Snowfall has occurred in Mustang and Myagdi districts since Friday morning. Two feet of snow has fallen in the upper parts of Myagdi district, locals said.
With the snowfall, the temperature has gone down, hitting the normal life in the highlands.
Touristic places including Ghodepani of Annapurna Rural Municipality-6, Gurja of Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality have witnessed a heavy snowfall, according to locals.
The biting cold caused by the December snow has forced the locals to stay indoors, hurdling around fires, said Rupesh Subedi, headmaster of Janakalyan Secondary School, Gurja.
It's a welcome sight for those waiting to break out the skis and snowshoes.
Overnight Wednesday, Mount Washington Alpine Resort received 31 cm of fresh snow, along with a light snowfall into Thursday morning.
Last week, the resort announced they were pushing back their original opening day of Dec. 6 due to lack of snow.
"...Without old man winter making an appearance just yet, we're forced to delay the start of the winter 2019/20 season. We're ready and waiting as patiently as possible, and we know you are too," read their posting on social media last week.
A massive hail storm struck the Gympie region in Queensland, Australia, on December 13, with residents reporting hailstones up to 10 centimeters in diameter.
The storm, which reportedly left 8,600 homes and businesses without power, started on the Gold Coast and tracked north via Brisbane.
This footage, posted by Sharlene Stolberg, shows the size of the hailstones. "Our house is destroyed," Stolberg said. "Water [is] coming through our house, massive holes all over our roof. Bloody scary I tell ya!"
The wild weather follows a storm on Wednesday in Brisbane, which dropped more rain in one night than in the previous seven months.
There have been plenty of powder shots in social feeds out of the US this week and it will continue with a weekend of powder turns on the way. After a lull in the action the snow returned to the European Alps this past week and the weekend is looking good for nearly a metre of snow in some areas. Japan has had a mixed week with some rain, but the snow returned last night while they will be loving the forecast in British Columbia with plenty of snow on the way.
USA
There has been more snow across the western states of the US this week with regions in Colorado and Utah receiving 20-30cm on Monday. California also saw good falls last weekend and the Tahoe resorts and Mammoth have had over 2.5 metres of snow in the past two weeks. Many US resorts now have a very good mid-December base and more snow is due this weekend. This storm will deliver some powder turns in a number of states across the weekend with 50-70cms forecast for Colorado, while Jackson Hole should see 30-40cms in the next 24 hours and Utah resorts are set for a hefty 60+cms of snow. The snow will be accompanied by cold temps, so we are talking quality powder on the way.
1709 the Great Freeze, now we have a Category 3 Ice Hurricane that rolled over Iceland with the fastest winds and most snow ever recorded in the nation. 150 mph winds with seven feet of snow. USA snow into Alabama and SE where below freezing has happened for the second time his season, very rare indeed. This is what was described before the Great Freeze of 1709 where wine bottles froze next to roaring fires and town bells cracked from -5F to North Africa.
Much of Iceland is digging out following a potent blizzard that brought winds topping 100 mph and yards of snow to some areas amid what one Icelandic meteorologist referred to as a "10 year storm." As many as 20,000 people are without power as temperatures tumble into the teens and 20s, with a few communities completely isolated.
The storm was so severe that it prompted the Icelandic Met Office to issue an unprecedented "red alert."
"This was the first red alert we've issued with the new system, [which has been] used since 2017," said Hrafn Gudmundsson, a meteorologist with the Icelandic Met Office, in an interview. "We've basically only been using yellow and orange colors. The orange color was for pretty serious storms, but this one was a level higher, I would say."
The red alert was hoisted for northern parts of the country, while orange-level warnings covered the country's capital, Reykjavik. The storm's most intense impact struck on Tuesday.
Schools and businesses remained closed and scores of people could not get to work as rising floodwaters, exacerbated by high tide, triggered massive flooding in 22 areas across South Trinidad yesterday.
Among the schools closed were Shiva Boys College, Debe Hindu School, Barrackpore East, and West Secondary and Ramai Trace Hindu School.
The floods covered most of Clarke Road, Penal Rock Road, Derrick Road, Lalbeharry Trace, Papourie Road, Lower Barrackpore, Hassanali Trace, Clarke Road, Katwaroo Trace, Digity Trace, Batchya, Laltoo Trace, Mohess Road, Ramdharry Trace, Ali Avenue and Community Street in Penal.
Late yesterday, Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein said the Disaster Management Units of the Corporation were activated and over 600 Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers, trained this year, were on standby to assist in their communities.
A Gwanda farmer lost 10 head of cattle and two goats after they were struck by lightning.
Ward 9 councillor Mozitha Moyo confirmed the incident which occurred in his area on Friday afternoon. He said Mr Jeconia Nyathi from Lushongwe Village was left with a herd of 26 cattle after disaster struck.
"There is a farmer from my ward, Mr Jeconia Nyathi who lost 10 head of cattle and two goats after they were struck by lightning. Mr Nyathi had just finished giving his animals stock feed just outside his homestead. As he turned to leave just as it was about to rain, lightning struck and killed his animals as he looked on in disbelief.
Brisbane has copped a badly needed drenching from a a wild storm that triggered flash flooding and left thousands of homes without power.
More than 100mm of rain in just over an hour was dumped on the Queensland capital on Wednesday night.
Brisbane recorded one of its highest 24-hour rainfall total in two decades, the amount equivalent to what Brisbane had seen in the previous six months.
The Bureau of Meteorology described the wild weather as a very dangerous storm with extremely intense rainfall.
Up to 3,000 lightning strikes recorded in the state's south-east.
East Brisbane recorded 135mm while the CBD weather station received 130.4mm.
Almost 2,000 homes lost power during the freak storm, with 400 still in a blackout on Wednesday morning, according to Energex.
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
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