WINTER STORMS, AVALANCHES, FORECASTS, COLD

11/12/07 -
AUSTRIA - The coldest winter in large parts of Austria has struck UNEXPECTEDLY EARLY, with meteorologists talking Sunday of weather conditions that occur in the Alpine republic once every 30 to 50 years. About 150 centimetres of fresh snow fell in the Alps within 48 hours. A storm brought on by a low pressure system moved across Upper Austria on Sunday afternoon, leaving houses and roads covered or blocked by fallen trees. The winter weather is expected to last for the rest of the week. Austria's avalanche warning system raised the alarm to the second- highest grade. A man reportedly became trapped in an avalanche in Gargellen in Vorarlberg on Sunday but was freed by a companion. Access to resorts was restored Sunday afternoon after avalanche authorities blasted dangerous snow masses. The previous time that Lech was cut off so early in the winter was 1974. Winds reached 140 kilometres per hour in parts. Hurricane-style storms caused serious damage in Upper Austria.

11/8/07 -
CALIFORNIA - The fog hadn't lifted from Monterey in two days, resulting in RECORD-BREAKING COLD days. The high temperatures recorded Monday and Tuesday were the lowest high temperatures ever recorded for Nov. 5 and Nov. 6. Tuesday's high of 52 degrees broke the old record of 56 degrees in 2001, while the high of 53 degrees Monday broke the "low-high" record of 55 degrees set in 1969. The low temperature recorded Tuesday was 49 degrees, only three degrees cooler than the high temperature.

11/6/07 -
UNITED KINGDOM - A cold and rainy summer has given seven bird species their WORST-EVER BREEDING SEASON, with ornithologists warning they are finding it difficult to adapt to the effects of climate change. Experts said some of Britain's commonest birds could soon find themselves on the red list of those which are a real cause for concern. Blue tits were one of the worst-hit species this year, with volunteer ringers catching just over half the young birds they would expect. "Each blue tit chick will need around 100 caterpillars every day, and finding enough caterpillars in the poor weather we've seen is no mean feat." "[The reed warbler, whitethroat and willow warbler] are already suffering problems both on migration and in Africa, so a poor breeding season just adds to their plight." Chicks have fewer feathers than their parents and are more susceptible to the wet and cold. Also, the rain washes caterpillars off the leaves, making it harder for juveniles to find food. 10/7/07 -
U.S. - Forecasters predicted winter-like weather in the central and western United States on Saturday, while unseasonably warm temperatures were in store for the eastern half of the country. Rain and snow, including up to a foot of snow at higher elevations, were expected in parts of the Great Basin and northern Rockies. Winter storm warnings were in effect for many high elevation counties in the region — UNUSUAL for this time of year.



La Nina will disrupt weather around the world for months to come - it's good or bad depending on where you live. (see link for list). The La Nina phenomenon starts when stronger trade winds produce cooler than average waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, near the coast of South America - the opposite of El Nino. Right now, they are up to 1.5 C colder than normal. Ocean temperatures in Asia remain UNUSUALLY cool, too, and so may not produce the expected La Nina results in that region.

10/21/07 -
RUSSIA - A snow cyclone in Primorye, in Russia's Far East, has caused power outages in several areas and interrupted water supplies in Vladivostok. The snow cyclone swept through the region during the night Friday. The cyclone has left about 100 populated areas of almost 200,000 people without electricity. Repair teams continue to work day and night there, but it is difficult for them to reach some areas because of the heavy snowfall. While some electro-transmission lines are repaired, new line breaks occur. Specialists plan to resume electricity supply to most of the affected areas in 12 hours. The situation is also complicated on roads. The snowfall disrupted traffic on the Khorol-Yaroslavka-Sibirtsevo section where about 100 vehicles were trapped in snow and on the federal Khabarovsk-Vladivostok road where several hundred vehicles were blocked in a congestion. The cyclone is moving across the central and northern regions of the Primorsky Territory. According to meteorologists, it will move to the northeast and to the Sea of Okhotsk and then come to Sakhalin.

9/21/07 -
CALIFORNIA - A storm which originated in British Columbia passed through Northern California Wednesday, and brought rain and snow at higher elevations throughout Southern California Thursday and today, which will likely be the most active day. "This system is pretty much UNPRECEDENTED in terms of cold weather and snow levels for September for southwestern California," such a weather pattern HAS NOT BEEN RECORDED IN RECENT HISTORY. "This is a storm that we wouldn't typically see this time of year. It's a RARE and cold September storm, and is typically something we would see in January or December." With high temperatures expected to be no more than 70 degrees, and lows dipping into the 40s, the weather in the next few days strikingly differs from the heat wave that plagued Santa Clarita, and the rest of Southern California, just weeks ago. "That's one thing that is significant about this storm is that it's cooling everything off by between 10 to 15 degrees everywhere." The storm brings the first significant rainfall in about 150 days to southern California.

UNUSUAL COLD-
9/19/07 -
CALIFORNIA - An intense, winter-like storm is headed toward San Diego County, and the National Weather Service is growing increasingly confident it will pack a punch when it arrives. Forecasters are giving the storm a wide window – sometime between Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning. They say that when it hits, intense downpours, thunderstorms, hail and even snow in the higher mountains are all possible. Temperatures around the county will be well below seasonal averages, and the snow level could drop to 6,000 feet Friday. The storm is expected to be near the Bay Area today, then move down the Central California coast Thursday. It is forecast to pick up strength before moving inland over Southern California Thursday. Cold storms in September are EXTREMELY RARE in San Diego. The storm, if it develops as forecast, would be the strongest storm from the northern Pacific in September since 1986.

9/16/07 -
ILLINOIS - LOWEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORD SET at Chicago-O'Hare. The minimum temperature on Saturday, September 15th was 39. This sets a new record low minimum temperature for the date. The previous lowest minimum temperature recorded on September 15th was 40 in 1985. The normal low for the date is 54.

U.S. MIDWEST - Remnants of a Japanese typhoon playing role in weekend cool surge - The UNUSUALLY chilly air that crashed into the Midwest Friday and Saturday is being given a nudge by the remnants of a typhoon. Just over a week ago, Typhoon Fitow roared into Japan with 85+ m.p.h. winds and torrential downpours, disrupting travel and cutting power to an estimated 80,000 homes in the area around Tokyo. In the time since, the storm's northward-moving remnants have been absorbed into a mammoth Bering Sea storm which is responsible for big rains and coastal flooding across western Alaska. The extra measure of heat energy, which tropical systems contribute to such a storm, helped buckle western North America's jet stream far to the north, forming a huge ridge which has turned steering winds northerly. It's a development which is sending an UNUSUALLY strong punch of early season arctic air southward. Temps Friday night dropped to record lows in Chicago. Strong warming will arrive next week.

9/11/07 -
COLORADO - Overnight the summit of Pikes Peak - and several other high elevation areas - saw the season's first snowfall accumulating a few inches in some places. It is RARE weather for this time of year. "It's kind of strange to see snow up here in the beginning of September and a lot of people aren't real used to it yet." Park officials say a two mile stretch of the Pikes Peak Highway temporarily closed as a result of the light snow fall.

9/6/07 -
TIBET - 1 villager killed, 7 missing in super-avalanche - Nine other villagers were seriously injured when a super avalanche attacked a village of Bomi County in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Wednesday. Triggered by torrential rains and ice and snow thawing, the disaster occurred abruptly at about 9:00 a.m. near the Bitong village, 53 km from the county seat of Bomi, resulting in serious mud-rock flow. The mud-rock flow destroyed a 850-meter section of the highway linking Tibet and Sichuan Province. Continuous rains and snow-melting also aggravated mud-rock flows in the disaster area and hampered rescue operations.

2007 U.S. WINTER FORECAST / 2008 SPRING, SUMMER FORECAST -
9/2/07 -
The Farmers' Almanac recently released its 2008 edition, which predicts a "two-faced" season. People in the eastern half of the country will experience a colder than normal winter with a greater than average amount of precipitation, and states down most of the Atlantic coast and in the mid-Atlantic region will have temperatures that average 3 degrees below normal. Cold and snowy weather is going to settle over the Great Lakes region, and people in the southern and eastern Gulf Coast region will experience chilly temperatures. People in the western part of the country should see a relatively mild and drier winter. Snow is predicted from Dec. 20 to 23 from Pennsylvania to Maine and possibly for several days more with very cold temperatures after Dec. 23. Once spring arrives, most of the country will experience cool and wet weather, and Tornado Alley in the country's heartland should have an unusually active season. Most of the country will have a warmer-than-normal summer with average to below normal precipitation. However, those in the Midwest and Atlantic states could see occasional bouts of very heavy rainfall, from heavy showery rains and locally strong thunderstorms. Once hurricane season hits - a season predicted to be active - there could be excessive rainfall over many eastern states.

8/20/07 -
MINNESOTA - Saturday's high temperature in St. Cloud reached only 59 degrees, making it the COLDEST HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR AUGUST 18 SINCE AT LEAST 1885. The previous coldest high for the date was 62, set in 1924. Saturday's high temperature would be normal for mid-October, according to weather records.

8/10/07 -
CANADA - A massive slide that hit Mount Steele could be the LARGEST IN THE RECORDED HISTORY OF THE YUKON. Mount Steele recently had two slides take place in the same area, on the northern face of the mountain. The second slide was by far the larger of the two and occurred on July 24, two days after the original slide. It was the equivalent of a 3.5-magnitude earthquake and was big enough to generate a seismic signal that could be picked up around the world. “The first one was still very impressive and terrifying, but the second slide was just massive.” Using photographs, geologists have been able to estimate the debris spanned about seven kilometres and fell some 2,500 metres to the glacier below. The debris also covered the Steele glacier, which is a kilometre and a half wide. And it carried up a 300-metre ridge at the far side of the glacier, spilling down another 700 metres onto the neighbouring Hodgson Glacier. “It was an absolutely massive amount of rock that fell.” Studies have now begun to try and determine what caused the slide. It could have been triggered by several factors, including climate change and permafrost degradation, if the bedrock underneath had become weakened by frost shatter. "We're always interested in landslides involving glaciers or glacial ice because they move so fast, and because they've caused fairly substantial disasters worldwide...Thanks to glacier melt due to global warming, mountain areas have become more susceptible to changes and stress. This is a worldwide phenomenon taking place.” The 300-metre runup at the base of the initial slide and its descent to Hodgson Glacier indicate the Mount Steele slide had a minimum velocity of 70 metres per second or 252 kilometres an hour. (The fastest lap at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix was 51 metres per second.)

JULY - If you thought the weather was a bit UNUSUAL this July, you were not alone. The U.S. had the coolest July since 2004 with 89% of the U.S. trending colder than last year along with 898 RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES set or tied during the month. Of those, 159 record low temperatures occurred during the week of July 4th with temperatures in the 30s in the Great Lakes, 40s in the Northeast and 50s as far South as Texas and California. "Nationally, the number of hot days over 85 degrees F were down 12% vs last year, hot days over 90 degrees F were down 24% vs a year ago and really hot days over 100 degrees F were down a very significant 60% for the nation as a whole." In contrast, July 2006 was the 2nd hottest in 113 years with 2,300 record high temperatures set, so the change toward colder weather in the U.S. was significant. The unusual weather was not isolated to the U.S. as the G-20 countries showed the greatest change toward colder year-over-year weather in three years, with extreme cool and wet weather around the globe. The U.K. had the coldest July in seven years but also the wettest start to Summer in at least 240 years. The cool trends were not limited to the Northern Hemisphere as Argentina showed the greatest July year-over-year change toward colder weather in over 100 years with the first snow in 89 years in Buenos Aires. France also showed the greatest year-over-year change toward colder July weather in decades. Asia and parts of Russia were the exception where the month trended slightly warmer and much drier than a year ago.

8/5/07 -
AUSTRALIA - A RECORD COLD SNAP on June 20 across southern Queensland has triggered coral bleaching normally associated with the extremes of hot weather linked to climate change. Scientists say the bleaching has been caused by a combination of cold waters, winds and air temperatures hitting exposed reefs around the Capricorn-Bunker group of islands at the southern end of the reef. While other sections of the reef appear to have been spared by being fully submerged or far enough north to avoid the worst of the cold snaps in June and July, bleaching has also been recorded on Heron Island.

7/26/07 -
NEW JERSEY - Atlantic City International Airport in Egg Harbor Township had a RECORD LOW temperature for July 24. The thermometer dipped to 53 degrees, breaking a record low of 54 for the date set in 1985. A combination of events, including a cloudy day Monday and clear skies Monday night, contributed to the unusually cool temperatures. Low humidity, RARE in late July, made conditions ideal for a cool snap.

7/25/07 -
PENNSYLVANIA - The high temperature on Monday (7/23) was 62 degrees — enough to obliterate the RECORD-LOW MAXIMUM for the date, of 69 degrees at Avoca, reached in 1976 and the record-low maximum for July for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of 67, set in 1909. The mechanism for the extremely low temperatures was simple: rain, plus a flow from the east-southeast. The cool ocean water off the New Jersey coast is one of the controllers of temperature for Pennsylvania. In summer, during the rare time that the wind comes from the east or southeast, that cool air is advected toward them, and keeps the mercury from going very high. Rain is an obvious controller of temperature: The more rain that falls, the harder it becomes to warm up. The RECORD FOR 24-HOUR RAINFALL was broken for Avoca, as the 0.88 inches through 5 p.m. Monday already broke the 0.81 inches recorded in 1960.

PERU - Areas of Peru are in a critical situation due to FREAK winter temperatures, which have dropped as low as -25C. So far at least 40 children are reported to have died from pneumonia due to the cold, and the toll is expected to rise. The cold wave, which has persisted for three weeks in the Andean mountain regions of central and southern Peru, has led the government to declare a 60-day state of emergency in 13 territories. The emergency is expected to last through August, and the authorities are trying to distribute sufficient emergency supplies of clothing, medicines and food.

7/24/07 -
U.S. WEST - Researchers say desert dust from Arizona speeds up the snowpack melt. Colorado mountain snowpack is melting 18 to 35 days earlier than in the past. This is due to dust blowing in from nearby deserts, including Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Researchers found a dramatic reduction in the ability of snow to reflect light in areas where dust was on or in the snow.

7/19/07 -
AUSTRALIA - South-east Queenslanders have woken to a RECORD-BREAKING COLD morning. Temperatures fell to a record low at Brisbane Airport shortly after sunrise today, with a temperature of -0.1 degrees celsius recorded at 6.39am (AEST). The previous record for the airport was 0.6 degrees, recorded in 1971 and 1994. There have been reports of -7 degrees in Stanthorpe, in Queensland's south, while nearby Warwick recorded a temperature of -6.4 degrees. The cold weather is a result of a combination of dry air and clear night skies as well cold air being pushed up from the south by a strong low pressure system in the Tasman Sea.

7/17/07 -
AUSTRALIA - Sydney has experienced its COLDEST START TO A JULY DAY FOR 21 YEARS. The temperature plunged to 3.7 degrees in the city at 6.54am (AEST), which was the most frigid recorded since 1986.

7/15/07 -
PERU - For the past 6 weeks Peru has been in the grip of extremly cold weather with temperatures ranging between -22º and -15º C. The RECORD-BREAKING COLD SPELL has already affected over 200,000 people, caused the death of 55 children under five and is responsible for over 6,000 cases of pneumonia. The Government of Peru has declared a National Emergency in 14 of the 24 Peruvian provinces as severe weather continues to sweep the country and has began moving large supplies of warm clothing, blankets and materials to the affected areas. In January this year, an unexpected cold spell hit the high Andean community of Peru and destroyed around 60% of the crops. The severe weather was then followed by the onset of Winter in June and now this second spell of extreme cold has wiped out the remainder of the crops and is causing considerable hardship for children and communities. The worst hit areas are in the provinces of Puno, Apurimac, Ancash, Cajamarca and Cusco. With ten weeks of Winter left, forecasters predict temperatures will drop further.

7/13/07 -
SWITZERLAND - An avalanche in central Switzerland has killed six army recruits. Eight others were rescued after the avalanche struck on the northern flank of the Jungfrau mountain, 90km (55 miles) south-east of the capital, Bern. The team was said to be on a routine training exercise and was following a commonly used route. The accident is ONE OF THE WORST IN THE SWISS MOUNTAINS in recent years.

ARGENTINA - Argentina faces an UNUSUAL cold winter this year, with temperatures far below zero degrees Celsius in most of its territory, including the first snowfall in the Capital Buenos Aires since 1918. The extreme temperatures, which have often reached –20 degrees Celsius in the southern Patagonia region has forced the government to reduce and even cut electricity and natural gas supplies to businesses. The President refuses to mention the word “crisis”, but lack of energy has led to the interruption of work in almost all Argentinean factories, highly dependant on gas supplies.

7/11/07 -
SWITZERLAND - Heavy rain and unseasonably low temperatures have marred the beginning of the summer holiday period in many parts of Switzerland. Authorities issued warnings as the levels of several lakes reached a critical point. Several weeks of bad weather with violent thunderstorms and intermittently heavy rain have filled up many riverbeds and lakes, particularly in the region around the capital, Bern, as well as in southwestern Switzerland. On Monday regions in central and eastern Switzerland were also hit by heavy rain. A drop in temperatures led to snow falling in the Alps above 1,800 meters at the beginning of the week. In lower-lying areas the mercury climbed to a maximum of 11 degrees Celsius on average. Experts have forecast a major improvement for the coming weekend with temperatures reaching more than 30 degrees. In April Switzerland recorded a heat wave followed by a period with heavy local thunderstorms. A freak storm in June caused damage worth hundreds of millions of francs. Farmers are concerned that the wet weather will lead to a poor harvest and difficulties in organizing work.

7/10/07 -
SOUTH AMERICA - A cold snap is continuing to grip several South American nations, reportedly killing three people. The temperatures plunged to -22C (-8F) in parts of Argentina's province of Rio Negro, while the capital, Buenos Aires, saw snow for the first time since 1918. Two exposure deaths were reported in Argentina and one in Chile. In Bolivia, heavy snowfall blocked the nation's main motorway and forced the closure of several airports. In Argentina, several provinces in the Andes have been placed under a storm alert. Thousands of people cheered in the streets of Buenos Aires as the capital saw its FIRST SNOW IN NEARLY 90 YEARS. In Chile, temperatures dropped to -18C (0F) in parts of Araucania region in the south. Meteorologists predict that the cold snap will last for several more days.
A blizzard with winds of up to 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour shut down the Cristo Redentor tunnel between Chile and Argentina, stranding some 3,000 trucks. Even in Peru, where warm climate prevails, the cold snap forced authorities to place half of the country's 24 departments under a state of emergency. Weather forecasters expect this third cold snap in the southern hemisphere's winter season to last until Wednesday.

BRITAIN - Parts of Britain could see ground frost next week as summer weather continues to avoid northern Europe, lashing it instead with strong winds and heavy rain. After the wettest June since record began many Britons enjoyed a weekend of good weather. But more wind and rain forecast for this week is likely to be followed by plunging temperatures across the region next week as the abnormally bleak weather returns, including frost. "They are talking about rural areas in central England, the glens of Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is VERY UNUSUAL for the time of year." Before the frost bites Britain next week, most of northern Europe will be blanketed in dark clouds, chilled by cold fronts and doused by thunderstorms. "The weather over Europe and the eastern Atlantic continues to be plagued by low pressure, keeping many areas fairly unsettled and cool. Further out in the Atlantic, more cloud can be seen, and this is likely to arrive on Wednesday night."

7/6/07 -
AUSTRALIA - The Australian tropics experienced ONE OF THE COLDEST JUNE MONTHS ON RECORD, with many RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES for the month. The cold conditions, experienced from June 17 to 22, were accompanied by widespread unseasonable rain during what is normally the dry season. The cold snap resulted from the combination of an extensive and slow-moving middle-level cloud band associated with an upper-level trough. At the same time, there was a south-southeasterly surge over much of the tropics as a direct result of the circulation from the intense low-pressure system off the NSW coast that brought the flood rain to that region. In total, more than 31% of the land area of Australia recorded their LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES FOR JUNE. They set a new RECORD FOR THE WETTEST JUNE in tropical Australia, with the area-averaged total of 46.9 millimetres to June 27, exceeding the previous record of 39.1 mm set in both 1939 and 1973. The cold snap is VERY UNUSUAL. “In the past, most of the notable events of this kind have occurred during the warmer months of the year."

6/28/07 -
SOUTH AFRICA - UNUSUAL heavy snowfall fell in Johannesburg for the FIRST TIME IN A QUARTER OF A CENTURY and was blamed for the death of a homeless man, and for delayed airline flights. While it snows frequently during the winter in more southerly mountainous regions of the country, the white wonderland that Johannesburg residents woke up to was a once-in-several-years occurrence. Semi-tropical gardens were topped with a powdery dusting of white crystals as residents reminisced about the last 'big snow,' dating back to the 1980s. The cold weather snap is expected to continue through today.
The last time it snowed in Johannesburg was on September 10, 1981. On top of the snow this week, a highly unseasonal and thunderous hailstorm had lashed the area on Tuesday night.

AUSTRALIA - Northern Territory residents are stocking up on jumpers and blankets as they shiver through the COLDEST JUNE ON RECORD. The wild weather further south has brought UNPRECEDENTED COLD and steady rain to much of the Top End in what is meant to be the sunny, dry season. With temperatures under 23 degrees Celsius, locals used to wearing shorts all year round have been wearing fleece-lined jackets. Tennant Creek and Katherine have had their COLDEST JUNE DAYS ON RECORD. The chilly conditions also playing havoc with the digestive system of salt water crocodiles. They cannot even eat. "It's tough for crocodiles when it gets cold, because they can't digest food."

6/19/07 -
NEW ZEALAND - Farmers in the Gisborne region see the latest rain as a mixed blessing, because of the cold conditions that came with it. Coastal areas had up to 200mms of rain in the past week. That's broken the drought, but the cold temperatures of the past few days have made the immediate outlook even worse for keeping stock fed, and more cattle will have to be sold or sent away for grazing. More than 100mm of rain in Hawke's Bay during the past week has broken the drought there too. It was the worst drought in the region in 125 years. It was followed by low temperatures and snow in the ranges at the weekend. Now farmers say this has added to worries about their stock. The rain was of some benefit, but the cold snap prevented any grass growth. The combination of rain, low temperatures and little feed will increase the chance of metabolic problems in stock.

VIRGINIA - Thursday's high was a RECORD LOW - the mercury stalled at 66 just before noon at the National Weather Service data station at Norfolk International Airport. That made for the LOWEST HIGH TEMPERATURE ON A JUNE 14 IN 133 YEARS of record-keeping. The coldest high temperature for the date had been 67, set in 1933. The normal high temperature in Norfolk at this time of year is 83. The day's high equaled what is typically the low temperature at this time of year.

6/18/07 -
TASMANIA shivered this morning with Hobart recording its COLDEST TEMPERATURE IN 12 YEARS. The temperature dropped to just below freezing in Hobart this morning, the lowest since June 6, 1995, when the minimum recorded was -1C. Bushy Park in the Derwent Valley, in the state's south east, also recorded its LOWEST TEMPERATURE FOR 35 YEARS since June 1972 with -6C.

6/14/07 -
COLORADO - Denver is running over 3 degrees below normal for the month and just recently had its LATEST SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURE ON RECORD. Last Friday, June 8th, Denver recorded not only a RECORD LOW FOR THE DATE (31 degrees) , but also the 2nd lowest temperature ever recorded in June. Then afternoon highs reached 90 on Sunday, June 10th.

OREGON - Cold temperatures prompted a freeze warning Tuesday morning. Cold and dry air was set to move over Deschutes County and officials expected it to cause low temperatures to fall to near or below 32 degrees over much of the county, especially during the hours just before and after sunrise. The warning meant sub-freezing temperatures are imminent or highly likely. Those with agricultural interests in the warned areas were advised to harvest or protect tender vegetation.

6/6/07 -
PERU - At least 52 children had been killed by the cold wave that has hit central and south Peru in the past few days. Severe respiratory disease and pneumonia were the main cause of the deaths. The children killed were mainly from the families of poor herdsmen living in mountainous areas. The worst-hit was the Puno province, where 42,000 people got respiratory disease, 391 people caught pneumonia and 18 children died. Although it is now autumn in Peru, the temperature in some mountainous regions fell to below minus 16 degree celsius. The cold also killed livestock in the stricken areas.

5/30/07 -
BRITAIN - Arctic winds swept across the country at speeds of up to 50mph in ONE OF THE COLDEST Whitsun Bank Holidays SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN 1772. Beaches were deserted as rain continued to pour down across the country. The average temperature in the Midlands and central England was 46f (8c), and 50f-55f (10c-13c) elsewhere - well under the May average of 63f (17c). In High Wycombe, the temperatures fell to as low as 41f (5c) - less than the January average of 43f (6c).

EUROPE - Freak snow, freezing temperatures and tropical storms hit across Europe - In Spitzing in Germany, locals have been forced to wrap up after ten centimetres of snow brought out the snowploughs for the first time this year. It was the same story in towns close to the Alps in Austria, Switzerland and even northern Italy where temperatures in May normally climb into the 80s. In one Swiss valley, 3,000 were trapped in hotels and guest houses because trains could not reach them in the snow. Ironically, the weather follows one of the worst winters ever for [lack of] snow at Alpine ski resorts. On the Mediterranean island of Corsica, two hikers died in freezing fog. Further north in cities like Berlin, tropical storms have brought four days of chaos, dumping hailstones as big as golf balls, uprooting trees and causing widespread flooding. There have been many fatalities across Germany from the weather, the most poignant being three workmen who sheltered beneath their bulldozer during a rainstorm only to die altogether from a single lightning strike. Britain was drenched over the weekend in some of the worst rain of the year. Thousands of people had to cut their long weekends short, to battle appalling conditions on motorways. Arctic winds hit the country on Monday at speeds of up to 50mph. (photos)

NEPAL - Dozens of people were feared killed in remote parts of north-western Nepal after the areas were hit by a FREAK snow storm. The casualties were reported in the remote north-western mountainous district of Dolpa, about 450 kilometres north-west of the Nepalese capital, on Monday. "We have reports that at least 16 people died and about a hundred others were blinded by a freak snow storm and blizzard." The snow storm is said to have hit a mountainous area where hundreds of people had gathered to collect an herb. Other reports in the Nepalese capital said up to 1,500 people were stranded in heavy snows. The rescue mission is expected to proceed slowly due to continuing bad weather in the area and lack of road access in the district.

5/27/07 -
CANADA - Mother Nature made a RARE wicked May appearance Thursday, punishing many parts of southern Alberta. Snow amounting to 10 cm and blustery winds took down trees and electrical and telephone lines, causing power outages for more than 7,000 homes and damaging cars and buildings around Calgary. More than 12 power lines fell and yards around town were wrecked, including some where trees punched holes in car windshields. The weather wreaked havoc across southern Alberta. Damage in Carstairs, about 50 km north of Calgary, was worse than what was being reported in the city. “It looks like a hurricane went through. Big trees that have been here forever are down, and they came down on cars, houses and buildings.”

5/24/07 -
SOUTH AFRICA - Millions of South Africa's poor living in homemade shacks tried to keep warm this week, and 22 people have died, mostly due to exposure or fire-related incidents. The South African Weather Service reported 54 NEW RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES nationwide. The lowest minimum temperature of 18 degrees was expected in the eastern town of Standerton today. Icy conditions are expected to persist for about another week as a series of cold fronts pass over the country.

5/20/07 -
MONGOLIA - A snowfall hit Bashang on Thursday, an UNUSUAL phenomenon in May in the area. (photos)

5/4/07 -
CHINA - An avalanche killed two tourists and injured another six in southwest China's Yunnan Province Wednesday afternoon. The avalanche occurred at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday in a scenic spot of the Meili Snow Mountain, about 10 km northeast of Deqen County in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Deqen in Yunnan. Rescuers had to first carried the injured people to a village about two hours' walk from the scenic spot to receive medical treatment, because there is no highway linking the spot with the county seat. One person died at the scene and a second person died in an ambulance Thursday morning after being rescued from the avalanche area.

4/25/07 -
RUSSIA - Vehicles are not being allowed to travel on the Transcaucasian Highway, connecting Russia with Transcaucasia, because of an avalanche danger. “Snowfalls have continued for already 24 hours in the mountainous part of the Alagir Gorge, and the snow cover is over 70 centimetres high, which increases the danger of avalanches. So far visibility is zero in the mountains, and we have no information whether avalanches have hit the highway. However, our specialists are already moving on the road to make sure that nobody stayed on the highway at night.”

4/24/07 -
CANADA - Twenty-one ships carrying commercial seal hunters have been rescued by the Coast Guard from crushing ice off the coast of Canada's eastern Newfoundland province, but most of the fleet remains adrift or trapped after shifting winds and two storms stranded them in a massive ice pack offshore. There are still 43 boats trapped in the ice. About 35 ships managed to wiggle free themselves, but they remain adrift in the Atlantic, waiting on the edges for an ice-free route to open up to return to port.

4/22/07 -
CANADA - Seal hunters are still stranded on menacing pack-ice. Hundreds of boats were trapped by FREAK WEATHER as the hunters were returning from a cull of baby seals off the Canadian coast. The fleet of boats became blocked in as an on-shore wind blew the ice tighter and tighter together, creating SOME OF THE WORST CONDITIONS ON THE NEWFOUNDLAND COAST FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS. Up to 15 of the vessels were in danger of sinking Thursday as the enormous pressure of the compacting ice floe threatened to crack open their hulls. One crew has already been picked up by the Canadian coast guard. Icebreakers have been attempting to free the fleet. But rescuers fear the bad weather is set to continue into the weekend and stranded crews face running out of food and fuel. The United States has prohibited Canadian seal products since 1972 and the European Union banned the white pelts of baby seals in 1983. Hunters trade in the pelts mostly for the fashion industry in Norway, Russia and China. They also sell the seals’ blubber for oil.

4/19/07 -
CANADA - The ice that prevented some Newfoundland and Labrador fishermen from reaching harp seal herds during this year's seal hunt has continued to wreak havoc, five days after the hunt took place. Heaving ice continued Wednesday to put dozens of longliners at risk of being damaged or even crushed as they tried to free themselves from icy grips along Newfoundland's northeast coast. From the Northern Peninsula to Cape St. Francis on the east coast, more than 100 vessels have been stranded by heavy ice. Ice conditions were described as "more severe" than seen in many years. "I've never, ever experienced nothing like this."

4/16/07 -
KANSAS - It may be April, but it seemed more like February on Saturday. The cold snap with RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES has wreaked havoc on early-season crops. “I don’t know that we’ve ever had snow and 10 days of winter in April in Lawrence, Kansas.” The cold snap was unlike any other. “It was not just a minor freeze. It was a severe freeze. In talking to some of the older farmers around here, a lot of them say they’ve never seen a freeze quite like this.” Though apples and peaches were devastated, it’s too soon to predict the fate of berries, such as strawberries and blueberries. Farmers are waiting to see whether plants snap back after a few days of warm weather.

MAINE - On a typical mid-April day in southern Maine, flowers would be blooming, butterflies fluttering and bees buzzing. But this is no typical April. The stubborn chill and UNUSUAL series of spring snowstorms are shaking up natural rhythms, forcing animals to adapt, leave, or sit tight and wait. Nature is used to the unusual, of course, and a wintry April is not unprecedented. But forecasts of continuing cold and possibly more snow Sunday and Monday could put a lot of critters to the test. "We need some warm weather. Just one warm day," said a beekeeper with 700 hives around the state. "Usually, the bees start bringing pollen in by the last week of March and they haven't had a day yet." He hasn't even unwrapped his hives because the cold could kill the bees, or at least slow down the bees' process of laying eggs and hatching. Hives that don't get pollen at this time of year will produce smaller, weaker bees. Bees have generally eaten up all their winter honey stores by now. He has been feeding the bees an UNUSUAL amount of sugar - delivered to the hives as home-made sheets of hard candy - to keep them from starving. But the insects have got to get out of the hives soon to clean their systems and bring pollen back to the hatchlings. Many of the birds that arrive each spring are venturing into Maine despite the weather. Some birds seem to be staying to the south, waiting for the weather to break so they can forage. April's wintery weather is not likely to disrupt nesting and egg laying by most birds, assuming spring-like conditions really are somewhere around the corner. But the bald eagle is among the early nesters and appears to be having a tough spring fertility-wise. Eagles start laying their eggs in March, which this year was about when winter conditions really kicked in. The cold and the snow this spring may result in a drop in the number of new eaglets this year. The eggs generally start hatching in early April if they've incubated successfully. The spring of 1982 was similarly cold and snowy, and the number of babies dropped that year. A pair of eagles in Hancock County that are the subjects of a 24-hour Web cam (www.briloon.org) appeared to have lost their eggs to the cold weather, too, until the fuzzy head of a chick appeared in the nest on Thursday. Maine's biggest spring wildlife migration is basically on hold right now because of the weather. Salamanders and frogs are burrowed beneath the leaf litter in the forest floor, dormant but ready to emerge and crawl to vernal pools to breed and lay eggs. The annual migration, known as the Big Night, usually takes place right about now, whenever a heavy spring rain falls during a night when temperatures stay above 40 degrees. Another weather-related migration that few people see takes place this time of year on the ocean floor off the Maine coast. Lobsters usually crawl out of burrows and forage for food, and then move toward shore as water warms. But colder ocean temperatures have slowed them down, too. And, when lobsters are not eating and crawling, they're not trapping. That's a big reason why the price of a Maine lobster dinner is now HIGHER THAN ANYONE CAN REMEMBER. Vegetable farms are unable to plant and are also falling behind schedule.

4/15/07 -
INDIANA - Forecasters say Central Indiana will see an UNUSUALLY RARE weather phenomenon this weekend with about an inch of snowfall Friday and another inch on Saturday. "It's VERY, VERY RARE. It may stick, but it's going to have a hard time doing so because it's still warm on the ground." The Indianapolis area has seen an inch or more of snow in April just 10 times since forecasters began keeping the data more than a century ago. The last time was April 17, 1953, when 2.5 inches fell.

FLORIDA - Saturday in Orlando was expected to be 89 degrees and clear, but by dawn today a fast-moving cold front with severe storms and gale-force wind gusts will sweep through the area. The front, which will move at 40 to 50 mph, could clear the peninsula in three hours, though strong winds and storms will linger. Today's high is expected to be 77. The cold snap will be the latest turn in months of capricious weather. For instance, it snowed briefly in November, while December and January were unusually mild and February brought bitter cold. Bitter in Florida terms, that is. "As far as the ups and downs of weather, this winter was kind of UNUSUAL to some extent." So far, April has rehashed much of this strange season in a short two weeks. It brought cold more typical of January as well as the heat of May or June. On Monday, the high was 65 - the COLDEST HIGH EVER RECORDED in this area for that date.

CANADA - A near-record snowpack in the Rockies and a stretch of warm spring weather has people across Western Canada nervously watching for rising flood waters. Spring run-off warnings and water-level advisories have been popping up from British Columbia to Manitoba in recent weeks with potential for ice-jam flooding on major rivers. Unseasonably cool, wet weather in early April has delayed some of the normal melting and set the stage for flooding problems. Heavy rain is what's in the forecast for British Columbia's Lower Mainland. And with some parts of B.C. recording a snowpack 160 per cent higher than normal levels, the province is bracing for the worst. At higher elevations, most of the spring melting has yet to begin. In the Rockies, which has seen ONE OF THE HEAVIEST SNOWPACKS IN THE PAST 35 YEARS, the run-off could be significant. Historically, big floods require heavy rains that reach the mountain peaks for several days. And while there has been some rainfall, the bulk of the mountain run-off usually appears in May or early June.

4/13/07 -
CANADA - B.C. Hydro is urging residents of the North Coast to become power smart in the coming weeks after an avalanche on the morning of April 2 forced the company to rely on a less stable source of electricity to power the region. “There was an avalanche between Prince Rupert and Terrace that took out a transmission tower and brought down the transmission lines, and it is the supply from the transmission lines that normally provides electricity to the community and surrounding areas like Port Ed, Lax Kw’alaams, Digby Island and Kitkatla."

MICHIGAN - A snowstorm dumped a RECORD AMOUNT of snow on Muskegon - 5.1 inches between 1 a.m. Wednesday and 1 a.m. Thursday. Wednesday's snowfall more than doubled the previous record for snowfall on April 11 - the 2.3 inches recorded in 1944 - and more than doubled the 2 inches of snow that normally falls here during the entire month of April.

4/12/07 -
WISCONSIN - An April storm delivered enough punch to SET SNOWFALL RECORDS FOR THE DATE in Milwaukee and Madison. Milwaukee accumulated 5.6 inches of snow through 3 p.m., enough to top the previous mark for April 11, set in 1997. Madison had 4.7 inches by the same time, again enough to best the record set in '97. A snowstorm that spanned April 8 and 9, in 1973, dumped 13 inches in Madison and a foot in Milwaukee, with wind gusts above 50 mph.

4/10/07 -
AUSTRIA - Six people were injured, one seriously, when a landslide caused part of a hotel in the Austrian Alps to collapse early Monday. A dormitory for employees was buried in the rubble when the landslide happened just after 5am in Obertauern in mountainous Salzburg province. The pressure caused a reinforced concrete retaining wall, which was built in 2003, to give way, knocking down the outer wall of the dormitory where the employees slept and burying them in debris. Rescuers dug the victims out, and they were rushed to a hospital for treatment.

CANADA - People in Whitehorse have had to wade through even more snow than usual in past months: it was ONE OF THE SNOWIEST WINTERS SINCE RECORDS BEGAN in 1940s. From November to March, the city had 149.7 centimetres of snowfall. In comparison, the record was set in 1991-92, when the city had 177.7 centimetres of snow. And unlike many years when Whitehorse has seen a melt in December or January, this year the snow stuck around. Now that all the snow is about to melt, people are concerned about flooding.

KANSAS - On the 8th, it was the COLDEST EASTER MORNING ON RECORD in Topeka.

FLORIDA - Gainesville had a low temperature of 35 degrees Sunday morning, BEATING THE RECORD LOW of 38 degrees set in 1950. Jacksonville had a low of 31 degrees Sunday morning. That temperature beat the RECORD LOW FOR THE DAY of 37 degrees set in 1971 as well as the RECORD LOW FOR THE MONTH of 34 degrees set in 1987. "It's RARE to get temperatures that low at this time of year."

4/9/07 -
U.S. - Fruit growers in Missouri and Illinois face significant losses after record-low temperatures wreaked havoc on orchards. The growers said this could be the WORST DAMAGE THEY'VE HAD IN MORE THAN A DECADE. Fruits like apples, peaches and grapes in their early stages of development cannot survive several nights of below-freezing temperatures. Apples are in their most vulnerable stage in early April. "It hit at exactly the wrong time. There's going to be a light crop this year." "We have never had this much cold this far into the season. We've had cold snaps, but not like this." Warm weather in March caused primary and secondary grape buds to grow earlier than usual. Low temperatures froze both sets of buds, leading to greater loss.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Two weeks into the spring season, more than one-third of the U.S. received unseasonal snow showers in ONE OF THE WEIRDEST WEATHER PATTERNS SEEN IN THE US OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS. Both Saturday and Sunday saw ONE OF THE LOWEST APRIL TEMPERATURES RECORDED IN THE LAST FEW DECADES. The Washington capital region HAD NOT SEEN SNOW IN APRIL FOR 17 YEARS, and even parts of Texas received snow showers. Freeze warnings were issued for most of the eastern United States, and several highways reported dangerous driving conditions. The US-23 highway was shut down on Saturday as the level of ice kept rising.

TEXAS - Longview broke a 91-year-old weather record Saturday with the LOWEST RECORDED HIGH TEMPERATURE SINCE 1902, when weather data here was first recorded. But it was the lunchtime falling snow that seemed to grab everyone's attention. "We don't even get much snow in winter here, so when you see snow in April, that means there is some pretty cold air aloft." The snow and record-breaking temperatures were a result of polar vortex, which is stationary but spinning over the Great Lakes. "That vortex is pulling in cold air from Canada. Meanwhile, April is an active month for the jet stream in our part of the country and it's pulling the cold air (from the vortex) to us."

4/8/07 -
VIRGINIA - Flurries dusted the Norfolk area Saturday, and the high temperature was roughly 25 degrees below average. "It's way below normal for this time of year." It hadn't snowed in Norfolk in April since 1989. It hadn't snowed on April 7 in Norfolk SINCE OFFICIAL RECORD-KEEPING BEGAN in 1890. The weather service issued a freeze warning for the Mid-Atlantic region, meaning temperatures could drop enough to harm crops and sensitive vegetation.

A brutally cold surge of arctic air into the eastern half of the United States will easily bring RECORD-LOW temperatures on Easter morning and could cause significant losses in some of the nation's most prolific agricultural areas. High pressure building toward the Southeast will bring calm winds and clear skies, which combined with the very cold air mass in place, will allow temperatures in many cities to challenge THE COLDEST LOWS EVER REACHED DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL. The cold will severely tax peach orchards across Georgia, and strawberry orchards throughout the Southeast. Bitter cold will also be felt throughout the wheat-growing areas of the Midwest and central Plains. The springtime arctic outbreak will also allow for snow in areas that very rarely see wintry precipitation this late in the year.

4/6/07 -
MICHIGAN - Negaunee Township measured 24 inches of snowfall Wednesday, BREAKING A 1974 RECORD of 12 inches. In Houghton County, Painesdale was hit the hardest with a storm total of 38 inches. "The extended winds we've had have been pretty incredible in this storm." The snowfall total was the second-largest 24-hour total in their history. Spring storms are not uncommon, but an April storm with these winds and snowfall accumulation is UNUSUAL. "We've had spring storms like this, but this is RARE for April."

OHIO - Newly planted vegetables, recently sprouted flowers and fresh fruit tree blooms were thriving in balmy 80-degree weather just a couple of days ago. Now, that springtime bounty faces damage, or even death, from a sharp blast of Canadian air that is plunging temperatures into the 20s for several nights. The cold wave may hurt this year's peach, apple and cherry crops. While a sub-freezing night or two in April isn't unusual, a sustained cold snap in the 20s this time of year is. In two words, the sustained low temperatures are "NOT NORMAL," said the National Weather Service office in Wilmington. "Just like a few days ago when it was UNUSUAL to have temperatures in the 70s and 80s, it's not normal to have several nights in a row in the 20s." Average highs and lows this time of year are around 60 and 40. The cold is just the latest batch of UNUSUAL WEATHER over the past three months that has disrupted the normal pattern of plant life. "It all started back in January when we had unusually warm weather. I had daffodils blooming for three weeks in January. The problem is when plants have a warm January, they get tender and soft and that makes them more susceptible to cold damage. They think spring is here in January and start coming out of dormancy and get ready to grow. And then it turns cold." February's sustained temperatures around zero weakened the plants further. "Then we had a hot early spring and the plants came out again in all their glory. Now, with it getting really cold again, there could be a lot of blackened flowers and even blackened leaves."

4/4/07 -
The Arctic in 2005 saw little renewal of the thick, perennial sea ice that normally melts and is replenished every year, a NASA study has found. Renewing the layer is crucial to maintaining the summer ice cover's stability, and the new findings suggest it may continue to decrease by as much as 10 per cent a year. "The area of seasonal ice that survives the summer may no longer be large enough to sustain a stable perennial ice cover, especially in the face of accelerating climate warming and Arctic sea ice thinning." Perennial ice coverage was 14 per cent lower in January 2006 than it was at the same time in 2005 — only about four per cent of the 2.5 million square kilometers of seasonal ice formed the previous winter survived the summer. The depletion of the sea ice was also affected by ABNORMAL wind conditions that resulted in about seven per cent of the perennial ice coverage area migrating out of the Arctic — an UNUSUALLY HIGH amount.

4/3/07 -
PAKISTAN - A fresh avalanche swept through a village in northern Pakistan and 11 people were missing and feared dead a day after 26 people were killed in another avalanche in the same area. The avalanche struck Mongi village in the Chitral region of the Hindu Kush mountains last night after heavy rain fell across deep snow blanketing the mountains. Many villages have been cut off for days by heavy snow and landslides.

4/2/07 -
PAKISTAN - Avalanches in remote northern Pakistan have left at least 29 people dead, with another 13 still missing. In the worst case, snow buried 26 houses in the village of Washik Chitral Tor yesterday. Another avalanche crashed down on a house in Garam Chashma village, killing five members of the same family. There were no further details about injuries, as communication systems in the area had broken down because of the bad weather. Rescue efforts were also hampered by heavy snowfall which had closed roads in the region.
Thirty hours of continuous torrential rain, with heavy snowfall, has wreaked havoc along the Chitral valley. Reports of houses collapsing and damage to cattle and property are coming in. Life is at a standstill in Chitral with people listless and petrified over this all-time FREAK WEATHER PHENOMENON, coupled with a total breakdown of services, particularly electricity and the road network.

3/30/07 -
AFGHANISTAN - At least 12 people were killed and 12 wounded when avalanches in the northern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan buried their houses under snow. This year Afghanistan has been experiencing greater rains and snowfalls after six years of severe drought. The rain has caused severe flooding and mudslides in various parts of the country, leaving at least a dozen of people dead in the past fortnight through out the country.

3/25/07 -
ALASKA - With a record snowfall and spring thaw under way, residents of Juneau are sweating over avalanche danger. Experts have long said Juneau has the highest risk of an avalanche disaster in the country. That's because more than 60 homes and a busy boat harbor lie below at least a dozen avalanche chutes that sweep off the steep sides of Mount Juneau. This year the Juneau area has gotten more than 16 feet of snow and spring is a particularly dangerous time of year for avalanches. So far several small slides have occurred but none have reached any homes.

3/22/07 -
ITALY - Snow, rain, hail and high winds continued to lash Italy Tuesday. Snow fell heavily across the Alps and Dolomites for the second day running but the brunt of the weather front moved down through central parts as far as the heel of the Italian boot, with most cities hit by rain, hail and gales and most coasts battered by angry seas. In Tuscany, wind and rain whipped Florence and Siena and kept all but the boldest tourists from venturing out of their hotels. To the east, even the Umbrian hills got a RARE taste of snow. In Perugia, the Umbrian capital, temperature fell as low as three degrees, from 20 degrees Celsius two days ago. In Rome, tourists scurried for cover from strong winds while gales toppled advertising boards and bent road signs around Naples. Winds of 20 knots and above grounded flights and prevented landings at Rome's Fiumicino airport. Ferries to Ischia and Capri cowered in port while sea links to Elba were also cut off. Rough seas and 50 km/h winds also raged around Sicily, blocking ferries to Lampedusa and other islands.

3/21/07 -
KASHMIR - The Kashmir Valley is facing acute shortage of essential goods with the closure of the national Jammu-Srinagar highway for the fifth straight day yesterday due to heavy rains and snow. The only surface link to the Kashmir Valley with the rest of India was closed on Sunday after a fresh spell of heavy rains and snow. State authorities say it will take at least two more days to clear the mud and landslides at Panthal, a trouble spot on the 300km-long highway. Around 1,000 vehicles carrying essential supplies and hundreds of Kashmir-bound passengers are stranded on the highway. Power supply continued to remain disrupted for the fourth day in major parts of capital Srinagar and other towns following the heavy snowfall here. The spring snowfall has caused extensive damage to the cherry, almond, apricot and apple orchards, which were in full blossom. Horticulture experts are keeping their fingers crossed but they admit the damage to these famous Kashmir fruits is colossal especially the famous Kashmir cherry. Officials say the water supply would be restored in the city by this evening. The snowfall has led to drastic fall in the temperature though the sky is now clearing up.

3/19/07 -
KASHMIR - three persons were killed and six other critically injured when an avalanche hit the village of Nawathana in Padder area of district Kishtwar. The avalanche hit Sunday morning hitting three houses and killing three villagers on the spot.

MASSACHUSETTS - Worcester had RECORD-SETTING snowfall Friday and Saturday. On Friday, 11.3 inches fell in the city, breaking the record of 10 inches set on March 16, 197. Saturday another 5.6 inches fell, breaking the record of 4.4 inches set in 1982. Through both days, 16.9 inches of snow fell during the nor’easter.

3/18/07 -
BRITAIN was bracing itself for Arctic winds and snowstorms on Saturday night as the unseasonal warm spell comes to an abrupt end. A cold front coming in from the north will bring wintry weather to the whole of the country. Scotland and the north of England will be worst hit but the whole of the UK can expect snow and freezing winds from today. Temperatures will plummet from the high in recent weeks of 14C (57F) to minus 4C (25F) in a cold spell expected to last until well into next week. Wildlife experts said animals such as moles, bats and hedgehogs that woke early from hibernation because of the unseasonal heat could be at risk of starvation because of the snow.

U.S. EAST COAST - Schools in Maryland and Virginia were let out early Friday as a late blast of winter weather moved across the region. The area was battered with a mix of rain and snow and temperatures dropped into the 30s. The cold followed a gorgeous week with temperatures that had soared into the 70s. “It’s UNUSUAL for this time of year. This is an unseasonably cold spell.” The winter weather, which struck throughout the mid-Atlantic and the northeast, wreaked havoc on air travel.
MARYLAND - The rain totals at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport topped 2.13 inches by 9 pm. That BROKE THE 131-YEAR-OLD RECORD of 1.14 inches for the date, set in 1876. It was the city's oldest daily rainfall record for March.
VIRGINIA - RECORD DAILY RAINFALLS occurred at Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports on the 16th. National Airport received 1.55 inches, breaking the 1896 record of 1.09 inches for the date, and Dulles got 1.49 inches to eclipse the old record of 0.9 inches for the day, set in 1972.

3/16/07 -
RUSSIA - Arrivals of all planes from the mainland to the Kamchatka Peninsula were delayed on Thursday due to a powerful cyclone affecting the region with heavy snowstorms. The eastern districts of the peninsula are still affected by a cyclone. It is snowing heavily everywhere and winds are reaching a speed of 20 metres per second. The fleet is staying at ports due to a storm warning. The avalanche descent hazard has increased in the mountainous areas of Kamchatka and within the limits of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Recommendations have been issued to all to be cautious and abstain from going to the mountains. Classes at schools and higher educational establishments were also cancelled in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on Thursday due to heavy snowstorms and winds. Traffic is impeded by low visibility and snowdrifts on local highways and there are traffic jams on the city roads. Specialists say that snowfalls on Kamchatka are possible for three more days.

3/14/07 -
INDIA, KASHMIR - At least 50 people were killed as snow engulfed Kashmir and torrential rain pounded the rest of northern India. Some 28 people were killed and 25 others received burn injuries in separate lightning strikes in Uttar Pradesh as rains crippled life in the populous northern Indian state. Seventeen people, including two children and a soldier died in landslides, cold and floods in Indian Kashmir and its summer capital Srinagar reported its HEAVIEST MARCH SNOWS IN 15 YEARS. Snowstorms have paralysed life in revolt-hit Kashmir, shutting schools, knocking out power and telephone lines and closing the region's main highway.

ICELAND - Four homes were vacated in Bolungarvík, in Iceland’s Westfjords, due to risk of avalanches. Snow layers are unstable and several minor avalanches have fallen in the northern Westfjords in the last few days. A larger avalanche fell in Hnífsdalur yesterday, but no buildings were hit. Ten buildings are in the danger zone in Bolungarvík, but only four of them are inhabited. “It has been like this since 1995 and I believe no winter has passed without us having to vacate our houses at some point.” The Icelandic Meteorological Office is observing the snow layers in the Westfjords and waiting for them to become more stable before the inhabitants can return to their homes. In 1995 avalanches hit two towns in the Westfjords, Súdavík and Flateyri, and nearly 40 people were killed. Since then precautionary measures have become tighter.

RUSSIA - A powerful cyclone that has covered the Sakhalin Island with a 1.5-metre deep snow layer has begun affecting southeast areas of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The cyclone will gradually move to the northwest part of the Pacific Ocean where the wind force is expected to grow to 15-20 metres per second, but no dangerous phenomena are expected on the peninsula, according to meteorologists. Nevertheless, snowstorms are possible on Kamchatka in the coming three days. Since the beginning of March, cyclones have been one after another bringing snowfalls to the south of Kamchatka. As much as 130 percent of the monthly precipitation norm has already occurred in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky where the snow is 140 centimetres deep. 14 snow avalanches have already descended from slopes. The largest of them had a volume of 20,000 cubic metres.

3/13/07 -
INDIA - Five pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir died yesterdy due to extreme cold as heavy unseasonable rains and snowfall surprised large swathes of north India, including the national capital, as spring played fugitive. The met office attributed the FREAK WEATHER to western disturbances. The five people on their way to the Vaishno Devi shrine died due to extreme cold even as nearly 1,000 vehicles were stranded on the strategic Jammu-Srinagar highway, cutting off the Kashmir Valley from the plains. The highway had remained closed for 10 days last month as well because of bad weather, leading to a scarcity of food products in the valley. The valley received the heaviest snowfall of the season yesterday with the popular resort town of Sonmarg receiving 4 feet of snow. Farmers maintained the late, untimely March snow had damaged their oilseed and fodder crops while fruit growers said almond and other fruit blossoms also suffered. Over 200cm of snowfall has accumulated at the 13,050-foot-high Rohtang Pass in the last three days. This year, Delhi has received more than 34.5 mm rainfall in March, as against its usual quota of 14.8 mm. “The rains are due to a cyclonic blip over north-west India."

RUSSIA - The cyclone that has been hovering over Russia’s Khabarovsk region since Saturday, has hit it with RECORD SNOWFALLS. Up to 28 millimetres of precipitations have fallen in southern parts of the region over the past 24 hours with a monthly norm of 13 millimetres, while in eastern parts of the region more than three monthly norms of snow have fallen. The cyclone is moving northeast. Winds in Khabarovsk are gradually losing their strength, but heavy snowfalls and snowdrifts persist on the seaside.

CHINA - Carcasses of about one million cattle and poultry that died during a severe snowstorm in northeastern China have been destroyed to prevent them from being processed for food. Earlier this month, northeastern China experienced its worst March snowstorm in 56 years, with severe cold and strong winds causing snow to drift up to two metres in some places. More than 978,000 chickens, 24,000 ducks and thousands of pigs, cattle and sheep were burnt and buried in the province of Liaoning.

3/12/07 -
RUSSIA - A new powerful cyclone battered Russia's Far-Eastern Khabarovsk territory, bringing along with it heavy snowstorms and gale of up to 20 to 25 meters per second. Storm warnings have been issued. The Far-Eastern Hydrometeorology Center says the territory is bound to sustain this kind of weather for at least two days in a row. Railway is the only kind of transport functioning normally, with dozens of special machines and more than 3,000 section men clearing the tracks. The previous cyclone evidenced snowstorms with amounts of snow exceeding the monthly usual by a factor of three. It also brought to standstill the aviation, automobile and maritime transport and put out of electricity supplies a number of population centers due to wire breaks.

3/8/07 -
VIRGINIA - it was the COLDEST FEBRUARY SINCE 1980 in Roanoke. During most of the past eight months, we've had a very amplified jet stream pattern. That's a fancy way of saying the jet stream, the fast-moving river of air 4 to 7 miles up, has been contorted into huge bulges toward the north and large dips toward the south.

MAINE - the minus 6 degrees reading at 7 a.m. on the 7th at the Portland Jetport broke the old RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE FOR THIS DATE of minus 3 set in 1989. The high temperature of 18 on Tuesday was the COLDEST HIGH TEMPERATURE EVER FOR MARCH 6, dating back to when weather records were first recorded at the Jetport in 1940. Previously, the record low high temperature was 26 degrees, set in 1972 and 1999. Although the low temperature of zero Tuesday morning was not a record, when combined with the record low high temperature, it gave Portland an average for the day of 9 degrees, breaking the record of 10 degrees for the LOWEST AVERAGE set on March 6, 1948. Ironically, it was exactly two months ago Tuesday, Jan. 6, when record high temperatures occurred throughout the Northeast. At New York City's Central Park, the temperature hit 74 degrees while in Portland it rose to 67 degrees, setting an all-time record for the month.

NEW HAMPSHIRE - March 6 was the COLDEST MARCH DAY IN STATE HISTORY. An abysmal high temperature of 7 degrees was recorded in Concord, shattering the previous record of 11 degrees set on March 3, 1950. "It's not something we haven't seen before, but it is UNUSUAL for this time of winter...Getting a cold blast like this in March is kind of unusual, but they've certainly happened before."

ILLINOIS - snowfall amounts in central and northern Illinois were typically 4-16 inches above normal, including 20 inches in Champaign-Urbana, the HIGHEST ON RECORD THERE SINCE 1903. Flooding will be a concern in portions of the state over the next several weeks due to snowmelt and rain falling on frozen or saturated soils.

3/7/07 -
CANADA - RECORD COLD hit in Hamilton. A reading of -22 at 7 o'clock am at John C Munro International Airport was good enough to smash the old record of -19.4 which stood since 1960. February was the COLDEST ON RECORD SINCE 1979. Not a single drop of rain fell last month - which has happened ONLY ONCE SINCE RECORD-KEEPING BEGAN.

MASSACHUSETTS - At the Taunton office of the National Weather Service at 11 a.m. it was 3 degrees above zero with a wind child of about 20 degrees below zero. The temperature at midnight was 16 degrees which is the March 6 RECORD FOR THE LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR THE DATE. The record low maximum temerature for the month of March is 10 degrees, set on March 3, 1950. With a high temperature of 9 degrees predicted for the rest of the day, today will rival that record even though it won't show in the record book because the high temperature was recorded at midnight. "Certainly, today is the coldest March day since 1950".

CONNECTICUTT - Tuesday's high temperature was below 20 degrees - for JUST THE THIRD TIME IN NEARLY A CENTURY. That's about 25 to 30 degrees below average temperatures for this time in March. The state's record low high temperature for the month of March at Windsor Locks is 17 degrees on March 7, 1913, and March 18, 1967.

3/6/07 -
RUSSIA - A state of emergency was declared all over Russia’s Primorsky Territory (Far East) due to the violent cyclone, which brought heavy snowfalls and stormy winds. More than two monthly amounts of precipitation were recorded in the southern districts of the Territory and in Vladivostok during the past twenty-four hours. Weather forecasters believe the cyclone will last for at least 12-16 more hours. The current snowfall was the HEAVIEST EVER IN THE ENTIRE 130-YEAR HISTORY of the local weather forecasting service.

CANADA - Bitter cold and driving winds combined Monday to unleash a wave of commuter chaos across parts of the Greater Toronto Area and beyond, still cleaning up from last week's vicious storm. As ice tumbling from the CN Tower forced Toronto Police to close a stretch of the Gardiner Expressway, whiteout conditions on Highway 400 near Newmarket, Ontario triggered an afternoon chain-reaction pileup that sent scores of vehicles skidding and slamming into each other. Elsewhere across the region, at least a dozen other major rural roads were closed as drivers battled near-zero visibility. In Toronto's downtown core, motorists struggled to and from work in the face of an unfamiliar hazard: big chunks of ice crashing to the ground from the 533-metre CN Tower and landing on the Gardiner Expressway, one of the busiest thoroughfares in the country. Several city blocks were also blocked off, as ice dislodged by freak weather conditions slid down to the street from other buildings. Some parked cars had damage to their windshields and roofs, but no injuries were reported. “We've seen ice before but never to this degree, this has been pretty extreme.” "Today it [the wind] was coming from the northwest and was quite strong, and was blowing the ice right in the direction of the Gardiner Expressway.... This [weather pattern] is EXTREMELY RARE.” Experts say this is the FIRST TIME in the CN Tower’s history - construction was completed in 1976 - the structure has seen such an ice buildup. One of the pieces appeared to be roughly 50 metres tall by 6 metres wide. Police warned that more severe weather is on the way. “This is only the beginning. It's getting colder and windier and there's another storm headed in from the west.” That storm is expected to produce more snow tonight and Wednesday, accompanied by a severe cold snap.

3/5/07 -
RUSSIA - An avalanche killed a child, and three other people are missing, in a Russian resort that is competing to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. The 10-year-old skier and the others were swept away after the avalanche hit a ski lift at the Krasnaya Polyana resort near the town of Sochi in the south of Russia. Russian authorities closed ski lifts for two days at the resort this year because of safety concerns just days before a team from the International Olympic Committee inspected Sochi.
Snow cyclone - Vladivostok enterprises and organizations have recommended having a day off today because of an approaching cyclone. School classes have been cancelled. The ferry line between the islands of Popov and Russky may be not operational either. The cyclone has reached the Primorye territory. It is snowing heavily, with the wind reaching 30 kilometers per second. Up to two monthly norms of precipitation may fall in Vladivostok alone.

CHINA - The STRONGEST MARCH SNOWSTORM IN 56 YEARS to hit northeast China's Liaoning province caused drifts up to 2m, and strong winds forced highway closures and flight cancellations. Rain and snow fell across many parts of northern China, including Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia autonomous regions over the past two days, bringing precipitation to areas that have experienced a serious drought.

3/2/07 -
CANADA - A snowstorm is expected to hit Quebec and the Atlantic provinces today, after pounding southern Ontario and causing a slew of traffic accidents, including one that killed two children.

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2/27/07 -
TAJIKISTAN - This year temperatures in Tajikistan reached an UNUSUAL minus-17 degrees Celsius, the lowest since 2002. The lowest temperature is usually between minus-five degrees to minus-seven degrees Celsius. Geologists say such cold weather is the result of global climate changes. UNUSUAL prolonged frost has also compounded the situation. The situation in many settlements and towns across Tajikistan is acute, with no gas or electricity.

WISCONSIN - According to a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, the snow was UNUSUAL throughout the weekend in both its type and accumulation. “This is wildly out of the ordinary. We don’t get storms like this very often.” Nearly 18 inches fell from Friday evening to Sunday morning. With temperatures hovering around 32 degrees, the snow was an uncharacteristically wet mix when it arrived in the city. “That’s not common around here. Usually that’s the type that shows up in New England, with that concrete, mashed potato type of snow.” The irregular weather developed Friday from an upper-level disturbance over California.
This past weekend's storm SET A RECORD for the first time more than four inches of snowfall has been recorded on three consecutive days - the historical records date back to 1869. The National Weather Service reports six inches of snowfall for Madison on Friday, 4.4 inches for Saturday and another 4.9 inches on Sunday, for a weekend total of 15.3 inches. The high moisture content of this weekend's heavy snows has slowed snow plowing and removal efforts - almost doubling the usual time it takes to clear the city's streets. This is the fourth snowiest February on record, and with meteorologists forecasting another inch or two between now and March 1, third or even second snowiest may yet be within reach.

PENNSYLVANIA - The sleet that fell on Feb. 13 and 14 was a wild and extraordinary event. It was ONE OF THE MOST DISRUPTIVE NORTHEAST STORMS ON RECORD. People wound up stranded on I-78 for up to 24 hours. Atop an unexpectedly stubborn layer of cold air, the Valentine's Day storm created a strange and persistent atmospheric parfait. Warm air melted snow on the way down, but then cold air refroze it before it landed. What resulted was prodigious, perhaps RECORD, amounts of sleet. The models were calling for a major ice storm - with a "bull's-eye" of up to 2.5 inches of precipitation in northeastern Pennsylvania. That's the water equivalent of up to three feet of snow. The best estimate is that 4 of the 7 snow and ice inches measured at the Allentown station consisted of sleet. That is a phenomenal amount. Typically, it takes a forecast of a mere half-inch to trigger a "heavy sleet warning." So 4 inches would be eight times the warning criterion. Sustained sleet is at the very least UNUSUAL. Sleet suggests an atmosphere in transition. Ordinarily it occurs when warm air aloft is entering or exiting, as rain is changing to snow or vice versa. Rarely is it a main event.

2/26/07 -
WISCONSIN issued its second blizzard warning of the year this past weekend — the first coming before 8 inches of snow hit Sheboygan on Dec. 1 — an EXTREMELY UNCOMMON occurrence. "We usually issue a blizzard warning probably once every five years. It's pretty RARE." This is the first time since 1999 the weather service has issued a blizzard warning for its entire coverage area. The warnings are issued when the weather service expects sustained winds of at least 35 mph combined with falling snow for at least a three-hour period.

2/25/07 -
U.S. - A large, fast-moving snowstorm closed sections of major highways in parts of the central United States on Saturday, dumped more than 30 centimetres of snow on the Upper Midwest and caused seven traffic deaths in Wisconsin. The storms knocked out power to more than 145,000 customers, mostly in Iowa, where freezing rain coated trees, power and utility lines. The weather service posted blizzard and winter storm warnings for parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, northern Illinois and Wisconsin. "This is going to be a monster in the northern plains tonight and into the western Great Lakes." We're going to see six to 12 inches of wind-whipped snow." Between 15 inches to 18 inches of snow had fallen between Winona, Minn., and La Crosse, Wis., by Saturday evening, with more snow expected. Winds reaching 60 mph helped fuel dozens of grass fires across Texas, destroying three homes near Midland and forcing evacuations at Fort Hood.

VERMONT - Nearly 15 years ago, an ice jam in the Winooski River caused catastrophic flooding in Vermont's capital. Now, officials are warning it could happen again and telling people to prepare for it. Sections of the river are frozen solid, triggering fears of a repeat of the March 11, 1992 flood that caused millions of dollars in damage. Engineers say it's the FIRST TIME SINCE RECORDS HAVE BEEN KEPT that the river in Montpelier has been so packed with ice in what is called a "freeze up jam". This year's jam was caused by unseasonably warm weather through mid-January followed by an extended period of bitter cold. Now, stretches of the Winooski are frozen solid with what experts call "frazzle ice". If the weather turns suddenly warm or heavy rains fall, it could be trouble. For years, the city left a crane parked on the edge of town, to be used to break up ice jams. The crane remains there, but it may not do much good this time around because it would have to clear solid ice from a mile of river.

2/23/07 -
MONTANA and much of the rest of the U.S. West are seeing ONE OF THE WORST AVALANCHE SEASONS IN YEARS and there still is a lot of winter left. "We are going to keep getting winter storms and we are going to have avalanche danger for the remainder of the winter." Last weekend, avalanches killed six people in Montana, Utah and Idaho. Nationwide, avalanches have killed 14 people. Another person died in Canada. There are two types of snow avalanches: Loose snow avalanches that begin in a small area, but grow larger, taking on more snow as they descend; and slab avalanches that start as a large slide.

2/20/07 -
RUSSIA - A storm warning was declared in Kamchatka over an approaching strong snow cyclone. The hurricane is moving from Japan to Kamchatka with a velocity of 60 kilometers per hour. The cyclone will reach the peninsula by today. A heavy snowfall and blizzards are expected there. The wind velocity will reach 25-30 meters per second on the south-western and south-eastern coasts. Hurricane winds of 40-45 meters per second will be registered in the north-western part of the Pacific. Vessels were warned about the approaching cyclone. The impact of the cyclone will be strong in southern Kamchatka for three days. The storm will begin subsiding after February 22, specialists said.
After weeks of rain and unprecedented high temperatures, cold and snow finally hit back in central Russia, sending bears to their winter slumber and endangering other hibernating species like hedgehogs. "As soon as snow covered the earth, the brown bear that stayed awake all this time returned to his lair and fell asleep." However, hedgehogs - who also failed to go into hibernation and are unlikely to do so now - risk "dying of cold and hunger" with the return of proper Russian winter. Temperatures registered in Russia this winter since November 20 have TOPPED EVERY RECORD. Frost did not come back to Russia until earlier this week, with snow finally covering the green grass and mushrooms that all this while grew in suburban Moscow's forests.

2/19/07 -
FLORIDA - A freeze Friday night BROKE A RECORD in place since 1920, but growers in the area say it did little damage to their crops. Temperatures Friday night fell to 23 degrees at Gainesville Regional Airport, two degrees colder than 1920's previous record for the day. The dryness of the air and the lack of cloud cover have contributed to both the colder nights and milder days. The biggest losses are in peaches, which bloomed early because of the warm January. As the temperature dropped below freezing Friday, the cold damaged the new blossoms.

2/16 -
RUSSIA - A snow cyclone approaching from Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky (Maritime) territory the Sakhalin and Kurile islands has caused closure of all airports and the Vanino-Kholmsk ferry service on the islands. A powerful storm has affected the Tatar Strait through which major ferry boats sail, and motor ships carrying passengers and cargoes have had to find shelter from bad weather at the Khabarovsk territory coast line.

ILLINOIS - a veteran weather observer professed amazement Wednesday over the rain, ice and snow that all hit the area one right after another Tuesday. “As long as I’ve lived in Charleston, since 1958, I’ve never seen that combination. I’ve never seen it piled up in the same storm.”

VERMONT - A new 24-hour SNOWFALL RECORD was set yesterday, when Burlington received 25.3 inches. The previous record was set on Jan. 14, 1934, when the city received 23.1 inches. A ferocious nor'easter lived up to its advanced billing Wednesday, belting the state with record snowfall and biting winds. The winter that mostly wasn't for December and January now boasts one of the biggest snowstorms on Vermont's books. "We went from the early season famine to a full-blown winter feast. This is just phenomenal." The storm was Burlington's BIGGEST FEBRUARY SNOWSTORM SINCE 1883. With a RECORD 17.4 inches of snowfall in the Queen City at 6 p.m., it surpassed the previous February snowstorm record of 16.8 inches set in 1995.

2/15 -
NORTH AMERICA - Massive snow storms have battered North America, cancelling hundreds of flights and closing schools across the region. Snow, sleet and rain slammed into Canada and the north-eastern United States in the worst storms this winter. At least 12 people have died in the blizzard, which has caused traffic chaos on dangerous, icy roads. The snow storm started in the US Midwest on Tuesday, leaving an icy trail of destruction as it blanketed the north-eastern states on Wednesday. Up to 65cm (25.5 inches) of snow was expected in both Quebec and Vermont. The Gulf Coast was also hit by the severe weather. Thunderstorms lashed the region and a tornado killed one person in Louisiana. More than 50 people have died in the US since the cold snap first hit in January.

INDIA - Shimla, over the last few days, has recorded over two-and-a-half feet of snow. It is the MAXIMUM IN 17 YEARS with chilling temperatures to 10 degrees below normal. The people in New Delhi waited most of December and January for that familiar freeze and then just when the woollies were being packed away it began to rain and hail and the temperatures dipped.

2/13/07 -
NEW YORK - A 10-day stretch of intense lake-effect squalls finally ended Monday for communities along eastern Lake Ontario, leaving behind from 7 to 12 feet of snow and the problem of what to do with it all. The National Weather Service said the 11 feet, 9 inches of snow that fell in Redfield was a NEW STATE 'SINGLE EVENT' RECORD. Redfield's 10-day total eclipsed the 10 feet, 7 inches of snow that fell in nearby Montague over seven days ending Jan. 1, 2002. "It's not an unusual amount, it's just UNUSUAL that fell it fell in such a short period of time." Redfield receives an annual average of 270 inches - more than 22 feet. A new storm system is approaching from the Midwest. Forecasters said the storm could bring 8 to 20 inches of snow to upstate New York. "Unfortunately, they're not going to get much of a breather."

2/12/07 -
INDIA - New Delhi: FREAK WEATHER CONDITIONS claimed at least 14 lives across north India as torrential rains threw normal life out of gear in the region. Cold conditions have revived due to a strong western disturbance currently lying over Jammu and Kashmir and adjoining areas. Uttar Pradesh: eight persons were killed and over a dozen injured in different incidents of house collapse and lightning in UP. While three persons were killed and one was injured as a wall collapsed in Chitrakoot town, two persons were killed and four injured in a similar incident in Varanasi. An old man died of cold in Fatehpur while a man was killed after being struck by lightning in Barabanki. Punjab and Haryana: Heavy rain accompanied by thunder squalls lashed both the states for the second consecutive, uprooting trees, snapping telecommunication lines and crippling normal life. (photos)

2/11/07 -
NEW YORK - Residents in northern New York state were facing more heavy snowfalls as they struggle to clear up to eight feet (2.4m) of snow. Forecasters said an additional foot of snow could fall. In some areas, snow has been falling at a rate of 5in (12cm) an hour. A state of emergency has been declared in and around Oswego county, which has seen more than a week of snow squalls. The so-called lake-effect snow is caused by the cold air picking up moisture as it moves over the warmer Great Lakes, and depositing it as snow inland. Meteorologists say the storms in the Lake Ontario area normally last a couple of days, and it is UNUSUAL for them to last so long. Extreme cold weather has also been affecting other north-eastern and central areas of the country. Freezing conditions elsewhere in the US were blamed for at least 20 deaths. Deaths linked to the cold have been reported in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, New York and Maryland.

ARIZONA - Record cold temperatures have caused some UNUSUAL WEATHER CONDITIONS, the likes of which haven’t been seen since December 1990 – the last date of measurable snow fall at Sky Harbor Airport.

HEAT -
2/11/07 -
OREGON - Snowpack in the central Cascades, which ultimately keeps the Willamette River and its tributaries flowing, was at 87 percent of average Friday. At this time last year, the snowpack was at 130 percent of average. “We’ve seen well-above-average temperatures in mountains the last couple weeks, and that’s contributing to unseasonal snowmelt."

2/9 -
MISSOURI - The cold snap that’s delivered below-average temperatures the past two weeks is expected to last through the better part of February. Temperatures the past week have ranged from 20 to 25 degrees below normal in Columbia. The forecast high for Thursday was 25 compared to an average high of 41. A west-to-east pattern of the jet stream that contributed to milder temperatures earlier this winter has shifted to a more north-south pattern, bringing harsh winter temperatures. The west-to-east pattern seen earlier this winter was consistent with milder winter weather that’s often associated with El Nino. El Nino, a warm current of water near the coast of Peru and Ecuador that causes the jet stream to shift, was much weaker than normal this year, causing UNUSUAL WEATHER CONDITIONS - Missouri does not usually have below-normal temperature readings like this with El Nino.

2/6 -
PAKISTAN - Dozens feared dead as cold grips Badakhshan - Dozens of people, mostly children and aged ones, have been killed due to scarcity of food and the prevailing cold weather during the previouse two months. Some 40 residents died of famine and cold weather since early December and more deaths are feared if urgent measures are not taken by the government and aid organisations. All roads connecting the district to other towns and the central city of Faizabad had been blocked due to heavy snow, leaving the residents locked up.

U.S. - A bone-chilling arctic cold wave with temperatures as low as 42 below zero shut down schools for thousands of youngsters, sent homeless people into shelters and put car batteries on the disabled list from the northern Plains across the Great Lakes. At least four deaths were linked to the cold weather. With temperatures near zero and a wind chill of 25 below, school districts across Ohio canceled classes. With a temperature of 12 below zero and wind chill of 31 below, Wisconsin's largest school district, Milwaukee Public Schools, also shut down, idling some 90,000 children. In upstate New York, 34,000 kids got the day off in Rochester because of temperatures near zero. Schools also closed in parts of Michigan and Illinois. A few schools closed even in Minnesota, where February cold is the norm and people are accustomed to coping. By noon, subzero temperatures had blanketed the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for 58 straight hours - the LONGEST STRETCH IN 11 YEARS. In northern Minnesota, the temperature crashed to 42 below Monday morning at Embarrass [reportedly colder than the North Pole at the time.] Grand Forks, North Dakota, also registered 30 below. "For this time of year, this isn't that unusual, as far as temperatures go." Amtrak shut down passenger service in parts of western and northern New York state, where the cold was accompanied by as much as 2 feet of snow. At least 30 water main breaks were blamed on the cold in Detroit, Michigan.

2/4 -
RUSSIA - Hundreds of fishermen have been rescued from ice-floes which began to drift after breaking away from the shore in the Russian Far East. Boats and helicopters were used to reach the stranded anglers off Sakhalin island in the Sea of Okhotsk. The anglers had been fishing through holes drilled in the ice, a traditional winter pursuit for many Russians. About a third of Sakhalin is estimated to live off fishing, often carried out in perilous conditions. The ice supporting the anglers - said to include women and children - broke free in a number of places in Mordvinov bay, on the south-east coast of Sakhalin. Pushed by strong winds, it began drifting out to sea. Operations mounted by the Emergencies Ministry rescued all 442 people who were adrift, although about 70 had initially refused to leave without their gear. One ministry official was quoted as saying many of those rescued were in a state of "heavy alcoholic intoxication".

2/2 -
CANADA - Two people were killed on a stretch of Canada's busiest highway Thursday in a spectacular crash at the height of a FREAK blizzard that turned more than a dozen vehicles into a twisted heap of wreckage and left a fuel-laden tanker truck spewing flames and smoke into a snow-filled sky. Provincial police described the scene as one of "utter devastation." The wreckage of charred vehicles littered the highway, with many cars reduced to little more than hollow shells with exposed engines and transmissions. The crash happened at the height of an intense blizzard that likely reduced visibility to zero and made the road surface very treacherous.

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1/31/07 -
U.S. - For the first time since last winter, meteorologists are finally able to forecast some snowfall for the northeast and mid-Atlantic region. And this time it won’t be just a dusting. The jet stream is shaping itself to allow a large cyclone to develop northwest of the Louisiana Gulf Coast. This storm will have the moisture to produce a significant snowfall provided cold air is in place. So what we will be watching is a timing issue. This gulf storm will have to combine forces with a clipper that will be diving into the Plains tonight. If this happens west of the Ohio Valley, a plowable snowfall will fall in Pennsylvania early Friday. This storm has been on the map since the 10- to-14 day outlook came out two weeks ago.

1/30 -
CZECH REPUBLIC - Winter showed up with a vengeance, bringing heavy snow and strong winds that grounded operations at Prague’s international airport last week (1/24). It was a quick one-two punch. First hurricane-strength winds wrought havoc as they raced through the country, then a sudden severe snowfall did its worst, bringing much of the Czech Republic to a halt. Ruzyne suffered the worst weather circumstances of all airports in the region with some 25 centimeters of snow falling in 24 hours. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute classifies a calamity situation when just 10 centimeters fall within a full day. The snow just kept on coming, remaining constant throughout Jan. 24. Eventually, workers cleared more than 400,000 tons of snow from an area equivalent to 335 football fields. A vicious wind storm swept across Europe Jan. 18–21. Wind speeds of up to 200 kilometers an hour were recorded in some Czech localities. The combination of wind and snow left the country’s forests in a critical state. Government officials estimated more than 10 million cubic meters of timber were felled by the winds. The winds also took a toll on homeowners. As of Jan. 25, insurance costs from the wind storms were estimated at Kc 1.3 billion, with 46,000 claims filed. Damaged roofs were the most common claim.

UTAH - Sunday was another bad day of heavy smog inhalation across the Wasatch Front, as the RECORD BREAKING inversion continued to sock the entire area. Health experts say this is THE WORST WINTER FOR UTAH'S INVERSION EVER. Conditions Sunday were nearly three times over the level that triggers a "no-burn day". Health experts suggest taking public transportation to keep levels from rising even further. "Every time I come down here it's beginning to look more and more like California." Meteorologists say they do not see a break from the bad air in the near future. (PHOTO / VIDEO)

1/26 -
RUSSIA - Moscow is stuck in a fierce blizzard - Thursday’s blizzard in Moscow was the heaviest this winter, bringing the traffic to a standstill and shutting airports to incoming flights. Weather forecasters say a real winter has finally come to the Moscow Region. A cyclone from southern Europe swept through central Russia late Wednesday night, bringing a snow blanket which reached 10 to 15 centimeters by Thursday night. The cyclone nearly brought all Moscow airports south of the city to a halt. The snowfall is expected to be over by this morning. “The cyclone will leave, the snow will cease and cold Artic air will follow from the north. The temperature will fall to -13 to -15°.” Normal winter weather will have finally set in.

1/25 -
ROMANIA - A return of winter in Romania could damage rare bird populations in the Danube Delta where nesting is beginning early this year due to UNUSUALLY warm weather. Meteorologists expect temperatures to drop below zero in coming days, threatening colonies of Dalmatians Pelicans, Pygmy Cormorants and Spoonbills in the vast marshlands of the delta, one of the most biodiverse regions in Europe. "Some species, which were supposed to come at the end of February, are already here." Some birds are returning early to the delta, which lies on a key migratory route for wild birds, and many never left when temperatures rose as high as 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier in January.

NEW MEXICO - RARE “snow rollers” were all over several sections of Tucumcari. Women likened them to jellyrolls, or rolls of batting. Men described them as looking like logs or cylinders. “They look like a roll of insulation,” except they are snow. Snow rollers are nature’s way of creating snowballs. In addition to a perfect temperature that’s near freezing, the ratio of water to snow has to be just right for snow rollers to kick up and be formed. The ground surface must have an icy, crusty snow, on which falling snow cannot stick. About an inch or so of loose, wet snow must accumulate. Gusty and strong winds are needed to scoop out chunks of snow. “Once the initial ‘seed’ of the roller is started, it begins to roll. It collects additional snow from the ground as it rolls along, leaving trails behind it. ... many times they are hollow. They can be as small as a golf ball, or as large as a 30 gallon drum, but typically they are about 10 to 12 inches in diameter.” Those conditions were apparently just right on Saturday night because on Sunday, there were hundreds and hundreds of them in pastures off of Highway 104. “I even kicked a few because I thought there was tumbleweed inside them. But there wasn’t anything in them. I estimate they were about two feet thick and two feet long.” One had been created on the roof of a livestock shed. Some meteorologists go their whole life without observing them. Explorers saw them on trips to the Artic. (photo)

1/24 -
SPAIN - The Department for Civil Protection and Emergencies has issued a warning to the governments of ten Autonomous Communities in Spain following the the National Meteorological Institute’s forcast for heavy snow and very low temperatures over the next few days. The extreme weather conditions are predicted to worsen from today onwards. As a result many cities in Spain are on high alert and as a precaution around 50 mountain passes have been closed to heavy traffic. Andalucía is on alert for extremely low temperaturas, notably in Granada where temperaturas are predicted to fall to - 4ºC. A new weather front will be crossing the country from the Northeast. These extreme weather conditions come following a spell of unusually warm, dry weather for this time of year. Many Spanish ski resorts are experiencing their worst season for years and the snowfall this week will be the first proper one all Winter.

1/22 -
NEVADA - RECORD-BREAKING COLD - Chilly Las Vegas was shivering last week beneath a blanket of cold the likes of which it hasn't seen for a decade. A fountain at a casino east of the Las Vegas Strip froze into a four-tiered ice sculpture and landscaping pipes in some neighborhoods burst, flooding roads and creating automotive skating rinks that sent cars skidding to curbs. The UNUSUAL cold snap sent overnight temperatures plunging into the low 20s. Sunday only warmed up to 39 degrees at McCarran International Airport, setting a RECORD FOR THE LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE EVER FOR A JANUARY 14. The previous record was 42 degrees in 1997.

1/19 -
U.S. - Harsh winter weather gripping parts of the US in recent days has spread to the normally balmy south-west, as storms threaten south-eastern states. At least 65 people have died since storms began last Friday, most in weather-related road accidents. Rare snow fell on the hills above the popular Malibu resort in California, as temperatures reached near-record lows. Areas of the central US have been warned to brace for a second wave of cold temperatures and snow today. Storm warnings have gone out in Georgia and the Carolinas, states previously little affected by the weather. Temperatures are expected to remain low for several more days.
1/17 -
CALIFORNIA - A deep freeze that already may have ruined as much as three-quarters of California's citrus crop, threatened the few surviving fruits as the region endured a fourth night of icy temperatures. A large arctic air mass continued hovering over the western states early Tuesday morning, icing up the San Joaquin Valley's billion-dollar orange and lemon crop. Other crops, including avocados and strawberries, also have suffered damage in the cold snap. While growers hastened to pick as much of the $960 million in fruit still hanging on trees before the cold hit Friday, an industry labor shortage meant much of the crop went unharvested. The UNUSUAL weather pattern bringing such low temperatures to California only comes about once every eight years. “It's a RARE pattern that we get an arctic outbreak like that." After a weeklong freeze in 1990, the industry took two years to recover. The extreme cold also was being blamed for burst pipes that cut off water to residents and business in several California communities, including Bakersfield, where 24-degree temperatures reported Monday BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD low set in 1972 by two degrees.

A cold front moving down from Canada and butting up against moisture out of the Gulf of Mexico has produced freezing rain, snow and flash floods from Kansas down to Texas and eastward into Missouri. Cars and trucks skidding on icy roads have caused dozens of serious accidents, particularly in northern Texas and across Oklahoma. Across much of the storm's path, wind gusts have knocked down ice-coated power lines leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity, and, in many cases, without heat for their homes. Missouri has been through a lot this winter. "Missouri has been one of the hardest hit, in terms of weather in the nation. Particularly, the St. Louis metropolitan area has had more weather events than any other National Weather Service office in the nation. It has SET THE RECORD FOR BAD WEATHER with 765 events." In Texas the cold front came through the Dallas-Fort Worth area Sunday night and led to road closures in some places. In central Texas, temperatures remained above freezing, but there was heavy rain and flash flooding. A wave of freezing cold air is now moving south toward Houston and forecasters predict freezing rain and sleet for the city over the next couple of days. If the forecasts hold true, it will be the first major ice storm to hit this semi-tropical area since 1997.

1/16 -
U.S. - A storm blamed for at least 41 deaths in six states spread into the Northeast on Monday, coating trees, power lines and roads with a shell of ice up to a half-inch thick and knocking out power to more than half a million homes and businesses. About 100,000 homes and businesses blacked out in Oklahoma, some of them since the storm's first wave struck on Friday, were still waiting for power Monday. Ice built up by sleet and freezing rain was 4 inches thick in places. A wave of arctic air trailed the storm and was expected to push temperatures into the single digits in some areas. Waves of freezing rain, sleet and snow since Friday had been blamed for at least 17 deaths in Oklahoma, eight in Missouri, eight in Iowa, four in New York, three in Texas and one in Maine. In California, three nights of freezing temperatures have destroyed up to three-quarters of California's $1 billion citrus crop, according to an estimate issued Monday. Other crops, including avocados and strawberries, also suffered damage.

1/15 -
U.S. - The ice storms blamed for at least 19 deaths in the U.S. continued to lash much of the nation Sunday, as crews tried to restore power to hundreds of thousands and slick roads spawned accidents.

CANADA - An Arctic air mass continued to bring frigid temperatures and high wind chill values to much of Saskatchewan and Manitoba on Sunday.

1/14 -
U.S. - A brutal winter storm is expected to dump waves of freezing rain through the weekend in a line stretching from Minnesota to Nevada. Minneapolis, where temperatures have been near record highs for weeks, is shivering at 7 degrees. Lakes in Maine and Minnesota are just now freezing over.
This storm is the first true plunge of arctic air since the beginning of winter. Temperatures in parts of the northern Plains have dropped by as much as 50 degrees. The temperature in Grand Forks, North Dakota reached 24 on Thursday, and by Friday morning it had plummeted to -18.
CALIFORNIA - citrus growers braced for potential disaster Saturday as temperatures across the state dropped to RECORD LOWS that forecasters predicted could linger until the middle of next week. Temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley, where much of the state's nearly $1 billion citrus crop is grown, dropped into the teens overnight as growers burned fires, sprayed warm irrigation water and ran giant fans to keep cold air away from their oranges, lemons and tangerines. A three-day freeze in December 1998 destroyed 85 percent of California's citrus crop, a loss valued at $700 million. Monterey experienced lows of 27 degrees, one degree colder than the previous RECORD of 28 degrees in 1963. Sacramento tied its record low of 22 degrees, last measured in 1949. In the current cold snap, the warmer air moving in off the Pacific Ocean that typically keeps California's winter temperatures above freezing has been replaced by colder air from Canada.

CANADA - near-record snowfalls combined with extraordinary winds have resulted in the Canadian Avalanche Centre in Revelstoke issuing a special avalanche warning for vast areas of British Columbia. Most at risk are the Skeena and Coast Mountains near Smithers, Stewart and Terrace, the Columbia Mountains all the way from Prince George to Nelson and Kimberley, and the South Coast and Cascade Mountains in southwest B.C. The centre calls the conditions "UNPRECEDENTED" and is advising people to avoid spending time in natural avalanche paths in the mountains. "Over the past several days, we've seen isolated but significant SUPER-SIZED avalanches releasing the entire winter's snowpack. "They run all the way to the valley floor below and are large enough to take out an entire group of people."

1/12 -
CALIFORNIA - With forecasters projecting the WORST COLD SNAP IN FOUR DECADES, the state took the unusual step Wednesday of alerting all local health departments and social service agencies and nursing homes to monitor those who might be vulnerable to effects of the cold. As the blast of icy air headed for California, the governor's office issued a dire warning Wednesday to "brrrrace" for RECORD COLD WEATHER that could ruin crops and threaten the state's frail, elderly and homeless. The coldest spots likely will be in the far north and Central Valley, where temperatures could drop into the teens and 20s. On average, the lows for this time of year are in the low 40s and the average highs in the low 60s. State agriculture officials also were worried about the impact of the cold spell on the state's crops, in particular oranges, lemons and grapefruit. About a quarter of the crop already is harvested, but about $850 million worth of citrus fruits are still hanging on the trees, and could be ruined by frigid air. Artichokes, avocados and other vegetable staples also are vulnerable to damage. The longer the cold spell, the more likely it will significantly damage crops. In 1998, the state lost 25 to 30 percent of its citrus crop to frost.

CANADA - For a second straight day Thursday in British Columbia, severe weather wreaked havoc and snarled traffic, forcing officials to close roads and emergency crews to rescue stranded motorists. The scene was repeated through to Manitoba as Old Man Winter balled up his fist and delivered a roundhouse white-knuckled wallop of wicked winds and towering drifts that were blamed for at least two deaths and gridlock on roads and at airports. About a dozen destructive storms have battered Canada's West Coast since the fall. In November, the B.C. coast was hit hard and often by drenching rain, howling winds and high tides that prompted a RARE tsunami warning. The month ended in bitter cold and deep snow. Forty centimetres of snow gave the province its second-deepest November snowfall in 66 years of weather-keeping. Three ferocious wind storms in mid-December caused more damage, toppling more than 1,000 trees in Vancouver's Stanley Park. Snowfall in B.C., which followed a wild windstorm on Tuesday that caused widespread power failures, has left many asking why they're being slammed with non-stop weather. "Its like a big black cloud has been hanging over that part of the world. They've set records in terms of warmth, wind and snow. And, we're still looking for weather in Toronto. ... It's as if Toronto has gotten Vancouver weather and Vancouver has gotten Toronto weather." To date this winter, Toronto has had just 1.6 centimetres of snow, while Vancouver has had to shovel out from under about 45 centimetres. "It's been ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT WEATHER WINTERS ANYONE HAS SEEN IN RECENT MEMORY...There's been a trio of weather wars: rain, snow and wind."

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RUSSIA - Several districts in the Sakhalin city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk are still facing electricity shortages after a cyclone hit the island on January 7 to 8. Road services are restoring a highway section near the port of Nevelsk, where about 100 meters of the road were washed out by stormy waves. Work is to be finished in three days. A woman in Yuzhno-Kurilsk on Kunashir Island was injured during the cyclone, when the roof was torn off from a house and a piece of it hit her head, causing concussion. Five to six cyclones hit the Sakhalin and Kuriles in the wintertime, triggering avalanches. The worst avalanche was registered in Sakhalin in 1945, when 149 people were buried under the snow. In 1950, an avalanche killed 20 people.

CANADA - From Vancouver Island to Saskatchewan, winter lashed much of Western Canada on Wednesday with a blizzard near Saskatoon being blamed for two deaths. The two apparently died of exposure sometime overnight. Police suspect they were attempting to walk home after their vehicle had become stuck. Across much of northern and central Saskatchewan and into Alberta and B.C.’s Peace River district, highway visibility was poor to nil Wednesday. Along the Yellowhead Highway, hundreds of big rigs and other vehicles were pulled over at truck stops and rest areas waiting for the whiteout to ebb or snowplows to materialize. And in southern British Columbia, snow pummelled commuters in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, which is still cleaning up from a series of hammering wind storms recently. The icy blast that was still savaging Saskatoon on Wednesday night will go down as ONE OF THE MOST INTENSE IN THE CITY'S HISTORY. “We’re ranking right up there with a first-class prairie blizzard. It’s an extreme event.”

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RUSSIA - A cyclone that on January 8 brought hurricane winds to the south of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula is moving to the north and has begun influencing the peninsula’s central and northern areas. The cyclone is affecting the Ust-Kamchatsky district of the region, as well as Karginsky and Olyutorsky districts of the Koryak Autonomous Area. There is a heavy snowfall there and snowstorms have been registered with fond force up to 20 metres. The peninsula’s southeast and southwest were the worst hit by the cyclone on Monday. The wind force there reached 48-51 metres per second and in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – 25 metres per second. The area had from 13 to 26 percent of the monthly precipitation norm in a day. Due to zero visibility on roads transport connection with remote areas was disrupted. The bad weather has caused power supply disruptions from the Mutnovskaya geothermal power plant to the regional energy system.

CANADA - For the second time in a week, a massive avalanche has closed