RQX

— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) December 15, 2015
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Snowflake Cold

Winter storm sends temperatures plummeting across western US - Arizona hits zero

Brady McCombs
The Associated Press
Mon, 14 Dec 2015 19:11 UTC
Salt Lake City Snow
© AP/Rick BownerSalt Lake City on Monday, December 14, 2015.
A storm that drenched California over the weekend has turned an Arizona town into one of the coldest cities in the lower 48 while making for a rainy commute in Phoenix, where it was colder than New York City.

Here's a look at the winter weather across the West:

Arizona

An icy storm in northern Arizona left Bellemont, a small community west of Flagstaff, with a temperature of zero at sunrise Sunday - one of the chilliest temperatures in the lower 48 states at the time, said David Vonderheide of the National Weather Service.

The morning commute in the region Monday was slow as an initial band of snow showers neared an end and a second wave arrived. The Arizona Department of Transportation urged people to stay off major highways if possible.

Weather forecasters said wind gusts up to 40 mph would send snow swirling and further complicate travel.

Meanwhile, rain fell in central and southern Arizona, dropping temperatures in Phoenix to the mid-40s - some 10 degrees colder than New York City.

Bellemont's low temperatures were due to its location in a flat area surrounded by low hills where cold air struggles to escape, Vonderheide said. At 7,100 feet, it's slightly higher in elevation than Flagstaff.

"There are mornings every winter where Bellemont is the coldest in the lower 48," he said.

Utah

The state's first major winter storm dumped a foot of snow in some parts of the Salt Lake City area, creating harrowing commutes.

Comment: Weather records are being broken all over the world. Check out our latest SOTT Earth Changes Summary for November 2015: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs.

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Camera

827 villages in Turkey inaccessible due to snow

Robert
Ice Age Now
Tue, 15 Dec 2015 19:44 UTC
Snow Turkey
© trtturk.com
This short video reminds me of why I don't want to live in snow country.


In Van and Hakkari, roads to 827 settlements have been closed due to snow.

In Van, 317 districts are inaccessible due to snow. The Regional Directorate of Highways and Municipality snow-fighting teams continue working to open the roads.

The Directorate of Meteorology Regional in a statement reported that more snow is expected at noon, and that the temperature will fall up to 3 degrees below zero.

In Hakkari, the snow has closed the roads to 136 villages of 374 hamlets.

Comment: Cosmic karma? From two weeks ago: Snowfall shuts 290 village roads in eastern Anatolia, Turkey

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Bizarro Earth

Earth's day is getting longer - Rotation is slowing down

Jennifer Pascoe
University of Alberta
Fri, 11 Dec 2015 03:10 UTC
Scientists reveal that the rotation of Earth's core holds a clue to understanding global sea-level rise.

Mathieu Dumberry
© University of Alberta
Scientists are studying past changes in sea level to make accurate future predictions of this consequence of climate change, and they're looking down to Earth's core to do so.

"In order to fully understand the sea-level change that has occurred in the past century, we need to understand the dynamics of the flow in Earth's core," says Mathieu Dumberry, a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Alberta.

The connection is through the change in the speed of Earth's rotation. Meltwater from glaciers not only causes sea levels to rise, but also shifts mass from the pole to the equator, which slows down the rotation. (Picture the Earth as a spinning figure skater. The skater moves his or her arms in to spin more quickly or out to slow down.) The gravity pull from the Moon also contributes to the slowdown, acting a little like a lever brake. However, says Dumberry, the combination of these effects is not enough to explain the observations of the slowing down of Earth's rotation: a contribution from Earth's core must be added.
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Snowflake

NOAA: Winter storm warnings-watches issued for 15 U.S. states

Robert
Ice Age Now
Mon, 14 Dec 2015 22:12 UTC
NOAA map snow
© NOAA
Heavy snow warnings for parts of Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan and Maine.
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Igloo

Melting Scandinavian glaciers offer clues to Younger Dryas mystery

Catherine Jex
Science Nordic
Fri, 11 Dec 2015 18:22 UTC
Melting Glacier
© Flickr/Vincent MoschettiA combination of fossilised midges and climate modelling suggest that melting ice sheets in Scandinavia triggered a dramatic 1,000-year long cold snap in Europe 12,800 years ago.
Temporary and extreme climate changes punctuated the warming of the Northern Hemisphere as the Earth escaped the icy grip of the last Ice Age.

One such event occurred 12,800 years ago--the so-called Younger Dryas--when Europe was suddenly plunged back into near-Ice Age conditions. The ensuing cold struck Europe and Russia quickly, and hard. But how and why remained a mystery.

Now, a new study has an answer: melting glaciers in Scandinavia set key environmental changes in motion and initiated this dramatic 1,000-year long cold snap.

"The Fennoscandian Ice Sheet in Northern Europe has always been considered an underdog [compared to ice sheets in Greenland and north America] and has received little or no attention in the specialised literature," says lead-author Francesco Muschitiello from Stockholm University, Sweden in an email to ScienceNordic.

But Muschitiello's new research puts the Scandinavian ice sheet at the heart of the mystery. According to him, it is the missing link to understanding this major climate event, which is a key benchmark to understanding how climate can change so suddenly.

The results are published in the journal Nature Communications.
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Snowflake Cold

Powerful blizzard rages in Khabarovsk, Russia

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Sat, 05 Dec 2015 19:22 UTC
blizzard
Whoa! This video reminds me why global warming is GOOD! Visibility near zero. More than 300 cars rescued from "snow captivity."


In the Khabarovsk region continues to rage snow cyclone.

All services Khabarovsk work around the clock.

The powerful blizzard, with storm gusts up to 25 meters per second, has dumped a month's worth of precipitation per day.

The city of Khabarovsk has declared a state of emergency according to the "TV Center".

Khabarovsk a city of just over a half million near the Chinese border.

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link
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Ice Cube

Hudson Bay already 50% covered in ice compared to 0% a year ago

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 13:43 UTC
Ice, snow cover north America
© National Ice Center (NIC). Alaska-Canada snow cover (white) and sea ice (yellow) 28 November 2014 (left) and 2015 (right).
Canadian lakes, other than the 'Great Lakes', have started to ice over.

Snow cover in Europe and Asia is also much more extensive than at this time last year

Ice, snow cover Eurasia
© National Ice Center (NIC).Europe-Asia snow cover (white) and sea ice (yellow) 28 November 2014 (left) and 2015 (right).
Thanks to Deon Leroux for this link
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Snowflake Cold

Heavy snowfall covers Turkey's east


Cihan News Agency
Thu, 03 Dec 2015 13:06 UTC
Turkey snow
The Central Anatolian city of Sivas was quickly covered by heavy snow on Wednesday. There has also been snowfall in the capital, Ankara. (Photo: Cihan)
Affected by a cold front moving from the Black Sea, eastern province of Erzurum saw snowfall as of late Wednesday, paralyzing daily life on Thursday.

A number of villages were closed to traffic and temperatures dropped to -2 degree. People had difficulty in reaching the city center from nearby provinces. Municipal teams have been spreading salt on the roads and removing snow on the pavements.

According to the Meteorology Directorate, the snowfall will be ongoing for two days. the depth of snow reached 37 centimeters in higher parts of Palandöken Mountain.

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