Extreme Temperatures
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Cloud Precipitation

Wild hail storm shocks residents in Southeast Wisconsin

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New Berlin-Wisconsinites pride themselves on being a hearty bunch, able to handle any kind of weather.

But the hail storm that happened Friday evening was like nothing many had ever seen before.

The CBS 58 Newsroom received several calls from viewers in shock.

CBS 58 viewer Joe James became a reporter of sorts and started rolling video and narrating the amazing sight outside his car window as he drove along Racine Avenue between Waukesha and Muskego.

"It was just 90 degrees earlier today," he declared. "Amazing hail storm."

Others in Ozaukee County said drivers pulled alongside the road they were so startled by the pounding of the hail stones.

Another resident in New Berlin said the hail had done major damage to her backyard, bringing down tree limbs everywhere she looked.

"You guys should be out here," she urged. "This is a big deal."

See for yourself.


Cloud Precipitation

Ontario County farmers suffer crop damage from extreme hailstorm

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It was a harsh wakeup call. People around our area were woken up by a strong thunderstorm. In some places, that storm dropped enough hail to cover the ground like snow. In addition to the hail, the storm brought heavy rain, lots of lightning and strong winds. Places in eastern Ontario County were among the hardest hit by the weather.

In his eighty years, Nicholas Legott had never seen a hailstorm in Geneva like he saw Thursday morning. He certainly did not expect to be shoveling hail out of his driveway.

Legott said, "The force of the hail hitting the house. It wasn't just that. It was coming down in buckets. It was unbelievable."

Just Wednesday, Legott and his family were ecstatic about how well their new garden of organic tomatoes and peppers were doing. Now, they are a shredded, icy mess.


Igloo

Montgomery, Alabama has coolest July day on record

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© The Register
Montgomery had the coolest July 30 since reliable record keeping began in 1872. Wednesday's low of 59 degrees shattered the previous low of 66 degrees set in 1889.

Although there were reports that Wednesday's temperature also set the record for the all-time low in July, National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Garrison said while it was the coolest temperature Montgomery had experienced in July, it didn't break the record.

"The temperature tied it, but it didn't break it," said the Birmingham meteorologist, adding that the previous all-time record was a low of 59 degrees that Montgomery experienced on July 20, 2009.

This was the third round of record-setting lows the area has seen this July. But it has still been a hot one.

The cool weather has alternated with some very hot weather, and the result is that so far even with several record-setting lows, as of Wednesday night this was only the 69th coolest July on record, Garrison said.

Ice Cube

Indianapolis reports coldest month on record

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© Blog.wthr.com/
July 2014 will go into the record books as the coldest July since records began in Indianapolis.

Temperatures will stay slightly below normal Thursday, putting the monthly average at 70.1 degrees. That's 0.5 degrees cooler than the previous July low of 70.6, set in 1947. Indianapolis has not even topped 90 degrees so far this year.

"The warmest day of 88 degrees (in July) is also the warmest temperature we've had so far this year," said StormTeam 6 meteorologist Todd Klaassen.In an average July, Indianapolis' temperature is 75.4 degrees. The record-low temperatures this July come two years after Indianapolis set a heat record.

In July 2012, the average temperature in Indianapolis was 84.0 degrees, shattering a record set in 1936. July 2011 was also toasty, with the average that month at 82.0 degrees, ranking it as the third-warmest July on record in Indianapolis. July 2009 was another cool month in Indianapolis, with the average temperature of 70.9, chilly enough for third place in the record books.

Comment: See also:

The Day the Earth Froze: Younger Dryas Ice Age caused by Storm of Comet Debris

Sott's Comets and Catastrophe Series


Snowflake Cold

Record low temperatures outpace record highs nearly 2-1 in U.S.

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Numbers released today by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center show that not only has July been abnormally cool in the USA, but so has 2014 in general. For the last 30 days, there have been 574 record highest temperatures in the USA, and 1,726 record lowest. A ratio of 3 to 1, indicating that July was very cool. But, the year so far has also been cool.

So far for the USA year to date, the numbers of record lows outpace the highs two to one.

This year, here have been been 12,644 daily record lowest temperatures versus 6,615 record highest temperatures in the USA, a ratio of 1.91 to 1.0.

For all types of high and low daily records for the year to date, there were 29,372 cold records versus 16,761 warm records, a ratio of 1.75 to 1.0

If all high and low daily record types are considered for the last 365 days, cold still outpaces warm. There are 46,712 cold records versus 36,650 warm records.

The ratios for monthly all time records also see cold records outpacing warm ones.

Stop

Including humans: Scientists say mass extinction may be underway

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© www.fredhoogervorst.com
An international team of scientists is warning that Earth may be entering the early stages of another mass extinction event, reports Live Science.

More than 320 land vertebrates have gone extinct since the year 1500 and many of the world's plant and animal species are endangered, says a new study. Up to one-third of all vertebrates are threatened or endangered, the researchers said.

Large land animals, such as elephants, rhinoceroses and polar bears, show the highest rates of decline. They are at particular risk because they tend to have few offspring and low population growth rates. Hunters and poachers also find their fur, meat, tusks or horns to be attractive targets.

Losing a species of large animal can have unexpected effects on the ecosystem and nearby human developments, a process known as defaunation. In an earlier study, researchers isolated patches of land from animals, including zebra, giraffes and elephants. Without the animals, the grass and shrubs grew tall, and the soil became looser. Rodents quickly took over and doubled in numbers, eating the seeds from the plants and living in the patchy soil that was relatively predator-free.

Comment: Mass extinctions have happened before and will happen again soon.

See: Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction! And read Sott's Comets and Catastrophe series here. Something wicked this way comes!


Cloud Precipitation

West Michigan slammed by golf ball sized hail

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Several communities in west Michigan are cleaning up after getting slammed by high winds and golf ball sized hail.

The strong thunderstorm cut a path of destruction along the border of Kalamazoo and Allegan Counties.

Neighbors tell us there hasn't been a hail storm like this in decades.

Sunday night, the sky opened up and Mother Nature showed her wrath.

"It sounded like somebody was throwing golf balls at the house," said Kathy Porter of Cooper Township.

WWMT.com and our social media sites were soon flooded with pictures and videos of the huge hail.

"There was hail everywhere on the back porch, about two inches deep. Hail everywhere out there," said Denise Julien of Alamo Township.


Cloud Precipitation

Violent hailstorm causes head injuries in southern Siberia

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© www.04.mchs.gov.ru
Temperatures in Moscow may be scorching this week, but in southern Siberia the weather has proven to be a whole lot chillier - and destructive.

At least seven people suffered serious head injuries after walls of hail the size of golf balls rained down on residents in the Altai Republic, the local branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday.

About 3,000 buildings and countless cars were damaged in the downpour, which shattered an estimated 1,600 square meters of glass, the ministry said in a statement.

A video uploaded to YouTube attests to the size of the hail, which fell Monday in the region's Maiminsky and Gorno-Altai districts.



Binoculars

Wrong time, wrong place: Rare plover from the Arctic tundra turns up in Tamworth, UK

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Bird-watchers get into a palaver over Pacific Golden Plover
Dozens of dedicated bird watchers have been getting into a flap at a beauty spot near Tamworth after an ultra-rare bird flew in - thousands of miles from where he should be.

Flustered 'twitchers' have descended on the RSPB's Middleton lakes armed with long-lens cameras after a Pacific Golden Plover was spotted in the site's Jubilee Wetlands.


The arrival of the bird, which is spotted gold and black on the crown, back and wings, was quite a surprise.

That's because at this time the year it should be in its breeding ground, thousands of miles away in the Arctic tundra, from northernmost Asia into western Alaska.

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Ice Cube

Arctic summer sea ice extent nearing a decade record

You probably haven't heard about this from the mainstream media.

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Arctic approaches ten year summer sea ice maximum

Thanks to jbird for this link
"Check it out while there is still time, i.e. before they change the data," says jbird.
Source: ocean.dmi.dk