Extreme Temperatures
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Snowflake

Spring snowstorm engulfs Rockies, threatens Plains

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© AP Photo/The Vail Daily, Anthony Thornton A truck moves off of Interstate I-70 to chain up before continuing eastward in Vail, Colo. on Sunday, May 11, 2014.
A powerful spring storm dropped more than a foot of sloppy, wet snow in parts of Colorado and Wyoming on Mother's Day, and forecasters warned that instability ahead of the cold front created conditions ripe for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in the Plains states.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for most of northern Colorado and parts of southern Wyoming for all of Sunday and for Monday morning. Strong thunderstorms and tornadoes developed in Nebraska and were threatening to push south on Sunday. The storm also created high winds across the West.

Kyle Fredin, a meteorologist for the weather service in Boulder, said the weather pattern is typical for this time of year, and "it's going to be kind of the same thing pretty much through the end of June."

Several tornadoes were reported in southern Nebraska, blowing down outbuildings, damaging homes and knocking out power. Large hail and strong winds seen in the state were expected to head south into Kansas, and a tornado watch was issued for parts of Oklahoma.

The storm was expected to weaken as it heads northeast from the Plains, possibly bringing rain as it moves into the Great Lakes, the weather service said.

In Colorado, Department of Transportation officials said plunging temperatures and heavy, wet snow created icy road conditions, and multiple accidents were reported on several highways.

Bacon

SOTT Focus: Are you prepping your diet?

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© sott.netAMS fireball reports through 2013
If you are a regular SOTT reader, you are certainly aware of the many areas that are building towards potential disaster - from environmental earth changes and overhead bombardment to growing Fascism and impending economic collapse. The good thing is that you do not need to pick one of these threats to begin preparing yourself, family and local community. The basic requirements for getting prepared apply to all these possible occurrences and more.

The prepping web community has grown in massive proportion to what it was just a decade ago. Blog, prepper and survivalist websites abound and many offer very good ideas that can be applied or adapted to your own situation and needs. But it is rare to see any of these resources address the question of prepping your diet. If prepping your diet confers significant advantages in a disaster/survival situation, then it will have a significant impact on your food storage strategy and what to look out for during an extended disaster.

The question is, does prepping your diet yield enough advantage to suggest changes to your current diet now? And if so, how does this impact your food storage and preparation plan? The answer to the former question, I think, is yes. An answer to the latter is below.

Magnet

Siberia's epic wildfires come far too early - April is the new July

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© LANCE-MODISNASA LANCE MODIS Rapid Fire hotspot analysis of extreme fire outbreak in the Amur region of Russia on April 28, 2014. In this shot, the Amur runs west to east through the frame. To the right is the Pacific Ocean [off frame] to the left is a corner of Russia’s massive Lake Baikal. The red spots indicate currently active fires.
What we are currently witnessing is something that should never happen - an outbreak of fires with summer intensity during late April at a time when Siberia should still be frigid and frozen.

* * * * *

Last year, during late July and early August, a series of epic wildfires raged to the north and west of Russia's far eastern Amur region. About a week later, the skies opened up in a ten-day-long deluge that pushed the Amur River bordering Russia and China to levels not seen in the entire 150 year span of record-keeping for the region. Whole cities were submerged as the Amur leapt its banks to form a kind of massive inland sea.

The floods promoted strong growth in the region, penetrating permafrost zones to enhance melt, providing major fuel sources for fires should they re-emerge. Come winter, a persistent warm ridge pattern in the Jet Stream transported hotter than usual air over this region. The winter was far, far warmer than it should have been. And when spring came, it came like the onset of summer.

Comment:
Russia has been hit recently with unusual Winter weather. It's snowing further to the south and west. From April of this year:
Winter suddenly returns again for Russia's Urals

See also:
Take cover! Meteor fireballs rain down across U.S. - Outbreaks of wildfires reported


Snowflake

Snow 5 feet deep on the Argentina-Chile border

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"At the other side of our cooling globe, snowfall reached highs of 45 cm (18 inches) to 150 cm (5 ft) in the Argentina-Chile border region (Paso Pehuenche)," says reader Argiris Diamantis. "In some areas there was five feet of snow."

7 May 2014 - "Workers operated with orderly withdrawal, according to the weather forecast. The snowy accumulation in the first round was 45 cm, while in the second sector a meter and a half high of snow was recorded. The passage is cleared form the Argentine side, and stood waiting for the clearance from the Chilean side."

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link

Ice Cube

Major Arctic sea ice story lurking, but is anyone looking?

There is a huge event being forecasted this year by the CFSV2, and I don't know if anyone else is mentioning this. For the first time in over a decade, the Arctic sea ice anomaly in the summer is forecast to be near or above normal for a time! While it has approached the normals at the end of the winter season a couple of times because of new ice growth, this signals something completely different - that multiyear growth means business - and it shows the theory on the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) is likely to be on target. Once it flips, this red herring of climate panic will be gone. Global and Southern Hemisphere anomalies are already unmentionable since the former is well above normal and the latter is routinely busting daily records.

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The biggest minimum anomalies are in the summer since this flipped, and the only peaks came very close to the height of winters once this melting was underway.

Now look at what the CFSV2 forecasted for 2012.

Snowflake

Cold stagnant weather pattern turns Calgary into a winter wonderland in May

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© Alexandra BakerFive deer were wandering around 90th - Glenmore Landing and Pump Hill area on a snowy May 3. This one put in the extra effort for a snack.
Calgarians traded in their slickers and umbrellas for parkas and mittens after rain turned to snow overnight, transforming the city into a winter wonderland Saturday morning.

Heather Smith, a meteorologist with the weather agency, said the snow was being generated by a strong low pressure system in the pacific pushing moisture into the province combined with an arctic high ushering in cold air.

"It's a stagnant weather pattern and not much is changing," Smith said on Saturday. "It will snow on and off for the next few days."

The spring snowstorm forced city officials to cancel the 47th annual pathway and river cleanup event, which had been scheduled for Sunday morning. Approximately 2,900 volunteers had been set to pick up thousands of garbage along 200 kilometres of pathway, the river's edge, and in city parks.

The event has been moved to May 25th.


Ice Cube

Slow ice melt on the Great Lakes could lead to chilly summer

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© Photo: Eric Seals, Detroit Free PressA freighter makes its way along after passing under the Mackinac Bridge on April 15. The shipping season is off to a very slow start because of unseasonably heavy ice.
The Winter of 2013-14 demands that it be remembered.

A relatively cool spring will give way to a colder-than-usual summer locally, all because of the continuing impacts of the intensely frigid, snowy winter, scientists said. And at least one Great Lakes ice researcher thinks that the domino effect could continue into a chilly fall and an early start to next winter - and beyond.

The reason is the unusually late ice cover that remains on the Great Lakes. Heading into May, the Great Lakes combined remain 26% ice-covered, with Lake Superior still more than half-blanketed in ice. By comparison, at this time last spring the lakes were less than 2% covered with ice.

The remaining levels of ice cover are amazing, said Jia Wang, an ice climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor.

"This prolonged winter will affect summer temperatures. This summer will be cold, and then a cooler fall," he said.

In addition to wreaking havoc on the Great Lakes shipping industry and impacting fish and other aquatic species, the miles of ice cover serve as a vast, white reflector.


Binoculars

Rare nonmigratory Arctic bird seen on Point Peninsula, New York

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© Jeff Bolsinger.A Willow Ptarmigan along eastern Lake Ontario. The sighting this week is a first for New York State.
Carloads of birders from across the region have visited the shore of Lake Ontario, near Watertown, over the last few days hoping to glimpse a rare avian visitor from the Arctic tundra.

Late last week, Eugene Nichols was birding near Point Peninsula and found an all white bird that didn't belong in northern New York. Nichols contacted Jeff Bolsinger, a bird biologist at Fort Drum, who confirmed that it's a Willow Ptarmigan. Bolsinger says the bird normally lives only in northern Canada and Alaska. He says the sighting this week is the first documented sighting of a Willow Ptarmigan in New York State, and the second recorded in the lower 48 states in a century.

Bolsinger told Todd Moe he's not sure how the bird ended up this far south, but it's become an instant celebrity in the birding community.


Binoculars

Rare Arctic Ross's gull found in Torbay, Newfoundland

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© Bruce MactavishRoss's Gull at Torbay, Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland
Birdwatchers in Torbay had a treat this week when a rare Ross's Gull was spotted. Bird expert Bill Montevecchi says the seagull is recognizable for its pink colour, making it perhaps the flashiest gull on the water. Montevecchi says the bird, along with many European golden plovers, have made it here because they have been blown off-course by strong northerly and northeasterly winds.

He says birders looking for rarities are watching the weather. He says these winds are the most interesting because that's how European birds wind up here.

Montevecchi says for birds blown off course, Newfoundland is a welcome rest for them before they get back on their way.

He says a lot of the birds probably don't make it, and perish in the ocean. But for the ones who do, they get a chance to refuel. He says they most likely do get back on track after they rest.


Ice Cube

Wind pushes 8-foot high ice slab ashore on Keweenaw Peninsula, Lake Superior damaging property

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© National Weather ServiceStrong winds on Lake Superior pushed a mass of ice against homes and outhouses in the Keweenaw Peninsula along Big Traverse Bay on Monday, April 28.
Strong winds on Lake Superior this week slowly edged an 8-foot mass of ice against outhouses and homes on the Keweenaw Peninsula, an event that meteorologists say is rare for the area.

Dave Petrovich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Negaunee Township, said outbuildings and other structures along Big Traverse Bay were damaged Monday, April 28, when easterly winds stronger than 27 mph pushed the ice mass to shore.

"It was moving this mass of ice westward, not very fast mind you, but inexorably when it got to the eastern shores," Petrovich said. "The ice itself was not like the thick ice skating rink ice that you would imagine on a lake."

Petrovich said the slow and steady ice formation called ice shelving isn't unheard of - there have been other recent formations in Gladstone that moved into a city park, he said - but it is rare for Lake Superior, which was still about over 60 percent covered when the ice mass formed.

"They happen quite regularly when the conditions are like this," Petrovich said. "In recent history we've not had as much ice."