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3 killed in avalanche that trapped 5 skiers in Italy

Julian Atienza
Fox Weather
Mon, 13 Jan 2025 19:09 UTC
Piedmont Alpine and Speleological Rescue responds to avalanche in Italy's Piedmont region. Two skiiers were rescued, three found dead.
© Piedmont Alpine and Speleological RescuePiedmont Alpine and Speleological Rescue responds to avalanche in Italy's Piedmont region. Two skiiers were rescued, three found dead.
Three skiers were killed in an avalanche in Italy's Piedmont region on Sunday.

Piedmont Alpine and Speleological Rescue said they responded to calls of an avalanche involving five mountaineers just after noon local time.

The avalanche happened on the peak of Punta Valgrande, a popular mountain in the Swiss Alps among experienced hikers and skiers, near the border of Italy and Switzerland.

Rescuers said the victims were dragged several hundred feet by the snow.

Medical teams arrived by helicopter and were able to rescue two skiers, but three others were found dead on the scene.

Meanwhile, in Adamello in the nearby Italian Alps, search operations for a missing climber were temporarily suspended due to worsening weather conditions, according to a report from Reuters.
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Snowflake Cold

Freezing temperatures and heavy snow cause disruptions in southeastern Europe


Euronews
Tue, 14 Jan 2025 18:50 UTC
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Southeastern Europe is experiencing much lower than expected temperatures this week, bringing heavy snowfall and flooding risks.

Freezing temperatures and heavy snow have caused disruptions in several parts of southeastern Europe, ranging from transport issues to schools being forced to shut.

A storm system has brought strong winds, heavy rainfall, and snowfall in mountainous areas across parts of countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia.

More than 70 schools were closed in Albania on Monday after access to several villages was blocked by severe weather. Authorities have been clearing snow from roads and restoring traffic in the Balkan nation's northern and southeastern parts.

Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Italy have also issued alerts for heavy snow in recent days. In Bulgaria's Smolyan region, snow cover reached 40 centimetres on Monday.

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Stock Up

Ten Russian cities break all time January 8 warm temperature records


RT
Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:49 UTC
moscow
© Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresenskiy
Ten Russian cities shattered January 8 temperature records this week, RIA Novosti reported, citing Roman Vilfand, the scientific director of Russia's Hydrometeorological Center.

In a country known for bitter winters, with temperatures sometimes plunging as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius, some regions saw unseasonably mild conditions. Large cities like Ryazan, Orel, Lipetsk, and Voronezh recorded highs of 5.1 degrees Celsius, far exceeding previous January 8 benchmarks, according to Vilfand.

The latest data released by the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service shows that 2024 was the hottest year on record, stretching back to 1890. Each of the past decades was one of the ten warmest years recorded, and the two-year average for 2023-2024 exceeded the 1.5-degree limit that countries agreed to avoid under the Paris climate agreement in 2015, Copernicus said on Friday.

Last year the planet's average temperature was 1.6 degrees Celsius higher than during the pre-industrial period of 1850-1900, before humans began burning CO2-emitting fossil fuels on a large scale, according to the service.

The year 2024 was the warmest year on record in Moscow despite the unprecedented chill recorded in the Russian capital during the first ten days of May. Moscow State University reported on December 31, citing data tracked by its meteorological observatory, that the average annual temperature reached a record high of 8.2 degrees Celsius. The previous record of 8.0 degrees Celsius was recorded in 2020.
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Snowflake

Snowstorm in Japan: Some regions received up to 2 meters of snow

Kateryna Shkarlat
MSN
Sat, 11 Jan 2025 13:55 UTC
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Heavy snowstorms continue in areas along the Sea of Japan. Although their intensity is somewhat decreasing, meteorologists warn of possible blizzards and transportation disruptions in the region, NHK WORLD-JAPAN informs.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, winter atmospheric pressure and cold air masses are contributing to heavy snowstorms that have affected the eastern and northern regions of the country.

As of Friday morning, the snow depth in Okura village (Yamagata Prefecture) reached 1.99 meters. In Uonuma city (Niigata Prefecture), 1.94 meters of snow fell, while in the famous Shirakawa village (Gifu Prefecture), the snow depth reached 1.84 meters. In some areas, the snowfall exceeds the usual norm for this time of year by more than twice.

On Thursday evening, a car in Toyooka city (Hyogo Prefecture) slid off the road and into a river. The driver is in critical condition. Preliminary reports suggest the accident may have been caused by difficult driving conditions due to snow.

Rail company JR East reported a temporary suspension of high-speed Shinkansen trains on the Yamagata line on Friday morning. Services were later resumed.

According to meteorologists, another powerful snowstorm is expected along the Sea of Japan regions by Saturday morning. People are urged to exercise caution due to potential transportation disruptions, strong winds, high waves, avalanches, and power outages.

RBC Ukraine

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Snowflake Cold

UK weather: Scottish hamlet reaches -18C in coldest January night in 15 years


Sky News
Sat, 11 Jan 2025 19:51 UTC
A Highland cow grazing near Shotts, North Lanarkshire.
© PAA Highland cow grazing near Shotts, North Lanarkshire.
Temperatures in a hamlet in northern Scotland fell to -18.7C (-1.66F) overnight - the UK's coldest January night in 15 years, the Met Office has said.

Altnaharra, in the northern region of the Highlands, reached the lowest temperature while nearby Kinbrace reached -17.9C (-0.22F).

It is the coldest January overnight temperature since 2010, when temperatures dropped below -15C several times at locations across the UK, including -22.3C (-8.14F) on 8 January in Altnaharra.

Forecasters had previously said there was a very small probability it could reach -19C.
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Windsock

206-mph winds hit Kirkwood Mountain Resort on January 7, approaching California record

Martin Kuprianowicz
SnowBrains
Thu, 09 Jan 2025 20:50 UTC
Wind readings from Kirkwood show the extreme speeds gusts reached on the night of January 7.
© Kirkwood Mountain ResortWind readings from Kirkwood show the extreme speeds gusts reached on the night of January 7.
Kirkwood Mountain Resort, near Lake Tahoe, experienced an extraordinary weather event on Tuesday night when winds at the summit reached a staggering 206 miles per hour. The gusts were measured at the resort's summit weather station, situated at an elevation of approximately 9,186 feet.

This extreme wind speed is among the highest ever recorded in California. In February 2020, a similar event saw winds peak at 209 mph at the same resort, which would be a California record, but the National Weather Service questioned the validity of the reading, according to a social media post shared by Kirkwood. Either way, last night's measurement stands as one of the most significant wind events in the state's history.
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Fire

Let's talk about...California Wildfires


Off-Guardian
Fri, 10 Jan 2025 17:38 UTC
California Wildfires
© Off-Guardian
Unprecedented wildfires have swept the Los Angeles area over the last few days, destroying neighbourhoods and threatening landmarks.

The BBC is helpfully keeping a running tally of the number of celebrities whose homes have burned down.

This is the first time in recorded history that wildfires of this scale have occurred in California in January, according to an expert quoted in the New Scientist:
"While Santa Ana fires are nothing new in southern California, this type of explosive fire event has never happened in January before, and it's only happened once in December," says Crystal Kolden at the University of California, Merced.
There has been no official word on what started the fires as yet, although officials from the California Fire Service claimed that 95% of wildfires in California are started by humans.
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Ice Cube

Watch: Avalanche of snow, ice crashes off roof in Louisville, Kentucky


The Weather Channel
Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:15 UTC
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People across Louisville, Kentucky are still digging out from the snow dumped by Winter Storm Blair. Watch the moment all the snow and ice became just too heavy on the roof of an office building.

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Snowflake Cold

Best of the Web: Emergency in 7 US states, 63 million at risk from winter storm Blair


National Herald (India)
Mon, 06 Jan 2025 11:13 UTC
Kansas City blanketed in snow
Kansas City blanketed in snow
In the US, winter storm Blair is bringing the "heaviest snowfall" and coldest temperatures in over a decade.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued alerts for more than 30 US states, spanning from Kansas to the East Coast, warning of "whiteout conditions" and roads becoming impassable.

Up to 250 million people across states are in the storm's path, facing dangerously low temperatures and hazardous travel conditions. Around 63 million people in the US are under some kind of winter weather advisory. This disruptive storm has covered roads with snow and also brought snowfall —even thundersnow — to several cities such as Kansas and Kentucky that typically don't see much at all, prompting the National Guard to come to the aid of stranded motorists.

School closures, flight disruptions and trees falling over are only to be expected. On Sunday, Virginia state police alone reported at least 135 crashes, thankfully without any fatalities.

Winter storm Blair is the result of an 'Arctic outbreak', which results from a polar vortex — a 'very cold air mass that typically originates in the Siberian region of Asia, crosses over the north pole into Canada and pushes south and east into the lower United States,' the NWS explains.

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Snowflake

Rare snow blankets Sahara dunes in Northern Africa on New Year's Day

Andrew Wulfeck
Fox Weather
Fri, 03 Jan 2025 14:37 UTC
Algerian photographer Karim Bouchetata captured video of snow falling over parts of the Sahara Desert on New Year’s Day.
© Karim BouchetataAlgerian photographer Karim Bouchetata captured video of snow falling over parts of the Sahara Desert on New Year’s Day.
Algerian photographer Karim Bouchetata captured video of snow falling over parts of the Sahara Desert on New Year's Day. A storm system moving through Europe helped to deliver the cold air across northern parts of the continent

For the second time in two years, a blanket of snow covered parts of the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, creating a rare and unexpected sight.

On New Year's Day, Algerian photographer Karim Bouchetata captured video of snowflakes falling over Ain Sefra, a town in western Algeria about 30 miles east of the Moroccan border.

The video showed dunes blanketed in fresh snow, but streets appeared to remain passable as the snow cover melted on warmer surfaces.

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