Extreme Temperatures
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Ice Cube

Icebergs still floating on Lake Superior in June

iceberg lake superior
© Winsconsin DNR
It may be June, but a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources warden discovered some icebergs still afloat in Lake Superior near Madeline Island on Friday.

DNR Marine Warden Amie Egstad spotted the floating ice - which was covered in resting seagulls - while doing a routine check of commercial nets in the largest of the Great Lakes.

Comment: So much for 'global warming'! Considering the extremely cold winter and the unprecedented ice cover on the Great Lakes this winter, it's hardly surprising to see icebergs still floating on the lake:
Why it's a big deal: Half of the Great Lakes are still covered in ice
Drastically cold temperatures create greatest ice cover on the Great Lakes in 20 years
Ice Age Cometh: Great Lakes ice cover spreading rapidly - Lake Superior sets new record


Snowflake Cold

Record cold June morning on the Canadian Prairies

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Of course, there's nothing unusual about record cold.

"We're a couple weeks shy of the official start to summer, but we won't be offended if you don't quite believe us," says the weather network.

Saturday morning (June 7) saw temperatures hovering around zero - yes, zero - degrees (32 F), as overnight temperatures plunged to uncomfortably cold levels.

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis and Terry Homeniuk for link
Here's more proof that even Canadians are surprised at the change in climate patterns...summers 2 weeks away and its still a winter wonderland!!!

Snow in June? Warning issued for northern Manitoba

Thanks to John Topal for this link

Snowflake

Chilean Meteorological Office "surprised" by coastal snowfall

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They see the snow as "an anomaly" rather than as the beginning of a new Ice Age.

Chile, 06-06-2014: The snow that fell on Route 90 at the entrance of Pichilemu during the afternoon on Friday was "unusual," said La Primera Compañía de Bomberos (the First Fire Company) on its Twitter account

The phenomenon not only surprised the transiting area, but also the Chilean Meteorological Office who listed the snowstorm as an "anomaly".

According to meteorologist Patricio Silva "we had expected snowfall above 1,000 meters, but not in the coastal zone".

Meteor

SOTT Exclusive: NASA blowing meteor smoke as noctilucent clouds intensify

NASA is blowing more 'meteor-smoke' in our eyes regarding the year's first (northern hemisphere) appearances of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) on May 24th. NASA outlet spaceweather.com claims:
Seeded by meteor smoke and boosted by the climate-change gas methane, noctilucent clouds have been spreading beyond the Arctic.
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© Noel BlaneyJune 6th, 2014: Electric-blue NLCs over Bangor, Northern Ireland
Rising methane from below, the alleged exclusive result of human industrial activity, is NOT responsible for noctilucent clouds. Increasing atmospheric methane levels are primarily due to methane being released from deep under the oceans.

Increased NLCs are a 'canary in a coal mine' alright, but not in the way Official Science would have us believe.

Snowflake

Snowfall hits communities in north-eastern British Columbia

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People in the community of Chetwynd, B.C. woke up to a surprise this morning.

Environment Canada says the town received up to five centimeters of snow today.

Temperatures are expected to rise above zero this afternoon, and the snow will turn to rain.

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© Carmen Gansevles

"Although snow this time of year is not unheard of for this region, some localized areas have received so much that today's accumulation in a few areas is quite rare," says Global BC meteorologist Kristi Gordon.

Chetwynd resident Carmen Gansevles says they sometimes get snow over May long weekend, but almost never in June.

She says they started getting flurries earlier this morning and there is now three inches of snow in her backyard.

Cloud Lightning

Baseball-sized hail strikes Nebraska during storm

Hail in Nebraska
© Twitter/@Jcow
Baseball-sized hail has pounded homes and cars across Nebraska, as powerful thunderstorms swept the Midwest, wreaking extensive damage, severe flooding and even reportedly tornado touchdowns in some areas.

Hailstones the size of baseballs pummeled the state with devastating effect Tuesday, producing a social media storm flooded with images of the aftermath of the freak hail, showing cracked windshields and houses riddled with holes.
Nebraska hail storm
© Unknown
The US National Weather Service received reports of flooding and registered winds of up to 85 mph in neighboring Iowa. In addition, there were reported of eight unconfirmed tornado touchdowns in Nebraska, Reuters reported.

Attention

Wrong place, wrong time: Dead Arctic beluga whale washes up on a Scottish beach

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© APBeluga whales are rarely sighted in Scottish waters.
The discovery of the carcass of a dead Arctic beluga whale on a Scottish beach could plug a 200-year research gap for National Museums Scotland.

The NMS was contacted to identify the rotting remains washed up on Lunan beach, north of Arbroath.

DNA samples were sent off along with the mammal's skull and teeth and experts were thrilled with the results.

The whale is only the second specimen of beluga the museum has received - and the last one dates back to a stranding in the Firth of Forth in 1815.

Zena Timmons, assistant curator of vertebrates at NMS, helped to identify the animal after it was found by volunteers from the Keilor Trust and members of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme. She said: "Staff from the Natural Sciences department at National Museums Scotland identified a specimen washed up at Lunan Bay as a beluga whale.

Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Rare Arctic Ross's Gull seen in Devon, UK

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I was late rising this morning and when the phone rang and rang and then rang again I wa quite certain that there must be a special bird about. I was right, Dave Stone excitedly told me that there was a Ross's Gull at Bowling Green Marsh. Ross's Gull is an extreme rarity here in Devon and this one is in fact the first record for the Exe Estuary and one of just a handful ever recorded in the county. I dont particularly like these "twitches" being a a bit of a contradiction to what I like about about wildlife watching but if you want to see really rare birds then needs must.

Ross's Gull is a small gull which is an Arctic breeder and named after a Naval Officer, James Ross. It is a true bird of the far north and breeds in the north of Siberia and the North American continent in Northern Canada. When it has finished breeding it then flies even further north. Quite how this one came to be here in the South West of the UK is one of those mysteries that can never be solved. This lonely individual is a young, non-breeding bird in it's second year. I was expecting to see a much more attractively marked bird and have to confess to some disappointment in this regard. The legs are fleshy red and the beak is delicate and solidly black. The tail is distinctive in flight being wedge shaped with a noticeable blackish band on the end. As a young bird it has black markings on the wings reminiscent of a LIttle Gull. Adult birds lack these markings but in the summer and in breeding plumage, have a noticeable black band around the neck and also have a pinkish suffusion on the breast. This bird was feeding on small flying insects around one of the pools on Bowling Green Marsh which is apparently typical behaviour.

Snowflake

Lake Superior breaks record with ice still around

It is now the month of June and there is still ice hovering on the southern shores of Lake Superior making it now the latest this much ice has been on the lake this late in the season. The last time ice was around this late into the year was back in 2003 when the frozen water finally melted on May 29th. Here is what the shores of northern Michigan looked like on Saturday...
Lake superior ice
© @LAKSuperiorFotoLake Superior May, 31th 2014.
Ice has all collected on the southern end of the lake and can be seen by satellite image... this one taken this past Thursday

Cow

60,000 cattle die during cold weather in Bolivia

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Cold wave in Bolivia
The Cattle Raisers Federation in the northeastern Bolivian province of Beni reported Thursday that at least 60,000 head of livestock have died due to the cold wave that has beset the Andean nation for a week.

Federation director Carmelo Arteaga said that the situation "is desperate" and added that the sector needs $1 billion to repurchase the cattle that have been lost and to create the conditions to face natural disasters, radio Erbol reported.

Beni, Bolivia's main beef-producing province, was one of those most affected by serious flooding registered in the country between October and March, when thousands of head of cattle also perished.