© NASA
Extreme Temperatures
Unusually frigid and snowy conditions blanketed much of the island of Great Britain in snow earlier this month. The winter wonderland was spotted from above by NASA's Terra satellite on Jan. 26. The snow started falling mid-month when a storm system blowing in from over the North Atlantic combined with unusually chilly conditions ushered in by a pattern called the Scandinavian Block, according to Accuweather.com. This high-pressure pattern sits in place over Scandinavia and funnels cold air toward the United Kingdom from over the Baltic and western Russia, according to the U.K. Met Office.
As of the afternoon of Jan. 21, Redesdale Camp, Scotland, was the nation's leader in snowfall, with 11 inches (29 centimeters), Accuweather reported. Earlier Accuweather reports said 8 inches (20 cm) had fallen in Sennybridge, Wales, and 6 inches (15 cm) in Dunkeswell, in the southwest of England. The snows closed many schools and forced flight cancellations and delays at London's Heathrow Airport.
© aabadoluajansi
Aside from the Meric-Ipsala road, 37 village roads have also been shut down to traffic due to heavy snowfall in the region.
Road crews are working to open the Meric-Ipsala road to traffic again on Sunday.
Snow thickness at Uludag, one of the favorite skiing centers of Europe, reached 215 centimeters on Sunday.
The Weather Department of the north-western province of Bursa said that they expected snowfall at Uludag on both Sunday and Monday.
© Spiegel Online International
A commuter train battles snow to reach Munich's airport.
A commuter train battles snow to reach Munich's airport.
Jack Frost continued to bite at Germany's nose on Tuesday, with snow still falling across many parts of Germany on Tuesday, following heavy snowfall on Sunday and Monday, the German Weather Service (DWD) reported.
The service said that 3.5 billion tons of snow fell in the country on Sunday alone. With winter weather continuing, that figure could rise to 6 billion tons by Wednesday.
Winter weather conditions led to frustrating travel conditions across the country. At Frankfurt's airport, Germany's largest, about 543 or 1,190 planned flights were cancelled Monday, according to German news agency DPA. In Munich another 200 flights were grounded. Delays affected air traffic at every German airport as crews de-iced planes and snow-removal equipment was used to clear gates.
© Unknown
The heavy snowfall continued on second consecutive day on Friday till late night and recorded a total of 63.6 cms of snow in two days in Shimla.
© Unknown
Canada was the coldest nation in the world at the start of the day with with temperatures as low as minus 43.1 degrees Celsius (-45.6 Fahrenheit) in the Northwest Territories, according to public broadcaster CBC.
In Ottawa, buildings cracked in the cold, making sounds like the crash of a wrecking ball.
An unusual event playing out high in the atmosphere above the Arctic Circle is setting the stage for what could be weeks upon weeks of frigid cold across wide swaths of the U.S., having already helped to bring cold and snowy weather to parts of Europe.This phenomenon, known as a "sudden stratospheric warming event," started on Jan. 6, but is something that is just beginning to have an effect on weather patterns across North America and Europe.
While the physics behind sudden stratospheric warming events are complicated, their implications are not: such events are often harbingers of colder weather in North America and Eurasia. The ongoing event favors colder and possibly stormier weather for as long as four to eight weeks after the event, meaning that after a mild start to the winter, the rest of this month and February could bring the coldest weather of the winter season to parts of the U.S., along with a heightened chance of snow.
While the physics behind sudden stratospheric warming events are complicated, their implications are not: such events are often harbingers of colder weather in North America and Eurasia. The ongoing event favors colder and possibly stormier weather for as long as four to eight weeks after the event, meaning that after a mild start to the winter, the rest of this month and February could bring the coldest weather of the winter season to parts of the U.S., along with a heightened chance of snow.
© Weatherbell
Forecast high temperatures on Monday, Jan. 21, from the GFS computer model.
Forecast high temperatures on Monday, Jan. 21, from the GFS computer model.
This new era called a 'solar hibernation' or 'grand minimum' is caused by a repeating 206 year cycle of the Sun. These hibernations are accompanied by historic reductions in the energy output of the Sun. SSRC research shows the next solar hibernation will bring a long period of cold just as it has done before every time this cycle 'turns over' from its global warming phase to its global cooling phase. In addition, SSRC research backed by that of other researchers has shown a high degree of correlation between solar hibernations and the world's largest earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.Mr. Casey, President of the SSRC was the first authority to notify the White House and other government agencies of this coming solar hibernation in early 2007. Numerous other scientists discovered the same cycles of the Sun. Their findings have been ignored or buried in science journals and thus essentially unknown to the public.During the first six months of 2011, NASA, The US Air Force, and the National Solar Observatory all confirmed the coming solar grand minimum. The next solar hibernation and according to the SSRC and many other scientists, the next climate change to decades of record cold has begun.
This cold era is expected to last for approximately 22 to 33 years with the coldest temperatures to be seen during the 2020's and 2030's either side of the bottom year of the cycle in 2031, and have temperatures on the order of that observed during the Dalton Minimum (1793-1830). We have already seen the early signs of the new climate with record cold winters globally for some of the past four years. During the winter of 2011-2012, while the central and eastern USA experienced a relatively warm winter, Europe and Asia had a difficult winter. We have entered a period of record temperature setting both hot and cold. This trend of highly variable extremes of both hot and cold within a general trend of globally declining temperatures is fully characteristic of the transition between climate changes.
This cold era is expected to last for approximately 22 to 33 years with the coldest temperatures to be seen during the 2020's and 2030's either side of the bottom year of the cycle in 2031, and have temperatures on the order of that observed during the Dalton Minimum (1793-1830). We have already seen the early signs of the new climate with record cold winters globally for some of the past four years. During the winter of 2011-2012, while the central and eastern USA experienced a relatively warm winter, Europe and Asia had a difficult winter. We have entered a period of record temperature setting both hot and cold. This trend of highly variable extremes of both hot and cold within a general trend of globally declining temperatures is fully characteristic of the transition between climate changes.
© AFP/Christof Stache
Employees de-ice an airplane in Munich, southern Germany, on January 21, 2013.
Employees de-ice an airplane in Munich, southern Germany, on January 21, 2013.
Frankfurt airport, Germany's main air hub, cancelled around 500 departing and arriving flights, representing 40 percent of its daily schedule.
The busiest airport in Europe, London Heathrow, scrapped more than 200 flights.
Heathrow said a decision was taken 24 hours in advance to cancel 130 flights due to predicted poor visibility, but problems elsewhere in Europe were having an impact too.
"The additional cancellations are because a number of airports elsewhere in Europe are experiencing problems so that has a knock-on effect for us," an airport spokesman said.
Heathrow has spent 36 million pounds ($57 million) on upgrading its snow-clearing equipment since 2010, when freezing temperatures and snow almost brought the airport to a halt in the approach to Christmas.
Freezing rain and snow also led to treacherous conditions on railways and roads, triggering numerous accidents.
© Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Parked cars in snowy Bath.
Parked cars in snowy Bath.
Heavy snow brought its usual mixture of beauty, fun and serious disruption to most of the country on Monday as the cold front that turned southern England white on Sunday moved east and north.
Hundreds of schools were closed, disrupting some GCSE and AS-level exams, and there were cancellations and delays on roads, rail and in the air as bitterly cold winds added drifting to already deep falls and widespread ice.
Heathrow airport suffered worse disruption than expected with 175 flights cancelled by midday, well over the figure of 130 predicted earlier. Sunshine brought a rapid thaw but the total later crept close to the 260 cancellations of Sunday. The airport blamed poor visibility.
Gatwick and Birmingham airports were also badly disrupted and East Midlands and Robin Hood airports were closed to flights.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled and road and rail traffic was severely disrupted across much of Europe on Monday, as heavy snow and freezing weather gripped the continent. Frankfurt airport, Germany's main air hub, cancelled around 500 departing and arriving flights, representing 40 percent of its daily schedule. The busiest airport in Europe, London Heathrow, scrapped nearly 200 flights. Heathrow said a decision was taken 24 hours in advance to cancel 130 flights because visibility was expected to deteriorate as the day wore on, but problems elsewhere in Europe were having an impact too. "The additional cancellations are because a number of airports elsewhere in Europe are experiencing problems so that has a knock-on effect for us," an airport spokesman said.
Heathrow has spent 36 million pounds ($57 million) on upgrading its snow-clearing equipment since 2010, when freezing temperatures and snow almost brought the airport to a halt in the approach to Christmas. Europe's number three airport, Paris's Charles de Gaulle, was also hit. France's civil aviation authority DGAC said it expected to scrap 40 percent of flights to and from Charles de Gaulle and Paris's other main airport, Orly, in a precautionary measure following heavy snowfall on Sunday. Even Munich, a city usually accustomed to taking snow in its stride, cancelled 161 flights at its airport as it grappled with the exceptional conditions.
Heathrow has spent 36 million pounds ($57 million) on upgrading its snow-clearing equipment since 2010, when freezing temperatures and snow almost brought the airport to a halt in the approach to Christmas. Europe's number three airport, Paris's Charles de Gaulle, was also hit. France's civil aviation authority DGAC said it expected to scrap 40 percent of flights to and from Charles de Gaulle and Paris's other main airport, Orly, in a precautionary measure following heavy snowfall on Sunday. Even Munich, a city usually accustomed to taking snow in its stride, cancelled 161 flights at its airport as it grappled with the exceptional conditions.
