Extreme Temperatures
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Ice Cube

Winter storm to bring heavy snow, strong winds to West, Plains, Upper Midwest; possible blizzard conditions to High Plains

Winter Storm Goliath has been named and will spread snow from the mountains of the West to parts of the Plains, Upper Midwest and possibly New England through early next week. Some of the heaviest snow amounts may target parts of the southern High Plains where strong winds could also cause blizzard conditions.

In addition to snow, the warm side of Goliath will produce severe thunderstorms and heavy rain this weekend. For more on that story, click the link below.

Particularly Dangerous Situation Tornado Watch Issued: Outbreak of Severe Weather Underway in the South, Ohio Valley

Winter Storm Goliath will occur in two separate phases

Phase 1: Upper-level energy moving into the western states Thursday will spread snow through the mountains of the West and into parts of the northern Plains and Upper Midwest Thursday through Saturday.

Phase 2: Some of that upper-level energy will develop into an area of low pressure aloft over the Southwest and southern Plains. In response to this, a surface low pressure system will develop in the southern Plains this weekend, which combined with sufficient cold air to its north from high pressure, will result in heavy snow for parts of the southern Plains. That area of low pressure will then track towards the Midwest early next week, bringing snow to parts of that region and eventually New England.

Uncertainty remains with the details, including the exact location and timing of the snow for parts of the Plains, Midwest and New England this weekend into early next week. Below is an overview of our forecast right now, but keep in mind that changes are likely in the days leading up to the storm.

Winter Storm Goliath Storm Timing

Thursday

The upper-level energy associated with Goliath will spread snow from the Cascades of Washington and Oregon to California's Sierra Nevada and parts of the Intermountain West. Total accumulations of 1 to 2 feet are likely above 4,500 feet in the Sierra Nevada.
Christmas eve day forecast

Attention

120 cold-stunned sea turtles found stranded on Cape Cod beaches

Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys kempii)
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys kempii)
Massachusetts Audubon Society volunteers recovered about 120 "cold-stunned" sea turtles during the weekend after strong winds caused them to wash up on the shores of Cape Cod Bay.

The majority of the reptiles found on the beaches of Wellfleet, Truro, Eastham, and Brewster were Kemp's ridley sea turtles, a critically endangered species and the rarest type of sea turtle.

It was an unusually large late-season stranding for the turtles, who most often get stuck on Cape Cod shores around Thanksgiving as they try to make their way south to warmer waters for the winter.

Young sea turtles often feed in Cape Cod Bay during the summer but can get trapped in the "hook" of the Cape and become hypothermic as temperatures drop, according to Mass Audubon.

Fire

Extreme fire danger for Victoria, Australia: Temperatures soar to 45 degrees with strong north winds

Victoria bushfire
© 9NEWSThe Wandin North bushfire in Victoria, Australia
Victoria will roast under temperatures tipped to soar as high as 45 degrees in the state's north-west on Saturday, with Melbourne not expecting a reprieve from the dangerous heatwave until Sunday afternoon.

"Extreme" fire danger ratings have now been applied to four Victorian fire districts for Saturday, Central - which includes Melbourne and surrounds - North Central, Wimmera and South West. A further four districts are facing "Severe" fire danger conditions.

A total fire ban has been declared for the whole weekend and a number of parks have been closed. Ambulance Victoria meanwhile is bracing for what could almost be a "perfect storm" on Saturday night, due to the extreme heat and the potential for people to party too hard.

Higher wind speeds than were earlier expected, which could gust to 70 or 80km/h on Saturday and Sunday, have increased fire danger ratings.

Melbourne is expecting a staggering 41 degrees on Saturday - an unusual peak before Christmas - with northerly winds in the morning of 35 to 50km/h. The hottest temperature for Saturday, 45 degrees, is forecast for in the Mallee including the small towns of Werrimull and Underbool.

Snowflake

Daily snowfall record broken in Denver, Colorado

Snow near Loveland
© CBS4Snow near Loveland
The biggest winter storm to hit Denver so far this season has also broken a daily snowfall record for the city.

As of 5 p.m. the official measurement since midnight at Denver International Airport was 7.7″.

That is both the biggest one day snowfall so far this season and a new record for December 15.

The previous daily record for Dec. 15 was 2.8″ set in 1897.
The snowfall record for Dec 15th in Denver is only 2.8" set in 1897. 3-6" expected along the I-25 Corridor. #COwx pic.twitter.com/cClpNx0RQX

— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) December 15, 2015

Snowflake Cold

Winter storm sends temperatures plummeting across western US - Arizona hits zero

Salt Lake City Snow
© AP/Rick BownerSalt Lake City on Monday, December 14, 2015.
A storm that drenched California over the weekend has turned an Arizona town into one of the coldest cities in the lower 48 while making for a rainy commute in Phoenix, where it was colder than New York City.

Here's a look at the winter weather across the West:

Arizona

An icy storm in northern Arizona left Bellemont, a small community west of Flagstaff, with a temperature of zero at sunrise Sunday - one of the chilliest temperatures in the lower 48 states at the time, said David Vonderheide of the National Weather Service.

The morning commute in the region Monday was slow as an initial band of snow showers neared an end and a second wave arrived. The Arizona Department of Transportation urged people to stay off major highways if possible.

Weather forecasters said wind gusts up to 40 mph would send snow swirling and further complicate travel.

Meanwhile, rain fell in central and southern Arizona, dropping temperatures in Phoenix to the mid-40s - some 10 degrees colder than New York City.

Bellemont's low temperatures were due to its location in a flat area surrounded by low hills where cold air struggles to escape, Vonderheide said. At 7,100 feet, it's slightly higher in elevation than Flagstaff.

"There are mornings every winter where Bellemont is the coldest in the lower 48," he said.

Utah

The state's first major winter storm dumped a foot of snow in some parts of the Salt Lake City area, creating harrowing commutes.

Comment: Weather records are being broken all over the world. Check out our latest SOTT Earth Changes Summary for November 2015: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs.


Camera

827 villages in Turkey inaccessible due to snow

Snow Turkey
© trtturk.com
This short video reminds me of why I don't want to live in snow country.


In Van and Hakkari, roads to 827 settlements have been closed due to snow.

In Van, 317 districts are inaccessible due to snow. The Regional Directorate of Highways and Municipality snow-fighting teams continue working to open the roads.

The Directorate of Meteorology Regional in a statement reported that more snow is expected at noon, and that the temperature will fall up to 3 degrees below zero.

In Hakkari, the snow has closed the roads to 136 villages of 374 hamlets.

Comment: Cosmic karma? From two weeks ago: Snowfall shuts 290 village roads in eastern Anatolia, Turkey


Bizarro Earth

Earth's day is getting longer - Rotation is slowing down

Scientists reveal that the rotation of Earth's core holds a clue to understanding global sea-level rise.

Mathieu Dumberry
© University of Alberta
Scientists are studying past changes in sea level to make accurate future predictions of this consequence of climate change, and they're looking down to Earth's core to do so.

"In order to fully understand the sea-level change that has occurred in the past century, we need to understand the dynamics of the flow in Earth's core," says Mathieu Dumberry, a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Alberta.

The connection is through the change in the speed of Earth's rotation. Meltwater from glaciers not only causes sea levels to rise, but also shifts mass from the pole to the equator, which slows down the rotation. (Picture the Earth as a spinning figure skater. The skater moves his or her arms in to spin more quickly or out to slow down.) The gravity pull from the Moon also contributes to the slowdown, acting a little like a lever brake. However, says Dumberry, the combination of these effects is not enough to explain the observations of the slowing down of Earth's rotation: a contribution from Earth's core must be added.

Snowflake

NOAA: Winter storm warnings-watches issued for 15 U.S. states

NOAA map snow
© NOAA
Heavy snow warnings for parts of Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan and Maine.

Igloo

Melting Scandinavian glaciers offer clues to Younger Dryas mystery

Melting Glacier
© Flickr/Vincent MoschettiA combination of fossilised midges and climate modelling suggest that melting ice sheets in Scandinavia triggered a dramatic 1,000-year long cold snap in Europe 12,800 years ago.
Temporary and extreme climate changes punctuated the warming of the Northern Hemisphere as the Earth escaped the icy grip of the last Ice Age.

One such event occurred 12,800 years ago--the so-called Younger Dryas--when Europe was suddenly plunged back into near-Ice Age conditions. The ensuing cold struck Europe and Russia quickly, and hard. But how and why remained a mystery.

Now, a new study has an answer: melting glaciers in Scandinavia set key environmental changes in motion and initiated this dramatic 1,000-year long cold snap.

"The Fennoscandian Ice Sheet in Northern Europe has always been considered an underdog [compared to ice sheets in Greenland and north America] and has received little or no attention in the specialised literature," says lead-author Francesco Muschitiello from Stockholm University, Sweden in an email to ScienceNordic.

But Muschitiello's new research puts the Scandinavian ice sheet at the heart of the mystery. According to him, it is the missing link to understanding this major climate event, which is a key benchmark to understanding how climate can change so suddenly.

The results are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Snowflake Cold

Powerful blizzard rages in Khabarovsk, Russia

blizzard
Whoa! This video reminds me why global warming is GOOD! Visibility near zero. More than 300 cars rescued from "snow captivity."


In the Khabarovsk region continues to rage snow cyclone.

All services Khabarovsk work around the clock.

The powerful blizzard, with storm gusts up to 25 meters per second, has dumped a month's worth of precipitation per day.

The city of Khabarovsk has declared a state of emergency according to the "TV Center".

Khabarovsk a city of just over a half million near the Chinese border.

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link