Storms
S


Igloo

Athens snow closes roads and schools; city opens homeless shelters


ekathimerini.com
Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:44 UTC
Heavy Snow
© Ekathimerini.com
Heavy snowfall in northern parts of the Greek capital on Tuesday prompted authorities to close roads and schools, while municipal authorities made three public buildings to the homeless shelters as temperatures dropped to the 0-Celsius mark.

The Penteli ring road was closed early on Tuesday due to ice and fog and was reopened to traffic later in the morning, while Dionysos Avenue remains off limits from Anatoli to Dionysos and drivers were advised to use snow chains on the road between Katsimidiou and Aghiou Merkouriou in Tatoi.

The old national highway linking Thiva to Athens was shut off to lorries and other heavy vehicles, with regular cars allowed access only with snow chains, as the road leading from the funicular to Mont Parnes Casino on Mount Parnitha remained closed from Sunday.

Several schools were also given the day off in Dionysos, Penteli, Nea Penteli, Kapandriti, Kalamos, Malakasa, Petroupoli and Liosia, among other parts of northern Attica.

Meanwhile, the city of Athens opened three emergency centers for the homeless on Monday at buildings on the corners of Lenorman and Alexandreias, Mamouri and Dymis, and Aghiou Meletiou and Xenagora. The 1960 hotline will also be operating 24 hours a day where citizens can report the location of homeless people in distress.

Municipal day centers for the elderly (KAPI) will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, providing heated shelter.

The meteorological service expects the cold snap to continue through Wednesday, with temperatures starting to climb back up on Thursday and Friday.
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Snowflake Cold

Russian Trans-Caucasian highway closed due to heavy snowfall


The Voice of Russia
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:28 UTC
Trans-Caucasian highway snow
© RIA Novosti
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Snowflake Cold

Biggest winter storm in a decade slams Israel bringing snow, floods


Haaretz
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:08 UTC
Flooding in Taibeh Israel
© Nir KeidarFlooding in Taibeh
Snow envelops northern Israel, roads close due to ice; police close Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway; hundreds of people rescued from their homes after massive floods.

As Israel battled its stormiest winter in a decade, cities across the country found themselves nearly paralyzed. Major highways closed, power outages were reported, the entrance to Tel Aviv was all but blocked, and residents of some neighborhoods awaited possible word of evacuation.

The Ayalon River near Tel Aviv, usually a dry bed, flooded beyond capacity as storms overtook central Israel overnight Tuesday. The nearby Ayalon Highway was closed between Glilot Junction and Hashalom Street in both directions over the course of the morning, opening up from Hahalakha Junction northbound in the afternoon. Highway 1 was closed between Shapirim and Kibbutz Galuyot junctions in the early afternoon, and traffic was halted or congested across Tel Aviv through the morning and afternoon hours. The Israel Police has asked drivers to stay out of central Tel Aviv, and to avoid driving if possible.

Due to the weather, Israel's Airport Authority offers free bus service to Tel Aviv.
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Cloud Precipitation

Death toll rises as severe winter storm batters Lebanon


The Daily Star
Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:37 UTC
Lebanon flood
© The Daily Star/Hasan ShaabanPeople push a car in a flooded street in Hay al-Sellom, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013.
A severe winter storm that has raged in Lebanon since the weekend has claimed the lives of four people and forced the closure of schools across the country and some mountainous roads.

The Beirut suburb of Hay al-Sellom witnessed some of the worst devastation caused by the heavy winds and rain and raised fears that buildings in the area could collapse.

Lebanese Red Cross official George Kettaneh told the Voice of Lebanon radio station late Monday that four people died and 55 others were injured as a result of traffic accidents caused by rains and floods.
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Cloud Precipitation

Tel Aviv underwater - Floods and rains bring city to halt and prepares for snow as storm rocks country from North to South

Sharon Udasin
The Jerusalem Post
Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:25 UTC
Image
© Rivka FinderThe Ayalon Highway overflows from the River.
Tel Aviv braced for further floods Tuesday afternoon, even as the city began to recover from a morning in which its main traffic artery and rail services ground to a halt due to fierce storms that hit much of Israel. The rains were so powerful on Tuesday morning that flooding caused the closure of Tel Aviv's main artery - the Ayalon Highway, or Highway 20 - as well as the city's train stations .

By mid-afternoon, however, both northbound and southbound lanes of the Ayalon reopened to traffic. The section of the central Namir Road, which had also been closed due to flooding, reopened at around 2 p.m., police said.

The Tel Aviv Municipality provided shelter for 19 residents seeking refuge after heavy rains and flooding damaged their homes. The municipality said five residents had sought shelter in the Beit Barbour community center, and another 14 at the Neve Eliezer center.
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Cloud Precipitation

Flooding hits Thailand's southern provinces

MCOT
Pattaya Mail
Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:59 UTC
Thailand flooding
© unknown
Heavy rain triggered flooding in several southern provinces and disaster zones have been declared to facilitate processes to assist flood victims.

The flooding in Narathiwat keeps rising due to heavy rain in the past few days.

About 200 villages in 13 districts have been declared flood disaster zones and about 27,000 people have affected and 345 people evacuated to safer areas.
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Snowflake

So much for 'global warming': Snow coming to southwestern Texas

Matt Alto
accuweather.com
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:17 UTC
Image
The City of El Paso, Texas, where the snow line has reached in recent years, despite the global warmists' predictions that snow would soon be a thing of the past for places far to the north.
An upper-air disturbance slated to move into the southwestern United States has the potential of bringing wintry weather to portions of extreme southern New Mexico and the Big Bend Country of Texas beginning on Thursday.

While the best chance for snow will be across the Trans-Pecos, a general coating to perhaps an inch of snow will likely fall before it is all said and done.

The upper-air disturbance will begin to enter the Southwest on Wednesday night and slowly ride along the United States and Mexico boarder. This disturbance will likely stick around through Friday before lifting northeastward into the southern Plains.

As the system tracks into the Southwest, it will draw Pacific moisture from the south and Gulf of Mexico moisture from the east.
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Snowflake

As the U.S. digs out, even more snow on the way

John Schriffen
ABC News - Good Morning America
Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:00 UTC

While communities from the Midwest to the Northeast and even the southern U.S. are digging out after a massive storm blanketed much of the country, the Northeast is now bracing for more snow over the weekend.

Two storm systems will combine into one and bring light snow to the major cities in the Northeast. Most areas in the northeast will see 1-3 inches of snow with isolated amounts of 4 inches in the higher elevations Saturday morning from Philadelphia to New York and into New England.

This week's winter blast is accounting for at least 15 deaths -- most of them on the nation's roads.

"This is really bad out here. I see accidents everywhere. There are police everywhere. It's no joke," an Ohio woman told Good Morning America.
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Ice Cube

Think the UK weather is bad? Try Inner Mongolia


The Telegraph
Sun, 30 Dec 2012 12:43 UTC
Image
A freezing blizzard hits the Xilin Gol region of Inner Mongolia, leaving drivers stranded in sub-zero temperatures with visibility as low as ten metres.

A freezing blizzard pummeled the Xilin Gol area of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Saturday morning, severely affecting road traffic.

On the No. 308 provincial highway, vehicles found themselves stuck in deep snow as severe blizzards lowered visibility from 200 metres to less than ten metres in just ten minutes.

The blizzard started on Friday night and brought almost one metre of snow to the highway by the morning.

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Snowflake Cold

Record-breaking snowfall hits Rochester, New York


YNN
Sun, 30 Dec 2012 06:24 UTC
Image
Many of us who had to get out today had to do some digging first. Some say it was only a matter of time before Rochester was heavily hit with snow this winter.

"We saw it last night but I wasn't expecting it to be quite this bad this morning when I got out here," said Sara Granger of Rochester.

All this snow created a lot of work for Granger and Cruz, who spent nearly an hour just digging out.

"It took me almost a half hour just to dig from my door to here and now we just started on the car," said Cruz.

Neighbors on Comfort Street off South Avenue came together to help Jackie Fannin, who found herself stuck on the way to work.
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