Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Powerful storm to dump foot of snow this weekend on U.S. East Coast as region braces for coastal storm

A powerful coastal storm could dump as much as a foot of snow on areas of the East Coast this weekend. Though metropolitan areas along the East Coast have enjoyed a relatively mild winter with less than half of the average snowfall, a mix of snow, wind, and rain could change all of that come Friday and Saturday. Meteorologists say that a weather system from the Midwest will meet with one from the South, creating a storm that will deliver wind, snow, and rain.

The Weather Channel reports that the Midwestern storm pattern, which passed through Chicago and Milwaukee, will mix with wetter weather coming from New Orleans, Louisville, and even Atlanta. By Thursday night, forecasts predict that the clipper system will travel from the Great Lakes region to the East Coast, passing through cities like Philadelphia, New York, and up towards Boston.
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Ice Cube

Snowiest winter in 100 years paralyzes Moscow

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© RIA Novosti / Denis Tyrin
The snowiest winter in a century has hit the Russian capital, causing Muscovites to get stuck in traffic jams 3,500km in length on Monday evening - the distance from Moscow to Madrid.

­Since the beginning of the winter, over 2 meters of snow has fallen on the Russian capital, the Moscow mayor's aide in housing and public utilities Pyotr Biryukov told Interfax. Snowfall is expected in Moscow for four or five more days, he added.

On Monday, 45,000 community services employees and 15,000 units of equipment were attempting to cope with 26 cm of snow - nearly a fifth of the average annual fall.

The latest snowfall has become a nightmare for drivers with the capital's commuters trapped in gridlock.

Many of those who left their workplace in the evening had to spend five to 10 hours getting home. The average speed of vehicles was no more than 7-9 km/h. The number of road accidents - 3,000 - was much higher than during an ordinary day, with minor accidents quadrupling, according to Channel One TV.

Ice Cube

New satellite image shows the unusually frigid and snowy conditions that blanketed much of Great Britain

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.
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© NASA
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.

Igloo

Heavy snowfall closes dozens of roads in Turkey

Snow in Turkey
© aabadoluajansi
Meric-Ipsala road in the Thrace region of Turkey has been shut down to motor vehicle traffic on Sunday due to heavy snowfall which began in Edirne province.

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.

Igloo

Snow and ice blanket Germany

Snowing in Germany
© Spiegel Online InternationalA commuter train battles snow to reach Munich's airport.
Winter weather threw travel across Germany into turmoil early this week. Snow blanketed much of the country, causing hundreds of cancelled flights and road closures. Conditions began to improve on Tuesday, but not before skiers at ice skaters could have a little fun.

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.

Snowflake

Shimla, India, witnesses 8-year record breaking snowfall in a single day

Shimla snow
© Unknown
The "Queen of Hills" was witness to the record breaking single day highest snowfall in the month of January in the last eight years.

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.

Snowflake Cold

Temperatures drop to record low as arctic blast sweeps Canada, U.S.

cold weather
© Unknown
Arctic air sweeping through Canada and parts of the United States sent temperatures plunging to record lows on Wednesday with a wind chill of minus 40 degrees (Celsius and Fahrenheit).

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.

Snowflake Cold

The Big Chill: Unusual stratospheric phenomenon is bringing frigid cold to U.S.

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.
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© Weatherbell Forecast high temperatures on Monday, Jan. 21, from the GFS computer model.

Igloo

Why should we be concerned about the next cold climate era?

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.

Airplane

Snow grounds hundreds of flights across Europe

De-Icing an Airplane
© AFP/Christof StacheEmployees de-ice an airplane in Munich, southern Germany, on January 21, 2013.
London - Hundreds of flights were cancelled and hazardous roads and railways disrupted traffic and caused countless accidents across 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 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.