Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

New snow record set for Calgary, Alberta

chart
© Environment Canada
Calgary, you might need a little time to process this...

For this time period in February you have the most snow on the ground ever recorded—and in such an arid climate, it's a true feat to exceed 30 cm of snow on the ground for this region.

The city is facing similar amounts of snowfall to the September 2014 super-snowfall (30+ cm) which brought numerous power outages and crippled the city for several days, but in much more manageable portions.

These consecutive systems are really beginning to add up. In fact, Thursday was the snowiest single day recorded in Calgary since this massive event back in September 2014.

Snowflake

Mountains of snow: Redfield in New York passes 300 inches for season

Redfield, Oswego County, weather observer Carolyn Yerdon marks 300 inches of snow Thursday night.
Redfield, Oswego County, weather observer Carolyn Yerdon marks 300 inches of snow Thursday night.
Snow keeps piling up....

Earlier this week Syracuse passed the 100" seasonal snowfall, about two and a half weeks ahead of schedule.

However, for folks over the Tug Hill, 100" is nothing. Our weather watcher in northern Redfield, Carol Yerdon, received over a foot of lake effect snow Thursday night, bringing her seasonal total to 307." That's more than 25 feet!

Carol is no stranger to staggering amounts of snow. Her yearly average is 288" and last year she reached 300" on February 12th.

Is she closing in on a seasonal record? Not quite. Her record is 424" set during the winter of 1996-'97 so she has more than 100" to go. But with more than half of February to go and all of March and April too that record may not be safe.

Sun

Sunspots are not from Solar Interior

Sunspot caused by impact
© AcksblogFig. 1. A sunspot caused by the impact of a Kreutz sungrazing asteroid, 2000 C cooler than the photosphere. Umbra, containing water and iron is moving inward at 30,000 km/hr.
Until about 20 years ago, helio-scientists believed sunspots were caused by some mysterious magnetic process within the Sun that has periods of about eleven years, because they could not conceive of a regular rain of bodies crashing into the Sun. Then SOHO, STEREO and other Sun-staring satellites observed over 3,000 such bodies, called Kreutz sungrazers, all in the same unique orbit, every one of which disappeared into the Sun. These are referred to as 'comets', because when they get close to the Sun, they leave trails, but none of these have been observed in the vicinity of the Earth. Although comets are imagined to comprise solely water, no such bodies have ever been observed close-up. When approached by probes, every one of them has displayed a solid core. Comets are merely 'leaking' asteroids. Despite the observations of these bodies hundreds of papers are being written attempting to explain the magnetic process within the Sun which creates the sunspots.

The > 3,000 Kreutz sungrazers are unique in ways that were not known until 2014, when the Rosetta mission approached and orbited 'comet' 67P C-G. Although this body emitted a few streaks of gas, it was never visible from Earth, except by powerful telescopes and thousands more are circulating unobserved. The belief that it was just water ice, because of its low density 0.5 g/cm3, the popular image of 'comets', was disproven when Rosetta's 200 lb. lander Philae, equipped with spikes that were supposed to penetrate the ice and become locked on the surface, failed to penetrate and Philae bounced off the surface. This is the same tough stuff that comprises all asteroids. Rosetta images of 67P belie its low reflected radiance, only 4% of the incident light. The brightness of the Kreutz tails as they approach the Sun are used to estimate their mass, assuming they are pure water ice, and when they become invisible the 'comet' is imagined to have been consumed before impact. But they all have the same composition as 67P, which is obviously much tougher than water ice. That assumption leads to estimates of their diameters of several meters. However, 67P, was measured to be about 4 km in diameter. Images acquired by Rosetta show only a few thin streams of vapor - nothing like what would produce a large tail.

Another pertinent factor about the 3,000+ Kreutz sungrazers is that not a single one survived their close encounters with the Sun. This is well illustrated by a NASA video constructed using data from several Sun staring satellites. Despite this, astronomers claim that these 'comets' are not the cause of sunspots, because of their estimated size. Attempts to explain their origin as the result of the break-up of large comets thousands of years ago are futile, since all the fragments would be placed in different orbits. The 3,000 Kreutz sungrazers in exactly the same orbit dismisses this argument.

Ambulance

Timelapse video captures 70 vehicles piling into each other during blizzard in Ames, Iowa

Some cars manage to swerve to avoid getting caught up in the dangerous scenes and many motorists can be seen fleeing from their vehicles in a bid to avoid any oncoming traffic
Some cars manage to swerve to avoid getting caught up in the dangerous scenes and many motorists can be seen fleeing from their vehicles in a bid to avoid any oncoming traffic
Footage has emerged that captures a timelapse of the terrifying moment when more than 50 vehicles - including a Dancing with the Stars tour bus - piled into each other during a blizzard.

A traffic camera shows how motorists on a busy Iowa highway battled against horrific driving conditions before colliding into one another.

The accident, which killed one person and left at least five people in critical condition, happened on interstate 35 in Ames where temperatures on the road had plummeted to below -18C.

The Iowa Department of Transportation released the clip - which shows dozens of vehicles, including trucks, slide into the large pileup on Monday.


Hardhat

Hail larger than softballs pummeled Cordoba, Argentina (PHOTO, VIDEO)

Hail larger than softballs pummeled an Argentina city Thursday
Huge hail hit Cordoba, Argentina earlier this month
The hail started around 4:30 in the afternoon in Cordoba, Argentina. At first, it was "tiny and fun," but then it changed. Hailstones larger than tennis balls began to fall from the sky, eventually growing to mammoth size.

Victoria Druetta hurriedly snagged one giant stone that fell in her neighborhood of Carlos Paz, snapped a photo of it and placed it in her freezer.

"The hail lasted 20 minutes. It was kind of scary," Druetta recalled. "It hit and then exploded and then melted some. It was probably even bigger."

Snowflake

Up to 1.5 meters of snow falls in central Japan (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

snow
Heavy snow continues to bombard Fukui and neighboring Ishikawa Prefecture in central Japan for the third day after havoc began Feb. 6, which left two people dead and left around 1,500 vehicles stranded on a main road at one point.

The line stretched for about 10 kilometers on Route 8 in Fukui Prefecture. About 900 Ground Self-Defense Force personnel were mobilized to remove snow, but many people were stuck for two nights in a row in their car.


Snowflake Cold

Snowy howl: Fast moving arctic storm brings plunging temperatures, record seasonal snowfall totals in Montana

Snow hits Montana's Rocky Mountain Front
Snow hits Montana's Rocky Mountain Front
A fast moving arctic cold front swept into central Montana Thursday morning bringing with it a dramatic drop in temperatures and near whiteout conditions along the Rocky Mountain Front.

"It is just reaching the Helena Valley now," meteorologist Christian Cassell said at noon on Thursday. "Down in that area they've had rain and temperatures in the 40s and they're going to see a 30-degree drop in an hour with flash freeze conditions. Wolf Creek's already plummeted into the teens from 46-degrees earlier."

Some areas extending south of Wolf Creek Canyon along Interstate 15 were reporting wind gusts of up to 30-miles-per-hour with near zero visibility.

"In addition to the flash freeze, which will occur in the next couple of hours ... the snow could become quite heavy at times," Cassell added. "Helena did just cancel their classes early today, and have canceled for tomorrow too."


Snowflake Cold

Severe winter conditions grip Northern Hemisphere as globe cools

Snipers hold their position on the roof of a hotel during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in the Swiss Alps resort of Davos, Switzerland January 22, 2018
© Denis BalibouseSnipers hold their position on the roof of a hotel during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in the Swiss Alps resort of Davos, Switzerland January 22, 2018
Never mind the severe cold hitting the Super Bowl this year, or scientists lecturing us on global warming while their host resort Davos got buried in snow.

There's been a lot of cold gripping all over the northern hemisphere this winter - much more than many of us expected. Europe has also joined in on the freeze-fest as the harsh winter spreads across the old continent and even into Africa:

Cold is forecast to keep Europe shivering this week. Image cropped from wetter.online.de.
Cold is forecast to keep Europe shivering this week. Image cropped from wetter.online.de.

Snowflake

Over a meter (3.5 feet) of snowfall in 3 days for the Pyrenees, France

snow
There's been heavy snowfall over the past few days in the Pyrenees leading to powder snow conditions.

The snow has been especially heavy on the French side of the southern European mountains, where resorts have reported up to 105cm (3.5 feet) of snowfall over the past three days.

It is still snowing today but the rest of the week is expected to be cold and sunny with great conditions.

Snowflake

Erie in Pennsylvania has broken its all-time snow season record (UPDATE)

This winter is the snowiest on record for Erie, Pennsylvania.
This winter is the snowiest on record for Erie, Pennsylvania.
The record for the snowiest season has been broken in Erie, Pennsylvania, and it's only early February.

This new record has been set because of Winter Storm Liam, which brought snow to the city on Wednesday.

As of 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, the season's snowfall total was 152.1 inches at Erie International Airport, more than 12 feet of snow. This breaks the previous snowiest season of 2000-01 which had 149.1 inches. Snowfall records date back to the 1931-32 winter season, according to the National Weather Service.