Extreme Temperatures
© Roddy Scott Photography
Morning after: Cars abandoned along the A80 near Crowwood, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Thousands of motorists were stranded in their cars last night after snow and freezing temperatures brought Scotland to a standstill
Morning after: Cars abandoned along the A80 near Crowwood, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Thousands of motorists were stranded in their cars last night after snow and freezing temperatures brought Scotland to a standstill
- Scotland is in the grip of the 'worst snow and ice conditions since the 1960s'
- Transport Minister blames weather advice for 'not meeting requirements'
- Snow forces 100 children to spend the night in their school
- At least 13 people have now died across Britain in weather-related incidents
Thousands of desperate motorists were left stranded in their cars last night after heavy snow and freezing temperatures brought much of Scotland to a standstill.
Some travellers were stuck in their vehicles for more than 15 hours as Scotland bore the brunt of a fresh wave of ice and snow which left several major routes - including the M8 motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh - impassable.
The AA said yesterday was one of the busiest days in its history with around 24,000 breakdowns attended - up from 10,500 on a normal Monday.
Scotland's Transport Minister today claimed that the weather advice the authorities had been working on yesterday 'did not meet the requirements'.
© This Is Lincolnshire
Mini ice age.
Mini ice age.
Philip Norton, a member of Lincoln Astronomical Society, forecast the current harsh winter conditions way back in the 1980s.
He also correctly forecast the weather this time around and last winter.
But he says this is comparatively mild - with far harsher winters to come in the 2020s.
Mr Norton, a development engineer of Thirsk Drive, North Hykeham, bases his predictions on sunspot activity.
Sunspots are visible as dark spots on the surface of the sun, where the magnetic fields from within have risen and broken through its surface.
When there are lots of sunspots, there are fewer clouds on Earth.
If there is a lack of sunspot activity, the Earth gets cloudy, lowering temperatures.
Mr Norton said: "This winter is mild compared to those of the 2020s."
"The sunspot activity is roughly following a 400-year trend.
"I predicted the last sunspot cycle would be the most active for a long time and it was.
"This would be followed by a long, deep solar minimum. We are just getting out of this.
© John Fahy
A rare sighting of a bottlenose dolphin breaching at Killiney Bay in front of a snow-covered Dalkey Island, Co Dublin.
A rare sighting of a bottlenose dolphin breaching at Killiney Bay in front of a snow-covered Dalkey Island, Co Dublin.
Met Éireann said the wind chill "will make it very much colder than recent days" and added there was no sign of a thaw this side of the weekend.
Water authorities have warned of disruption to supplies which they say would "almost inevitably" follow the current cold spell.
Record low November temperatures were broken at weather stations in recent days, while Dublin airport recorded the lowest November temperatures since 1947 on Sunday.
The heaviest snowfalls today are expected to be in Wicklow, Dublin and Louth but snow is also expected to be heavy in Ulster, Connacht and, by tonight, in Waterford and the south coast. Scattered snow showers are predicted for the midlands.
The Government's emergency planning taskforce met yesterday to co-ordinate information on public transport and travel arrangements as well as efforts to keep key national and strategic routes open and clear city footpaths of ice.
© Don Lewis and Sue Wieber Nourse/AP Photo
Green Sea Turtle
Green Sea Turtle
The turtles rescued by volunteers with the Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuary at Wellfleet Bay are being cared for at the aquarium's new animal care center in Quincy. They eventually will be released back to the ocean.
Most of them are Kemp's ridley turtles and are suffering from hypothermia, dehydration and malnourishment. The turtles usually migrate to warmer waters in the winter, but aquarium officials say strong northwest winds Wednesday drove the turtles to shore.
Many had body temperatures in the 50s, when they should have been in the 70s.
An aquarium spokesman says it's unusual for the center to care for so many at one time.
Collapse of Giant Ice Age Glacial Lake responsible for carving out the Bahamas.
Springfield, Missouri -- A team of researchers has uncovered evidence that a Mega-Flood, or series of megafloods, from beneath the Ice Age Laurentide Ice Sheet shaped the Bahama Islands. These Mega-Floods traveled down the Mississippi River Valley and into the gulf of Mexico.
These Megafloods entered the Gulf, rapidly raising the water level and forcing the overflow out through the many smaller Florida/Cuba Straits. This Glacial overflow then spread across the lower lying area known as the Bahama Mega-Bank. 12,000yrs. ago, (with sea levels at least 300 ft. lower than today) the Bahama Mega-Bank was an exposed land mass larger than present day Florida.
Springfield, Missouri -- A team of researchers has uncovered evidence that a Mega-Flood, or series of megafloods, from beneath the Ice Age Laurentide Ice Sheet shaped the Bahama Islands. These Mega-Floods traveled down the Mississippi River Valley and into the gulf of Mexico.
These Megafloods entered the Gulf, rapidly raising the water level and forcing the overflow out through the many smaller Florida/Cuba Straits. This Glacial overflow then spread across the lower lying area known as the Bahama Mega-Bank. 12,000yrs. ago, (with sea levels at least 300 ft. lower than today) the Bahama Mega-Bank was an exposed land mass larger than present day Florida.
© Sheffield University, England
A team of researchers have uncovered evidence that a Mega-Flood, or series of megafloods, from beneath the Ice Age Laurentide Ice Sheet shaped the Bahama Islands. These Mega-Floods traveled down the Mississippi River Valley and into the gulf of Mexico.
These Megafloods entered the Gulf, rapidly raising the water level and forcing the overflow out through the much smaller Florida/Cuba Straits. This Glacial overflow then spread across the lower lying area known as the Bahama Mega-Bank. 12,000yrs. ago, (with sea levels at least 300 ft. lower than today) the Bahama Mega-Bank was an exposed land mass larger than present day Florida.
The megafloods originated from Glacial Lake Agassiz. Lake Agassiz was an Ice Age Lake formed by receding Glaciers.and covered an area of roughly 365,000 square miles. It was the largest lake in the world. The megafloods from Lake Agassiz traveled down the 120 mile wide, 600 mile long Mississippi River Valley. The Mississippi Valley covers an area of 35,000 sq. miles and was itself cut out by this same Ice Age flooding. The Ice Age melt water through this valley fed into the Gulf of Mexico.
© unknown
Like many aspects of the world around us, it seems there is much to the nature of this planet that sees little attention in the mainstream media; sometimes, we're lucky if we see anything reported about these subjects at all.
One particular instance that comes to mind here is the way heliospheric phenomenon (solar activity) may be affecting changes here on Earth, or even on other planets. Erratic temperatures - both record highs and lows - are too-often blamed on anthropogenic reasons where humans are considered a prime culprit, where in reality, evidence suggests that humankind's influence may be only one small part of a bigger climatic conundrum.
Comets are believed by some experts to have wiped out megafauna species
The normally peaceable world of geology is currently alive with a fiery debate over the theory that deadly space rocks slammed into Northern Canada about 13,000 years ago, triggering a mini-Ice Age and the eventual extinction of the woolly mammoth and a host of other prehistoric species.
That contentious hypothesis - which has prompted a number of studies in recent years probing sites throughout North America for traces of the alleged extraterrestrial blast -is under renewed attack after a team of U.S. and British researchers published a paper last week arguing that previous claims of impact evidence are demonstrably mistaken.
The new study takes particular aim at several supposed discoveries of "nanodiamonds" at sites around North America -hailed by advocates of the impact theory as proof that a cosmic blast sent showers of "shocked" rock particles across the continent 13,000 years ago.
The normally peaceable world of geology is currently alive with a fiery debate over the theory that deadly space rocks slammed into Northern Canada about 13,000 years ago, triggering a mini-Ice Age and the eventual extinction of the woolly mammoth and a host of other prehistoric species.
That contentious hypothesis - which has prompted a number of studies in recent years probing sites throughout North America for traces of the alleged extraterrestrial blast -is under renewed attack after a team of U.S. and British researchers published a paper last week arguing that previous claims of impact evidence are demonstrably mistaken.
The new study takes particular aim at several supposed discoveries of "nanodiamonds" at sites around North America -hailed by advocates of the impact theory as proof that a cosmic blast sent showers of "shocked" rock particles across the continent 13,000 years ago.
© TVNZ
"Federated Farmers is now working with Agriculture Minister David Carter on a medium scale adverse event declaration," a federation spokesman said tonight.
Such a declaration could give help such as that provided to farmers in recent serious droughts, including funding for a rural support trust to offer financial advice.
Agriculture Minister David Carter will tomorrow visit the small farm the federation's national president, Don Nicolson, and his wife Gail run at Waimatua, southeast of Invercargill, and the farms of Matthew and Vanessa Richards and David and Alana Clarke.
