Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Winter storm Caesar dumps record-breaking snow in Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota


The Weather Channel
Mon, 10 Dec 2012 06:38 UTC
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© AP/Andy KingSnow covered trees are seen outside the Mall of America Field at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome before an NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis - The heaviest snowstorm to hit the region in two winters, named Caesar by The Weather Channel, dumped heavy snow across a broad belt of Minnesota including the Twin Cities area Sunday, as well as parts of western Wisconsin.

A snowfall totalling 10.5 inches fell on Minneapolis, setting a daily record that eclipsed the previous mark of 7.4 inches set in 1961. The total was the fourth-highest for December in the history of the Twin Cities. Daily records of 11 inches fell in St. Cloud, MN, and 12.5 in Eau Claire, WI.

"The amazing combination of snow, wind and colder temperatures combined to produce the blizzard conditions over a three-state area," said Tom Niziol, the winter weather expert for The Weather Channel.

"It's interesting because it was a swath of heavier snow that moved across the Dakotas and in through Minnesota during the day and evening hours yesterday. For a major winter storm, a large-scale storm, the heavier snow was in a narrow corridor. We got as much as 17 inches of snow in Sacred Heart (MN), 14 inches in Hendrick (MN), and if we zoom into Minneapolis these are amazing snowfall totals. I believe these are Top 5 for December calendar days that go back all the way to the 1800s."
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Snowflake

Second winter storm of the season brings fresh snow to New Mexico


KRQE.com
Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:33 UTC
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© AP Photo/Susan Montoya BryanMotorists head north on an icy stretch of Interstate 25 near Bernalillo, N.M., after the state was slammed with severe weather Monday, Dec. 5, 2011.
New Mexico is about to get hit by another winter storm.

The National Weather Service says a winter storm system is approaching the state from the west and is expects to dump snow on parts of New Mexico overnight.

Widespread rain and snow showers will develop around the southwest mountains before midnight with significant snow accumulation in the higher terrain expected and precipitation to spread north and east overnight.

The weather service says and strong winds are expected to accompany the storm system.

Much of western and northern New Mexico will remain under winter storm warnings and advisories.
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Snowflake

Heavy snow keeps Balkans in deep freeze

Predrag Milic
yahoo.com
Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:06 UTC
Children play in the snow in the Montenegrin
© AP Photo/Risto BozovicChildren play in the snow in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Heavy snowfall in blizzards have closed roads, disrupted power supplies and shut down an airport in Montenegro, amid a winter freeze that has killed several people and created travel chaos in the Balkans since last weekend.
Podgorica, Montenegro - Blizzards blocked roads, stranded villages, disrupted power supplies and temporarily shut down an airport in the Balkans on Tuesday, the fourth straight day of tough winter weather in the region of southeastern Europe.

In one of the worst-hit areas, snowdrifts and avalanches blocked roads in hilly northern Montenegro, where about a meter (3 feet) of snow fell overnight, officials said.

Across the border in southwestern Serbia, heavy snowfall blocked roads to more than a dozen villages, with some left without electricity and schools being closed for the rest of the week, officials said.

"We have got heavy machinery out and we are doing all we can," said emergency official Samir Bakic. "The wind is making the effort more difficult."

At least nine deaths across the region have been blamed on the snow and deep freeze, with temperatures as low as minus-15 Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit).
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Snowflake

Heavy snowfall - State of emergency declared in Kyiv, capital of Ukraine


Censor.Net
Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:07 UTC
Oleksandr Popov, head of Kyiv City State Administration, has declared a state of emergency in the capital.

Popov's statement published on the official website of the Kyiv city administration says:
"Because of a potential threat to the economy and the life of the city as a result of the impact of heavy snowfall Kyiv is now officially in the state of emergency. This will allow the capital to engage forces not subordinate to the city authorities."
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Cloud Precipitation

Storm dumps more than a foot of snow in Upper Midwest: roads treacherous or impassable

Leslie Dyste
KSTP.com
Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:52 UTC
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At least this time the Metrodome roof stayed up.

A slow-moving storm more than a foot of snow in parts of the Upper Midwest, making roads treacherous or impassable and leading to at least one fatal crash.

The system dropped 10.6 inches of snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and up to 14 inches on parts of the Twin Cities on Sunday, Minneapolis' heaviest snowfall since a blizzard two years ago caused the Metrodome roof to collapse.

This time around, stadium officials resorted to blasting the heat in an effort to melt snow from the roof as quickly as possible.

Blizzard conditions, blowing and drifting snow made visibility so poor that the state Department of Transportation pulled snowplows off some highways in southwest and west Minnesota on Sunday afternoon.

The Minnesota State Patrol reported more than 600 crashes by Monday morning, and at least 1,140 spinouts, according to Lt. Eric Roeske, and driving conditions remained hazardous. One person was killed in a crash involving a semi near Red Wing and injuries were reported in 63 other accidents, the patrol said.
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Snowflake Cold

Five die as heavy snowfall hits the Balkan countries


The Independent
Sun, 09 Dec 2012 00:00 UTC
At least five people have been killed in the Balkans after freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall caused travel chaos across the region.

Four people have died in Croatia and one in Serbia as a result of blizzards in the region of south-western Europe over the weekend, according to officials.

Airports and roads have been closed during the bad weather, with public transport in a lot of the major cities also being affected.
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Snowflake Cold

UK endures coldest autumn since 1993

Paul Homewood
Waats Up With That?
Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:00 UTC
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© Crown copyright
The UK Met Office report that the UK has just had its coldest autumn for nineteen years, leaving 2012 on course to be second coldest year since 1996.

Mean temperature in November was 0.4C below the 1981-2010 average, the third month in a row when temperatures have been well down on normal.

The average temperature for the autumn in the UK was 8.6C, compared to the long term average of 9.5C and the coldest since 1993. It is also the sixth coldest autumn in the last 50 years.

The year as a whole is currently running as the second coldest since 1996, beaten only by the exceptionally cold year of 2010. Temperatures so far in December are 2 degrees below normal, and the Met Office are forecasting that this will continue for the foreseeable future.

One of the features this autumn is just how persistent the cold weather has been. There have not been any exceptionally cold interludes, as, for instance, we saw with the heavy snow in November 2010. Instead, the weather has just been consistently cold.
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Figure 1
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Snowflake Cold

UK braces for more snow as cold snap across Europe shows no signs of letting up


The Guardian
Fri, 07 Dec 2012 05:06 UTC
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© Anthony Chappel-Ross/PAA woman walks her dog through snow in Goathland, North Yorkshire, on Wednesday.
Overnight frosts will continue throughout next week, with increasingly wintry showers turning from sleet into snow

The cold snap gripping Europe shows no sign of letting up as the UK braces for snow next week.

Overnight frosts will continue throughout next week, with increasingly wintry showers turning from sleet into snow.

A few centimetres of snow could fall in the east and hilly parts of the south-east on Friday.

Snow is continuing to fall on higher ground across Scotland, but will struggle to settle after sleet showers.

The rain and sleet will move southwards over the country while other parts will stay dry after clear spells. A cold wind is expected to sweep the entire country as temperatures struggle to rise above 4C or 5C.
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Arrow Down

Heavy snow collapses walkway in Turkey


CBS
Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:57 UTC
Heavy snow in Turkey piled up on a pedestrian walkway causing it to collapse. Scott Pelley reports.

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Bacon

Skeletons in Mediterranean cave show early settlers retained their hunter-gatherer lifestyles from last Ice Age


Terra Daily / SPX
Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:15 UTC
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The island of Favignana
Skeletal remains in an island cave in Favignana, Italy, reveal that modern humans first settled in Sicily around the time of the last ice age and despite living on Mediterranean islands, ate little seafood. The research is published in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Marcello Mannino and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany.

Genetic analysis of the bones discovered in caves on the Egadi islands provides some of the first mitochondrial DNA data available for early humans from the Mediterranean region, a crucial piece of evidence in ancestry analysis. This analysis reveals the time when modern humans reached these islands. Mannino says, "The definitive peopling of Sicily by modern humans only occurred at the peak of the last ice age, around 19,000 -26,500 years ago, when sea levels were low enough to expose a land bridge between the island and the Italian peninsula".

The authors also analyzed the chemical composition of the human remains and found that these early settlers retained their hunter-gatherer lifestyles, relying on terrestrial animals rather than marine sources for meat.
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