Extreme Temperatures

Scientists say Sun's heartbeat will bring on Ice Age

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Fri, 10 Jul 2015 18:45 UTC

© Yohkoh/ISAS/Lockheed-Martin/NAOJ/U. Tokyo/NASA
Montage of images of solar activity between August 1991 and September 2001 taken by the Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telecope, showing variation in solar activity during a sunspot cycle.

A new model of the Sun's 11-year heartbeat suggests that solar activity will fall by 60 per cent during the 2030s, dropping to conditions last seen during the Maunder minimum.

Beginning in about 1645, the Maunder minimum corresponded with the severest portion of the last "Little Ice Age."

Results of the new study were to be presented yesterday by Prof Valentina Zharkova at the National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno.

Many solar physicists think the solar cycle is driven by a dynamo caused by convecting fluid deep within the Sun. However, when Zharkova and her colleagues added a second dynamo close to the surface, they found that it completed the picture with unprecedented accuracy.

"Our predictions showed an accuracy of 97%," said Zharkova.

The model predicts that the waves from the two dynamos will become increasingly offset during Cycle 25, which peaks in 2022. During Cycle 26, from about 2030 to 2040, the two waves will become exactly out of synch, leading to a significant reduction in solar activity.

Coldest snap in five years to hit Australia with predicted snow and hail

Flynn Murphy
The Telegraph, UK
Thu, 09 Jul 2015 19:01 UTC

Temperatures will drop to freezing on much of Australia's east coast this weekend in what could be the region's bitterest cold snap in five years.

Strong cold winds, rain, snow and hail were expected to batter the nation's south-east for days.

Sydneysiders could expect an average maximum temperature of 59F (15C) for four days - a two year record.

And temperatures across the region were expected to drop three to seven degrees below average for up to five days, according to Weatherzone.

The NSW Bureau of Meteorology warned of a burst of cold weather caused by a series of cold fronts set to move through the state on Friday and continue over the weekend.

Snow was expected at higher elevations overnight on Thursday.

Almost 50% of Hudson Bay still covered in ice

polarbearscience.com
Wed, 08 Jul 2015 15:04 UTC

There is still a lot of sea ice in Hudson Bay, Foxe Basin, Davis Strait and Baffin Bay this week - more than average for this date - with slightly less than average in the Beaufort Sea. Past behaviour of Western and Southern Hudson Bay polar bears suggests the mean date that bears come ashore for the summer this year will be later than average due to the plentiful ice available, regardless of when polar bear biologists decide that "breakup" has occurred.

Hudson Bay, with almost 50% of the bay still covered in ice, has the third highest coverage this week since 1992 (after 2009 and 2004); Davis Strait has the highest coverage since 1992; and Foxe Basin and Baffin Bay have the highest coverage since 1998. For this week, the Beaufort Sea this week has the second highest coverage since 2006 (after 2013), and more ice than was present in 1971, 1982, 1987, 1988 and 1998 - among others.

2,000 alpacas killed by snowstorm in Peru

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Wed, 08 Jul 2015 14:51 UTC

Although data of the losses caused by the snowstorm last weekend are still being consolidated, regional deputy manager and head of the Civil Defense Operations Center Regional Emergency (COER), German Chaiña Quispe gave some preliminary scope.

He said that eight provinces received snowfall, with the hardest hit being San Antonio de Putina, Carabaya and Sandia.

Snow killed more than two thousand alpacas in Puno, while more than 2000 families and 73 thousand animals were harmed in the town of Ananea.

He added that the other affected districts are Quilcapunyo, Putina and Sina.

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link

Shanghai, China records lowest July temperature in 145 years

womenofchina.cn
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 00:00 UTC

Shanghai recorded its lowest temperature in 145 years on July 6, with the mercury dipping to 17.3 degree Celsius, close to the historic maximum temperature of 15.9 degree Celsius on July 2, 1876, according to wenhui.news365.com.cn.

The day's high was 21.2 degree Celsius, paralleling with that on July 6, 1903, and the average temperature was 18.9 degree Celsius, making it the lowest average temperature in July in 142 years since 1873.

Meteorologist Zhang Ruiyi said the record low temperature is a result of days of rains under cold air mass as the city is in the middle of the monsoon season.

The weather is expected to get cooler as three typhoons are approaching coastal China, which may bring gales and rainstorms to an already flooded coastal parts of China.

Bone dry and heat records fall as US West bakes under record heat

U.S.News
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 00:46 UTC

From Seattle to Salt Lake City, the West is baking under record heat. Temperatures reaching the triple digits have made fire conditions extreme and sent folks looking for relief heading into the Fourth of July weekend. Unfortunately, the forecast in many areas calls for more sun and sweat.

WASHINGTON

Seattle, not accustomed to prolonged hot weather, saw its hottest June ever.

The average high temperature each day in June was a record 78.9 degrees, breaking the 1992 record by more than 3 degrees, said Johnny Burg, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle.

"Our high is supposed to be in the low to mid 70s at this time and lows in the mid-50s," he said.

Instead, the Seattle area is seeing highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s.

Because the Seattle area suffers few heat waves, many people do not have air conditioning.

The weather was also dry in the Seattle area in June, when only 0.23 inch of precipitation was recorded. That's the fourth driest June on record.

Comment: While the west coast of the US bakes and is bone dry, Europe is experiencing a heat wave of their own with all time record temperatures. At the same time it is snowing in parts of Russia! You can't get much more extreme than that. It is as if the earth is responding with extremes as the human activity heats up. For more on the theory that human activity has an impact on how the universe interacts in kind with humanity read Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.

Sizzling! Germany breaks national heat record at 40.3 degrees

Daily Sabah
Mon, 06 Jul 2015 18:00 UTC

Germany has broken the national record for the highest recorded temperature due to Europe's weekend heat wave on Saturday and Sunday.

The thermometer in Kitzingen in the southern state of Bavaria read 40.3 degrees Sunday, breaking the 2003 record by 0.1 degrees, the German Weather Service said. It was the highest temperature Germany has experienced since the start of record-keeping in 1881.

Weather service spokesman Uwe Kirsche said Monday that the record will not be official until technicians have manually checked the station.

But he says "we assume that our equipment worked properly."

Snowstorm in Summer? Russian town of Vorkuta hit by July blizzard

Sputnik
Mon, 06 Jul 2015 14:39 UTC

Snow in Vorkuta

Whereas many cities feel oppressed with the heat and the bright summer sun, this Russian town would gladly receive some more sunlight instead of snow.

The Russian town of Vorkuta saw a strange but nevertheless mesmerizing combination of green trees and white snow in the middle of summer.

Comment: Snow in Summer? Other regions that have experienced unusual snowfalls this Summer include Norway, which had 5 times more snow in June than normal, and "unprecedented" snowfalls on Scottish mountains.

London breaks U.K. July heat record; long-lasting Europe heat wave expands

Jon Erdman
The Weather Channel
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 14:55 UTC

While record-smashing heat is searing the Northwest United States and southwest Canada, a European heat wave is smashing monthly records, becoming more widespread in Europe, and may last in some areas into next week.

Wednesday afternoon, the temperature at London's Heathrow Airport skyrocketed to 36.7 degrees Celsius -- 98.1 degrees Fahrenheit -- a July heat record not only there but for anywhere in the U.K., according to the U.K. Met Office.

The previous U.K. July heat record was set almost nine years ago -- 36.5 degrees C in Wisley on July 19, 2006. It was also the hottest day in Wimbledon history, topping the previous record of 34.6 degrees C on June 26, 1976.

Paris, France saw its temperature soar to 39.7 degrees Celsius -- 103.5 degrees Fahrenheit -- Wednesday. This is the second hottest reading there dating to 1873, according to Météo-France.

Parts of Belgium and The Netherlands also sweltered in 35-degree Celsius -- 95 degrees Fahrenheit -- heat Wednesday.

Record breaking heatwave envelopes Central Asia

Phys.org
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 00:00 UTC

Turkmenistan reported its hottest June on record Wednesday, as a heat wave envelops former Soviet Central Asia.

"June 2015 was the hottest June since 1891 when records began. Daytime temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in the shade 16 times," a spokeswoman at Turkmenistan's state meteorological service in the capital Ashgabat told AFP Wednesday.

She noted that Tuesday, when temperatures reached 47.2 degrees celsius, was the hottest June day in Ashgabat in the recorded history of the energy-rich country.