Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake Cold

Blizzards wreak havoc in Romania and Bulgaria, ports closed

Radu Marinas and Tsvetelia Tsolova
Reuters
Sun, 17 Jan 2016 17:18 UTC
Bucharest, Romania, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016.
© Associated PressA man clears snow during a blizzard outside the Gara de Nord, the main railway station in Bucharest, Romania, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016.
Heavy snowfall and strong winds closed Romania's Black Sea ports including the main port of Constanta, and shut dozens of roads while snowstorms and torrential rains cut electricity to hundreds of towns in Bulgaria, authorities said on Sunday.

Blizzards dumped up to half a metre of snow in 12 hours in Romania, disrupting trains and forcing authorities to shut down all schools in Bucharest and nearby counties.

There were no reports of victims but emergency services said they were prepared to intervene, with about 6,000 policemen, gendarmes and firefighters currently involved in various missions across the country, the interior ministry said.

Snowfalls are not expected to ease until Monday in Romania and forecasters predict temperatures will fall to below minus 18 degrees Celsius next week.

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Snowflake Cold

Severe situation in northern Bulgaria because of snow, floods and strong winds


The Sofia Globe
Mon, 18 Jan 2016 16:11 UTC
Flooding Bulgaria
Flooding Bulgaria
Strong winds in northern Bulgaria, causing blizzards and snow drifts, hampered traffic in northern Bulgaria on January 18, with many roads closed.

Heavy snowfall and rains in several parts of Bulgaria at the weekend led to declarations of states of emergency in some municipalities, as serious winter weather conditions also hit Bulgaria's neighbouring countries Turkey, Greece, Romania and Serbia.

The state of emergency that had been declared at the weekend in Bulgaria's Smolyan municipality was lifted on the morning of January 18 but partial emergencies remained in place in the municipalities of Rudozem, Devin and Dospat.

The head of Bulgaria's Road Infrastructure Agency, Lazar Lazarov, said on the morning of January 18 that roads in western Bulgaria were passable provided that vehicles were prepared for wintry conditions but traffic in north-eastern Bulgaria still had difficulties.

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Snowflake Cold

Bosporus Strait closed to tankers due to heavy snowfall, Turkey

John Morley
Platts
Mon, 18 Jan 2016 15:54 UTC
Winter view to Bosphorus, Istanbul
Winter view to Bosphorus, Istanbul
The Bosporus Strait has closed to tankers Monday afternoon due to heavy snow in the region, local port agents said.

"Authorities have notified [us] that the Bosporus traffic has been closed on January 18 at [4.06 pm local time] due to heavy snowfall," Boutros Maritime and Transport said.

According to local agents, there were seven tankers due to pass through the Bosporus in a northbound direction Monday, and 13 due to pass through going South.

The Bosporus and the Dardanelles together form the only commercially navigable transit route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
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Snowflake Cold

Heavy snowfall grounds hundreds of flights in Istanbul, Turkey

dominique soguel
ABC News
Mon, 18 Jan 2016 15:44 UTC
Istanbul's Süleymaniye Mosque
© Sabah / Metin ArabacıThe view of Istanbul's Süleymaniye Mosque from the Galata Bridge that crosses the Golden Horn.
Heavy snowfall has swept northwestern Turkey, grounding hundreds of flights, disrupting ground transport and closing schools in Istanbul.

Turkish Airlines announced the cancellation of 250 international and domestic flights to and from Istanbul's Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airports on Monday.

The airline also canceled at least 149 flights scheduled for Tuesday.

The snow began Sunday evening and is expected to continue until Tuesday night, according to Turkey's General Directorate of Meteorology, which also warned of heavy rainfall and a risk of flooding in southern Turkey.
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Fire

Brutal cold gripping midwest U.S. to sweep east with snow squalls; 10-20ºF below normal

Kristina Pydnyowski
Accuweather
Sun, 17 Jan 2016 17:43 UTC
Brutal cold gripping the Midwest this weekend will sweep into the East to start the new week, ushered in by snow and localized squalls in the Northeast.

The new arctic blast will be the harshest the Midwest and East has experienced so far this season. According to AccuWeather Chief Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok, "The arctic deep freeze will last two to three days in most places."

Parts of eastern North Dakota, Minnesota and northeastern Iowa will not see temperatures climb above zero until Tuesday, making for a total of 72 hours of subzero readings since the weekend started.

Temperatures will dangerously drop under 10 below zero F Sunday and Monday nights in and around Minnesota with some communities near the Canadian border registering lows under 20 below zero F.

AccuWeather RealFeel temperatures will be life-threatening if people venture out without being properly dressed from the northern Plains to the Ohio Valley.
Cold outbreak
The cold will not be as brutal when the arctic air grips the eastern U.S. early this week, but will still hold temperatures 10-20 degrees below normal Monday into Tuesday.

Subfreezing highs and biting winds will encompass the Northeast and mid-Atlantic both Monday and Tuesday, a stretch the I-95 corridor in the mid-Atlantic has not dealt with yet this winter.
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Snowflake Cold

Winter shows teeth in Greece: Bridge collapses, snow, strong winds and rainfall

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Sun, 17 Jan 2016 23:57 UTC
Greece bridge collapse
© thetoc.gr
Bad weather collapses bridge. Snow down to the lowlands, cold, strong winds and rainfall for today, Sunday and Monday.

There was intense snowfall with strong winds in Kozani.


The bad weather collapsed a bridge in Diava Kalambaka.


As transmitted by trikalaola.gr, eyewitnesses of the collapse of the bridge were the Deputy Head of Trikala, Mr. Christos Michalakis and Thessaly Regional Councillor, Mr. Boutinas.

Comment: An ice age cometh:

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Ice Cube

Snownado! A massive snow shaft photographed off the coast of Aberdeen, UK

Ewan Cameron
Evening Express
Sat, 16 Jan 2016 11:18 UTC
Snownado!
© James Cheyne

A massive snow shaft has been photographed off the coast of Aberdeen today.

Reader Ian Cheyne's son James took the picture at around 10am from Hilton Drive.

Initially it was believed the weather phenomenon was a waterspout however it's now thought to be a snow shaft.
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Binoculars

Arctic Redpolls invade the southeast of Idaho


East Idaho News
Sun, 17 Jan 2016 18:50 UTC
Redpoll
Redpoll
With a group of 20 small birds attacking the seeds on the birch trees at Beaver Dick Park, seeds littered the snow turning it into a tan brown carpet.

"Common Redpolls," I thought as I got out of the truck for a closer look. They moved a little higher in the trees, but did not stop their eating in the bitter cold of a minus 12 degrees.

This winter is the first time I had seen flocks of them since the winter of 2012-2013 when they invaded most birch trees in the Upper Snake River Valley. While following big game migrations from the mountains two weeks ago, I found a small flock on the desert, north of the St. Anthony Sand Dunes. They have also been recorded in Ashton and on the Rexburg and Howe Christmas Bird Counts. In the last few days they have been visiting my backyard to feed on Niger seeds.

Redpolls
Redpolls
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Cloud Precipitation

Hailstorms blanket parts of Saudi Arabia white

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Fri, 15 Jan 2016 20:21 UTC
Snow on the road to Mecca
Snow on the road to Mecca
Al Jazeera confirms snow in Saudi Arabia. January 15, 2016

Video .. snow coats the migration route.

(One part of the Al Jazeera story says snow, a different part says hail. I'm guessing hail, but it still must have been a real shock to the drivers.)

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Bizarro Earth

Giant avalanche almost buries Alpine resort


RT
Wed, 13 Jan 2016 19:02 UTC
Residents of the town of Cervinia in northwest Italy learned firsthand what a "near miss" means as a gigantic wall of snow was about to devour the popular ski resort.
Avalanche
© Le Dauphiné Libéré/YouTube
On January 12 a huge, 300-meter-wide block of snow came off from the Jumeaux peak, which is almost 4,000 meters high, and plummeted toward the town until it stopped just short of the residential area. Miraculously, no one was hurt.
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