Joe White was this close to making it.

A 50-year-old California man described by relatives as a "loving father and a doting grandfather," White had been living on the streets of Hayward for years. He wanted to work and was able to find odd jobs here and there, but it was never much or consistent enough to afford a place to live. Hayward has no emergency shelter with beds for single men, so White slept outside.

But things were looking up. Last Saturday, White was second on a long list to get permanent supportive housing in Hayward. He had been waiting in line for months and it seemed as though he might finally catch a break.

White died on Sunday.

Temperatures in the Bay Area plummeted to near-freezing on December 10, an uncommon occurrence in a region generally known for its lack of inclement weather. White's body was found in the old Hayward City Hall courtyard. He'd been beaten up and robbed by multiple men, who took the new winter coat White's sister had given him on Friday. He was wearing just a hoodie and shorts. His cause of death is still being determined, but police speculated that his death was weather-related.

Thousands of homes in Jordan's capital Amman have been left without power, after four days of heavy snowfall left the city paralysed.

Hundreds of vehicles were left stranded, covered by the snow. Amman's residents have begun trying to clear the roads.

It is one of the worst blizzards to hit the country in recent history, leaving half a metre of snow in certain areas. Heavy snow has fallen in parts of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Syria over the last few days. The major winter storm, known as Alexa, is the first to hit the region this season.

The last four winters in Finland have been brilliantly white, with snow. Intense storms are also on the increase. This has the Director of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Mikko Alestalo, rather confused.

Mumbai: A cold wave continued to grip Mumbai for the second consecutive day with Santa Cruz recording a minimum temperature of 15.6 degrees Celsius on Monday.

On Sunday, Mumbai had recorded the first coldest day of this season with a minimum temperature of 15.7 degrees C. This sudden drop in temperature is due to the northerly cold winds, said V K Rajeev, director, India Meteor-ological Department (IMD), Mumbai. The temperature is currently 2-3 degrees below normal, and would continue for the next two-three days. "After that, the city might witness a slight rise in temperature."

IMD officials said that as the northern parts of the country cool further, the temperature in the city might drop a bit more towards the end of the year or early in January. "The temperature is likely to stay between 15 and 16 degrees C for the next few days," said an official.

If other parts of the country get even cooler, Mumbai might see some drop in the maximum temperature in the coming few days," said an official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Officials said that last December, the maximum temperature in the city had dropped to about 30 degrees C around this time of the year giving Mumbaikars a respite from the heat during the day. Currently, the maximum temperature is a little above 32 degrees C. "Other parts of Maharashtra are already much cooler. Bur Mumbai's proximity to the coast adds to the humidity and keeps the maximum temperature high," said an official.

IMD officials said morning haze will be a fixture till the end of January adding to the coolness. "Earlier, the haze would lift by 7am. Now, it stays till about 8.30am. In December, more than 75% of the days witness a visible haze," the IMD official added.

On par with a mammoth influx of juvenile Snowy Owls in North America (involving at least 750 so far), the UK has experienced its largest-ever influx of first-year Ivory Gulls from the Arctic ice-shelf.


Following the first off Seaburn (County Durham) on 30th November, an unprecedented five more have been discovered since......

Heavy snow has damaged large areas of crops while stopping traffic on many roads in Sa Pa district, the northwestern mountainous province of Lao Cai.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Sa Pa, more than 100 hectares of chayote and another 100 hectares of flowers were buried under snow.

Thick ice also blocked about 10 kilometres of Highway 4D linking Lao Cai and Lai Chau provinces. Efforts have been made by local authorities to clear the roads.

Freezing temperatures have also forced more than 8,500 pre-school and primary school students to cease their schooling.

According to the Lai Chau Department of Education and Training, thousands of students in the hard-hit districts of Sin Ho, Phong Tho and Tam Duong have had to stay at home. Students in 63 schools in Sa Pa, including 20 nursery, 22 primary and 21 secondary schools, have been allowed to stay at home on December 16 and 17.

It was only five years ago in December that Al Gore claimed that the polar ice caps would be completely melted by now. But he might be surprised to find out that Arctic ice coverage is up 50 percent this year from 2012 levels.

"Some of the models suggest that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during some of the summer months, could be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years," Gore said in 2008.

The North Pole is still there, and growing. BBC News reports that data from Europe's Cryosat spacecraft shows that Arctic sea ice coverage was nearly 9,000 cubic kilometers (2,100 cubic miles) by the end of this year's melting season, up from about 6,000 cubic kilometers (1,400 cubic miles) during the same time last year.

If the oceans have eaten the heat, then it certainly isn't to be found in the Arctic Ocean - that's for sure!

The Beeb has surprised today in reporting that Arctic sea ice VOLUME grew a stunning 50%, from 6000 cubic kilometers to approx. 9000 cubic kilometers, from 2012 to 2013, this according to measurements made by the Cryosat probe of the European Space Agency.

Yet another argument of the warmists is melting away.

Data from Europe's Cryosat spacecraft suggests there were almost 9,000 cu km of ice at the end of this year's melt season. This is close to 50% more than in the corresponding period in 2012.

Are sea ice models next in line to be embarrassed?

It's hard to guess how people will react to encountering new, strange and foreign things.

We already saw this year a toddler cross paths with ice for the first time, and now this Saudi Arabian man's reaction to encountering never-before-seen snow just proves that this truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

The eagles have landed in droves at Goldstream Provincial Park.

"Every year we have the eagles that come after the salmon run but this year there seems to be more than previous years," said park naturalist Bre Robinson.

The flock has more than doubled from the 65 last year to 158 counted today (Dec. 12).

They scan the park with binoculars as a head count, but figure there's even more.