Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Heavy snowfall cuts power, disrupts transport along Sea of Japan coast

Snow Japan
Heavy snow plastered much of the Sea of Japan coast on Friday as a cold wave hit the archipelago, disrupting transportation and causing power outages.

The Meteorological Agency warned the snowfall could continue through Sunday and spread to the Pacific coast.

In Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, around 1,300 households lost power after a snow-laden tree fell onto a power line, Chugoku Electric Power Co. said.


Snow also prompted West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) to suspend part of the Inbi Line in Tottori and Okayama prefectures and part of the Geibi Line in Hiroshima Prefecture. Delays were also reported on the Sanin Line.

A glitch apparently caused by snow also left around 40 passengers in a cable car to Mount Koya trapped for about 90 minutes in the town of Koya, Wakayama Prefecture, Nankai Electric Railway Co. said.

Sun

Sydney hit by record temperatures during heatwave

Sydney heatwave
The beaches are expected to be packed as people seek relief from the heat.
With temperatures over 40C in parts of Sydney, it is now officially the hottest summer in the city's 158 year recorded history — with 10 summer days over 35C.

At Sydney Airport, temperatures reached 42.9C at 2.30pm today, and broke the previous record for the area set in 1980.

And the worst heat could be still to come.

Tomorrow, for the first time in the history of Sydney grade cricket, all matches have been called off due to the extreme heatwave.

Cricket Australia and NSW doctor John Orchard pushed strongly for the unprecedented step to be taken, and NSW Cricket has advised all associations to follow suit and cancel junior and senior matches.

Similarly at Royal Randwick, tomorrow's much-anticipated racing has been postponed until Monday.

While residents have yet to be hit by power outages, locals in the inner west were given a short preview of what could occur if power shedding is necessary.

Bizarro Earth

Blizzard Warnings as Winter Storm Niko hammers US Northeast

US East coast storm
© National Weather ServiceWinter Weather Alerts

Winter Storm Niko continues to lash the Northeast with heavy snow, high winds and, in some areas, blizzard conditions, making travel treacherous, if not impossible in Boston and New York City.

A blizzard warning has been issued for Boston and all of eastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, as well as parts of Rhode Island, including Providence, much of Long Island in New York, and southeastern Connecticut.

Winter storm warnings stretch from Maine southward through New England, eastern New York and into northern/eastern New Jersey. This includes Hartford, Connecticut, Albany, New York, and New York City.
US East coast winter storm
© Weather ChannelAreas shown in darkest teal have the best chance of snow. Areas in pink may see either snow, sleet or freezing rain. Areas in purple may see sleet or freezing rain. Areas shown in darkest green have the best chance of rain.

Snowflake Cold

Whistleblower: No more global warming, NOAA scientists falsified temperature data, MSM ignores

Unstable land readings
Unstable land readings
Retired NOAA climatologist Dr Bates, comes out with the bombshell of the century that there is no global warming.

NOAA changed temperature data to show warming to effect political will to get USA and other countries to sign 2015 IPCC global climate accord.

Also $100 billion in funding to be lost if no warming continues.


Sources

Snowflake

Historic winter storm dumps more than 5 feet of snow in parts of Montana

 East Glacier
© Ciny Salway East Glacier
The final numbers are in and Montana's recent winter storm is one for the record books.

More than five feet of snow fell along the Rocky Mountain Front, breaking long-standing snowfall records at a few locations.

St. Mary (Glacier County) reported a total of 64" of snow during the 4-day period beginning February 3 and ending February 7. This smashes the previous 4-day extreme of 43" set back in November 1990.

The National Weather Service in Great Falls says Babb reported an unofficial total of 60", and the most snow ever reported over a 4-day period prior to this storm was 24" back in 1954.

At Many Glacier, an automated SNOTEL station recorded 63" of snow -- the previous 4-day record was just 36".

Browning reported 3 feet of snow during the storm, which ties for the 3-day record set in September 1908.

NWS Great Falls reports more than six feet of snow fell in some areas at higher elevations, but exact figures have not been determined.


Click here to read the NWS report (PDF); below are highlights.

Snowflake Cold

Thickest snowfall in 25 years for Kashmir Valley, India

Kashmir Valley receives thickest snowfall in 25 years
Kashmir Valley receives thickest snowfall in 25 years
Earlier, it had snowed heavily in February 2006 but it wasn't as much as this year's snowfall. This year's wildest washout is coinciding with 'chillai kalan', which is the harshest period of winter in Kashmir.

The beautiful Kashmir Valley turned into a picturesque after receiving a thickest whiteout in 25 years this February. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) release dated February 3 mentioned that the minimum temperatures were less than 5.0°C at many places over Jammu & Kashmir and at a few places over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. January received three spells of heavy snowfall of over 16.2cm in January alone. A total of 23cm snowfall has been recorded so far in the Valley this year, IMD reported.

Earlier, it had snowed heavily in February 2006 but it wasn't as much as this year's snowfall. This year's wildest washout is coinciding with 'chillai kalan', which is the harshest period of winter in Kashmir. The 'chillai kalan' lasts from December 21 to January 30. The heavy snowfall in the Kashmir Valley triggered landslides at several places, bringing normal life to a standstill.



Snowflake

Rare 'snownado' forms on Scottish mountain

snownado in Scotland
© Deadline News'Snownado': Skiers and walkers were dwarfed on Cairngorm Mountain near Aviemore by the stunning spiralling pillar of snow
This is the moment a rare 'snownado' touched down on a mountain in the Scottish Highlands, whirling snow and ice in a circle at least 100ft off the ground.

Skiers and walkers were dwarfed on Cairngorm Mountain near Aviemore by the stunning spiralling pillar of snow - also known as a 'willy willy' - which disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

It comes as Britain faces being plunged into a cold snap over the next 10 days as temperatures drop below -10C, with many parts of the country already hit by snow and flooding affecting the roads and railways.

James Madden, of Exacta Weather, said eastern and south-eastern parts will be the first to see wintry showers as temperatures drop.

He told The Express: 'There will be widespread frosts and ice problems.

'By the end of the week and into the weekend we could see snow popping up almost anywhere.'


Info

7500-year-old solar event recorded in tree rings

Bristlecone pine
© Nagoya UniversityFigure: Picture of the bristlecone pine forest in California, the United States where the bristlecone pine sample for this study used to live (taken by Prof. A.J.T. Jull). In this forest, there are many living old trees exceed 1000 years old. Harsh environments make bristlecone pines very dense and long lives.
An international team led by researchers at Nagoya University, along with US and Swiss colleagues, has identified a new type of solar event and dated it to the year 5480 BC; they did this by measuring carbon-14 levels in tree rings, which reflect the effects of cosmic radiation on the atmosphere at the time. They have also proposed causes of this event, thereby extending knowledge of how the sun behaves.

When the activity of the sun changes, it has direct effects on the earth. For example, when the sun is relatively inactive, the amount of a type of carbon called carbon-14 increases in the earth's atmosphere. Because carbon in the air is absorbed by trees, carbon-14 levels in tree rings actually reflect solar activity and unusual solar events in the past. The team took advantage of such a phenomenon by analyzing a specimen from a bristlecone pine tree, a species that can live for thousands of years, to look back deep into the history of the sun.

"We measured the 14C levels in the pine sample at three different laboratories in Japan, the US, and Switzerland, to ensure the reliability of our results," A. J. Timothy Jull of the University of Arizona says. "We found a change in 14C that was more abrupt than any found previously, except for cosmic ray events in AD 775 and AD 994, and our use of annual data rather than data for each decade allowed us to pinpoint exactly when this occurred."

Tornado1

'Never seen anything like it': Intense thunderstorms soak Sydney, dumping as much rain in an hour as fell in all of January

sydney australia rain
© Peter RaeThe Tuesday morning storm cells formed with little warning, dumping almost as much rain on the city in an hour as collected in all of January.
A house collapsed, major roads slowed to a crawl, lightning strikes closed the airport and even the Salvation Army needed emergency help as a series of intense thunderstorms drenched many parts of Sydney.

The Tuesday morning storm cells formed with little warning, dumping almost as much rain on the city in an hour as collected in all of January, overwhelming drains and roadways.

Another bout of rain and possible storms may hit Sydney on Wednesday, although the worst of the weather may be over by morning peak hour, Weatherzone said.

Tuesday's tempests had structural engineers racing to a unit complex in Ewart Street, Marrickville, after part of a 50-metre long pond at the back of the property collapsed, threatening to take the block with it.

Additional images

Comment: Heavy rain and flash flooding hammers Sydney, Australia


Cloud Precipitation

Winter weather alerts issued for 23 states as U.S. braces for severe storms

Winter
At least 23 U.S. states are under winter weather alerts, and a tornado watch has been issued for parts of the Southeast as most of the country braces for severe weather this week.

"We are in a very active weather pattern all across the country, from California to New York," ABC News senior meteorologist Max Golembo said.

An atmospheric river, which draws massive amounts of water vapor from the Pacific Ocean, has taken aim at California, where the National Weather Service has issued flash flood and flood watches through Friday.

The Atmospheric River was aimed straight at California as of 7 a.m. ET on Feb. 7, 2017.
© ABC NewsThe Atmospheric River was aimed straight at California as of 7 a.m. ET on Feb. 7, 2017.

Comment: See also: Apocalyptic scenes in Louisiana and New Orleans after four huge tornadoes flip cars and trash homes