Extreme Temperatures
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Igloo

Rare summer snowfall in Xinjiang

Gong Yingchun
China.org.cn
Fri, 16 Aug 2013 00:02 UTC
Rare Snow
© weibo.comChina's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region witnessed a rare display of summer snowfall on Tuesday as a powerful cold air front moved into the area.
China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region witnessed a rare display of summer snowfall on Tuesday as a powerful cold air front moved into the area.

Xinjiang has been suffering scorching heat since July, with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees Celsius. A powerful cold air front has recently moved into the region, causing much and heavy rainfall.

However, one netizen under the username "Chief of the Daolang Tribe" uploaded a group of photos taken near the Tieliemaiti Pass to his microblog account on August 13, saying that some rare summer snowfall occurred near the Duku section of National Highway 217.

The snowfall's photos went viral within hours as residents in most parts of southern China are still enduring a heat wave.
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Igloo

Prepare for decades of extreme cold

Robert Felix
IceAgeNow
Sun, 11 Aug 2013 16:38 UTC
"The Sun drives climate change, not mankind."
IceAge
© India Times
In a press release entitled "Cold Climate Preparation Requires US Academic Support," the Space and Science Research Corporation (SSRC) recently announced that it has launched a nationwide campaign to encourage the largest US academic institutions to become active participants in getting the US prepared for the next climate change, expected to be one of decades of extreme cold weather.

The campaign is to take the form of a letter being sent to the heads of major US universities and colleges, academic associations, science and environmental departments, media, and government leaders. Universities in the Washington, D.C. area will be the first to be notified. The letter has been composed by SSRC President, Mr. John L. Casey.

Mr. Casey (the press release says) is the leading climate researcher in the US advocating national and international preparedness for the coming cold climate era. His foundational research into cycles of the Sun completed in 2007, led him to the creation of the "Relational Cycle Theory" of global climate change and subsequently, the SSRC.

This theory establishes that the Sun drives climate change, not mankind and that repeating cycles of the Sun allow us to predict climate changes decades in advance.
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Snow Globe

Unprecedented July cold - Arctic sees shortest summer on record

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 06:18 UTC
"Normally the high Arctic has about 90 days above freezing. This year there was less than half that," says Steven Goddard website.

Image
Graph courtesy of COI | Centre for Ocean and Ice | Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut

Thanks to F. Guimaraes for this link
"The Arctic ice extent is showing a remarkable recovery from the great oscillations of 2012," says Guimaraes. "Compare with the previous years listed there, you'll see that 2004 is the year that is closest to 2013 in terms of average temps during the summer."
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Arrow Down

Rising food prices: Frost damages nearly a fifth of Brazil's sugar cane crop

Reese Ewing
newsdaily.com
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 03:26 UTC
Image
Sao Paulo - Last week's frosts in southern Brazil damaged nearly a fifth of the unharvested cane crop in the principal growing region, an event likely to cut sugar exports from the world's largest producer, agriculture research company Datagro said Wednesday.

Severe early morning frosts on July 24 and 25 in three of Brazil's top sugar-cane states devastated large areas, Datagro President Plinio Nastari told Reuters. The cold blight comes at the peak the crushing season when more than half of Brazil's expected record 590-million-tonne crop remains unharvested.

Although Nastari was unable to say how much mill-output will drop or reduce a global sugar glut that has pushed prices to three-year lows, he said 65 million metric tons, or 18 percent of the cane standing uncut in fields was damaged by the frost.

Frost in tropical Brazil has long been a weather risk for global coffee markets. This frost, though, is the first in recent history that threatens to significantly cut sugar output and it's impact will likely extend into the next harvest too.
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Igloo

Minnesota - July cold breaks 102-year-old record

Debra Fitzgerald
PipestoneStar
Wed, 31 Jul 2013 19:18 UTC
Cold Snap
© Mavis FodnessShown is tractor driver Sharla Drew instructing Trisha Jessen (left) and Ryley Gorter on how to maneuver the baler down the raked alfalfa rows south of Pipestone. On the hay rack, Matt Jessen shows 9-year-old Brandon Gorter how to stack the small squares.
Sweatshirts aren't the usual attire for baling hay, but a cold snap made the job more pleasant last week as this group made a second cutting for Gary Gorter.

Weekend temperatures in Pipestone plummeted to lows not seen for 102 years as a cold air mass from northern Canada slipped down into the region.

Temperatures of 39 degree and 38 degrees were recorded in Pipestone on Saturday morning, July 27 and Sunday morning, July 28 respectively, according to Mike Gillispie, National Weather Service meteorologist out of Sioux Falls, S.D.

The lows broke the record of 42 degrees set in 1911.
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Arrow Down

Terrible year for white storks in Czech Republic as cold weather kills a generation


wildlifeextra.com
Wed, 31 Jul 2013 15:08 UTC
Very few storks fledged in 2013 - If any

Image
© Valter JacintoA terrible year for breeding white storks in the Czech Republic.
White storks suffered their worst breeding year on record in the Czech Republic, as the cold weather put paid to nearly a whole generation. Almost all of the chicks that did hatch didn't survive the severe weather which prevailed in Bohemia just as the birds were nesting.

Czech conservationists monitor the population of white storks at 285 sites across 25 districts of the Czech Republic annually. In 15 of the monitored districts there were 80 percent fewer chicks than last year and in 10 districts no chicks survived at all! To make matters even worse, it is very unlikely that the few chicks that have survived this far are unlikely to fledge successfully. The final assessment of this calamitous situation with nesting will be carried out in the autumn.
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Igloo

Solar Cycle #24: On track to be the weakest in 100 years

David Dickinson
Universe Today
Mon, 29 Jul 2013 17:23 UTC
Sunspots
© Hathaway/NASA/MSFCProjected vs observed sunspot numbers for solar cycles #23 & #24.
Our nearest star has exhibited some schizophrenic behavior thus far for 2013.

By all rights, we should be in the throes of a solar maximum, an 11-year peak where the Sun is at its most active and dappled with sunspots.

Thus far though, Solar Cycle #24 has been off to a sputtering start, and researchers that attended the meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division earlier this month are divided as to why."Not only is this the smallest cycle we've seen in the space age, it's the smallest cycle in 100 years," NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center research scientist David Hathaway said during a recent press teleconference conducted by the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Cycle #23 gave way to a profound minimum that saw a spotless Sol on 260 out of 365 days (71%!) in 2009. Then, #Cycle 24 got off to a late start, about a full year overdue - we should have seen a solar maximum in 2012, and now that's on track for the late 2013 to early 2014 time frame. For solar observers, both amateur, professional and automated, its seems as if the Sun exhibits a "split-personality" this year, displaying its active Cycle #24-self one week, only to sink back into a blank despondency the next.
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Igloo

Germany hailstorm: Wassel hit by giant hailstones


Disaster Report.com
Mon, 29 Jul 2013 15:37 UTC
A severe hailstorm hit German village of Wassel in Sehnte Saturday evening.

German hailstones were the size of tennis balls. Hailstones damaged roofs, windows and several vehicles, local medias reported.

The most catastrophic hailstorm in Europe struck Munich, Germany on July 12, 1984. Germany hailstorm damaged some 70,000 homes and injured 400 people. Germany hailstorm damage was estimated at over US$2 billion.

Below is a raw you tube video of German hailstorm by Associated Press.

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Attention

Best of the Web: UK National Farmers' Union president: Extreme weather threatens to wipe out British farming - how is UK to feed itself?

Damian Carrington
The Guardian
Mon, 29 Jul 2013 08:25 UTC
Image
From this...
Extreme weather being driven by climate change is the biggest threat to British farming and its ability to feed the nation's growing population, according to Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union.

His comments, in an interview with the Guardian, come after a week of intense weather extremes. Last Monday, west London experienced the hottest day for seven years, while on Tuesday the drought in many parts of the country came to an end with intense thunderstorms that brought almost a month of rain in a day to parts of Worcestershire. Torrential downpours also put a dampener on the first weekend of the school summer holidays, with flash-flooding in parts of the south-east and the Midlands.

"The biggest uncertainty for UK agriculture is extreme weather events," said Kendall, who grows wheat and barley on the 250-hectare (620 acre) farm in Bedfordshire he runs with his brother. "I sometimes have a pop at those who say climate change is going to help farming in northern Europe.

Comment: See also: Rising food prices, climate change and global 'unrest'

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Arrow Down

Scotland's sea birds in big decline after hard winter


wildlifeextra.com
Wed, 24 Jul 2013 11:52 UTC
Image
© Kaleel Zibe (rspb-images.com)Guillemots have declined by 46%
Scotland's seabirds continue to struggle

The coldest spring in more than 50 years has taken a toll on Scotland's seabirds as early monitoring shows adult birds have arrived late for the breeding season and in poor condition.

Harsh winter

Harsh weather conditions earlier this year have added to the considerable long-term challenges seabirds face including lack of food due to the impact of climate change on the marine food chain, and poor management of human activities in the marine environment.

Kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills

Colony counts on RSPB Scotland reserves across the country from the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland to the Firth of Clyde, reveal a similar picture with species like kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills showing some of the steepest declines in number of birds present.
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