Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake Cold

Heavy snow in South Korea breaks December record

Hwang Sun-yoon, Kwon Sang-soo
Korea Joongang Daily
Sat, 29 Dec 2012 12:51 UTC
Korean Blizzard
© NEWSISSoldiers are mobilized yesterday morning to remove snow from roads in front of tollgates near the Baekyang Tunnel in Sasang District, Busan. As snow was not cleared in time, dangerous roads caused traffic jams during rush hour. Heavy snowfall is rarely seen in the southern port city.
Yesterday's rush hour was a nightmare for a 47-year-old civil servant surnamed Roh who commutes from Gimhae to Changwon, South Gyeongsang, every day.

He left home at 6:15 a.m. and reached the Changwon Tunnel that connects the two cities in 10 minutes, but soon had to turn his car around as the tunnel was closed due to snow.

Roh then passed through Jangyu and Dongmasan IC (interchange) and finally arrived at his office in Changwon at 9:40 a.m.

It usually takes only 25 minutes if he takes the tunnel route, but it took 3 hours and 25 minutes.

On his way to the office, many vehicles were waiting for assistance after being damaged in car accidents due to the slippery roads.

"It doesn't snow much in Gimhae," Roh told the JoongAng Ilbo. "Not many drivers have tire chains. It was terrible to drive because many roads are icy due to the early morning snow."
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Snowflake Cold

Coldest winter in decades for Russia with snow as much as 5 meters (16½ ft) deep - Plows cannot reach roads to clear them


The Chosen Ilbo
Sat, 29 Dec 2012 12:35 UTC
Image
© ReutersA homeless woman has a charity meal distributed by volunteers in Russia's southern city of Stavropol on Dec. 25, 2012.
As temperatures plummet to -50 Celsius in some parts of Russia, thousands have been evacuated from their homes in the country's Far East and Siberia. More than 120 people have died from the severe cold -- at least seven in the last 24 hours.

Meteorologists say the country is experiencing one of its coldest winters in decades.

In the Far East region of Magadan, 300 kilometers of roads remain blocked by heavy snow. Plows and machines can not reach those roads to clear them. In some places, snow is as much as five meters deep.

Irina Bryarkina lives in the Tyva region of Siberia where temperatures have been -40 C for several days. It is so cold that many heating pipes have frozen and thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes.

Comment:
"One change to occur in 21st Century is sudden glacial rebound, over Eurasia first, then North America. Ice ages develop much, much, much faster than thought."
We're seeing it right now.

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Snowflake Cold

Record-breaking storm moves to Newfoundland


CBC News
Fri, 28 Dec 2012 06:52 UTC
Montreal blanketed by more than 45 cm of snow from storm moving east.


The winter storm that dumped a record-breaking amount of snow on Montreal is now hitting Newfoundland, with Environment Canada saying northern and central parts of the province can expect 20 to 30 centimetres.

"Heavy snow and strong easterly winds over southwestern Newfoundland this morning will spread northeastward today," Environment Canada said.

By 2:30 p.m. local time, there were snowfall accumulations of 13 centimetres in Deer Lake, seven centimetres in Gander and less than a centimetre in St. John's, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Rodney Barney.

Winter storm warnings are in effect in many parts of central and northern Newfoundland, with Environment Canada warning that "dangerous winter weather conditions" are expected in some areas.

The low-pressure system producing the storm is expected to move from southern Nova Scotia to near Cape Breton by Friday evening. The system will then track across eastern Newfoundland at night before moving to the northeast of the province on Saturday.
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Bacon

Ice Age California saber-toothed cats didn't starve into extinction

Tim Wall
Discovery News
Fri, 28 Dec 2012 09:23 UTC
Image
© American Museum of Natural History
The fearsome felines of the Ice Age in California don't show signs of starving immediately before their extinction. Teeth of saber-toothed cats and the American lions didn't have wear marks that would have suggested the cats were gnawing on bones in hunger near the time of the cats' extinctions.

"Tooth wear patterns suggest that these cats were not desperately consuming entire carcasses, as was expected, and instead seemed to be living the 'good life' during the late Pleistocene, at least up until the very end," said lead author Larisa DeSantis of Vanderbilt University in a press release.

Tooth wear patterns did reveal previously unknown differences in the two cat species behavior. Saber-toothed cats, also known as Smilodon, appeared to have regularly crunched bones, and showed no increase in this dietary distinction toward the end of their reign, which spanned from 30,000 to 10,000 years ago. American lions however, were more finicky and seem to have avoided bones, much as modern cheetahs do.
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Cloud Lightning

Fifteen dead in U.S. Northeast snowstorm


Russia Today
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:11 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Jeff SwensenResidents shovel snow on Mt. Washington after a winter storm blanketed the Midwest with snow.
Fifteen people have died in the powerful winter storm that triggered tornadoes in the American South and is now burying the Northeast in snow. With hundreds of flight delays, post-Christmas air travelers still remain stuck at US airports.

Since Tuesday, 15 have died in weather-related incidents across the US, including a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old who were killed in a car accident. While many of the victims lost their lives during traffic accidents caused by the rough weather, others were crushed to death by falling trees.

Throughout Indiana, the snowfall ranged from 6 to 12 inches, forcing the state to employ 350 snowplows to clear the roads.

"It's pretty bad. You get a lot of drifting out there. That's what's killing us, mainly," plow driver David White told CNN affiliate WRTV.
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Igloo

Major snow storm dumps 33cm of snow in Brockville, Canada

Dale C. Elliott
BNTV News
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 15:22 UTC
Snow in Brockville
© BNTV News
A major winter storm that hit our region overnight had people stuck on the roads, the ditch and their driveways according to Brockville Police. The region also spent the day digging out from one of the largest December snowfalls on record.

Brockville Police say if you don't have to go out today, stay at home and off the roads.

"The amount of snow that fell is only realized as people are stuck at the end of their driveways. Good Samaritans can be found stopping to help and now their vehicles are hazards on the roadway. Stay at home if you can." said Inspector Scott Fraser today.

Fraser also said that there have been no major accidents that have been reported so far.
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Igloo

65 percent of USA covered by snow

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 15:07 UTC
And it looks like there's a snowy weekend ahead.
Snow Cover USA
© NOAA
This map from NOAA shows that 65 percent of the USA was covered by snow as of Thursday morning, December 27, 2012.

And it looks like there's a snowy weekend ahead, with snow for New York City, Boston and Philadelphia.

Snow is expected to spread from parts of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley on Friday to portions of the Northeast on Saturday.

Source: The Weather Channel
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Igloo

Europeans freezing by the hundreds, as workers lose their jobs in mindless government attempt to make the weather colder

Steven Goddard
Steven Goddard WordPress.com
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:46 UTC
We truly live in an age of deep stupidity and insanity.
December 26, 2012 Cold Weather Across Europe, Asia Kills Hundreds

Cold weather in the past few days has sadly gone from severe to deadly. While unusually high snowfall has disrupted the travel plans of millions of Americans, freezing temperatures have taken the lives of hundreds of people from Central Europe to South Asia. The BBC reports that in Poland, 49 people have died; in Ukraine, 83; in Russia, 88; and in India, at least 93. The majority of those dead are the elderly and the homeless.
The EU believes that they control weather, and they also believe that they want to make it colder.
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Igloo

Heavy snowfall halts life in Gazar


DunyaNewsTV
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:42 UTC
Snowing In Gaza
© DunyaNewsTv
Heavy snowfall has halted life across Gazar city. Lower areas are covered with 1 ft while the upper areas are covered by snow up to 3 ft. The Gazar-Chitral Highway has been closed for last 4 days. There is shortage of eatables in the city.The traffic is closed in Phandar, shamran, Chasi and Tebr areas of tehsil Gopis. The shortage of eatables is rising day by day while the residents are facing difficulties in the supply of fuel. People have remained closed inside in houses due to chili cold after heavy snowfall.The temperature has fallen down till -10 Degree Centigrade in the upper areas.
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Ice Cube

Record low temperatures hit Japanese cities

Adam Westlake
The Japan Daily Press
Wed, 26 Dec 2012 09:45 UTC
As Japan continues to deal with a persisting cold front, Christmas Day brought record low temperatures to as many as 44 locations, mostly in the northern region and on the island of Hokkaido. The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that cold temperatures would last throughout the week, with more heavy snowfall in the north and areas that face the Sea of Japan.

Tuesday saw temperatures setting a record low for the month of December, with Hokkaido's city of Furano reaching minus 28.4 degrees, the coldest ever recorded since monitoring began. Record lows were also made in Tokyo, at 6 degrees, and the prefectures of Tottori and Saitama with minus 8 degrees. Homes and offices in Japan very rarely have central heating systems, and windows are poorly insulated, making it sometimes difficult to keep warm in the winter. People instead rely on kerosene-powered space heaters, creating a high demand for oil. In areas where snowfall makes it difficult to drive, gasoline stations drive trucks around with tanks of fuel and long hoses, making deliveries so people don't even have to leave their homes.

The city of Monbetsu, also in Hokkaido, reported a meteorological phenomenon known as ice fog occurring on Tuesday. The meteorological agency says this takes place when the water vapors from the ocean rise and meet cold air on land to form thick, low-hanging clouds of very cold fog.
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