NCDC: 250 Snowfall Records So Far In 2009; This December Shapes Up to be the Coldest on Record

national_climatic_data_center

Total Number of Records for December 25, 2009
(out of 11,209 stations with at least 30 years of data)
New: 250 + Tied: 13 = Total: 263

More here: National Climatic Data Center



December shaping up to be one of the coldest on record in the US

US Blizzard
Blizzard hits Christmas travelers in Nebraska and Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

It has often been said that “Weather is not climate”, but ultimately it provides the only meaningful way to verify climate models. Did the climate models predict the cold, snowy weather which has been seen across much of the US?

According to NOAA, October was the third coldest on record in the US, with almost every state showing temperatures from one to ten degrees below normal.  Some Parts of Colorado received record snowfall during October, starting the first week of the month.

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Image from HPRCC – University of Nebraska at Lincoln

With a few days left, it appears that December is headed for a repeat, with temperatures ranging from one to fifteen degrees below normal.  (Note that the color scale is different from October, now the greens show more negative departure, even South Texas is at -6F)

departure-from-normal-temperature02

Image from HPRCC – University of Nebraska at Lincoln

Temperatures for the rest of the month are forecast by NCEP to be below normal for almost the entire country, so it is unlikely that the map will change much before New Years Day.

Read moreNCDC: 250 Snowfall Records So Far In 2009; This December Shapes Up to be the Coldest on Record

The Food Crisis of 2010: USDA vs Reality

Loooong article!

See also:
The No.1 Trend Forecaster Gerald Celente: The Terror And The Crash of 2010


soybean-field
Soybean field

If you read any economic, financial, or political analysis for 2010 that doesn’t mention the food shortage looming next year, throw it in the trash, as it is worthless. There is overwhelming, undeniable evidence that the world will run out of food next year. When this happens, the resulting triple digit food inflation will lead panicking central banks around the world to dump their foreign reserves to appreciate their currencies and lower the cost of food imports, causing the collapse of the dollar, the treasury market, derivative markets, and the global financial system. The US will experience economic disintegration.

The 2010 Food Crisis Means Financial Armageddon

Over the last two years, the world has faced a series of unprecedented financial crises: the collapse of the housing market, the freezing of the credit markets, the failure of Wall Street brokerage firms (Bear Stearns/Lehman Brothers), the failure of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the failure of AIG, Iceland’s economic collapse, the bankruptcy of the major auto manufacturers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler), etc… In the face of all these challenges, the demise of the dollar, derivative markets, and the modern international system of credit has been repeatedly forecasted and feared. However, all these doomsday scenarios have so far been proved false, and, despite tremendous chaos and losses, the global financial system has held together.

The 2010 Food Crisis is different. It is THE CRISIS. The one that makes all doomsday scenarios come true. The government bailouts and central bank interventions, which have held the financial world together during the last two years, will be powerless to prevent the 2010 Food Crisis from bringing the global financial system to its knees.

Financial crisis will kick into high gear

So far the crisis has been driven by the slow and steady increase in defaults on mortgages and other loans. This is about to change. What will drive the financial crisis in 2010 will be panic about food supplies and the dollar’s plunging value. Things will start moving fast.

Dynamics Behind 2010 Food Crisis

Early in 2009, the supply and demand in agricultural markets went badly out of balance. The world experienced a catastrophic fall in food production as a result of the financial crisis (low commodity prices and lack of credit) and adverse weather on a global scale. Meanwhile, China and other Asian exporters, in an effort to preserve their economic growth, were unleashing domestic consumption long constrained by inflation fears, and demand for raw materials, especially food staples, exploded as Chinese consumers worked their way towards American-style overconsumption, prodded on by a flood of cheap credit and easy loans from the government.

Normally food prices should have already shot higher months ago, leading to lower food consumption and bringing the global food supply/demand situation back into balance. This never happened because the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), instead of adjusting production estimates down to reflect decreased production, adjusted estimates upwards to match increasing demand from china. In this way, the USDA has brought supply and demand back into balance (on paper) and temporarily delayed a rise in food prices by ensuring a catastrophe in 2010.

Read moreThe Food Crisis of 2010: USDA vs Reality

US Blizzard: Christmas Misery for Millions; Oklahoma State of Emergency (Video)

US Blizzard
Blizzard hits Christmas travelers in Nebraska and Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

For only the 7th time in 106 years, people in Oklahoma City wake up to a White Christmas.  At least 13 inches of snow had fallen up to last night at Will Rodgers World Airport.  At one point, a heavy band dropped 4 inches in one hour.  The Governor declared a disaster area and ordered ever interstate and turnpike closed:

“I am urging all Oklahomans to take winter storm precautions and stay off the roads unless travel is absolutely necessary,” Gov. Brad Henry said earlier in the day after declaring a state of emergency. “This is a very serious winter storm, and we want Oklahomans to stay safe.”

This is the second blizzard to hit the region this month.  See more pictures in the slide show below:

See more:  Dallas gets first White Christmas in 83 years. Video and pictures; and Christmas Winter Storm Travel: Ice, snow, and flooding rain

Also: Santa Tracking NORAD 3D Videos: Visiting the US and around he world

Video Report

For More:

See NASA Satellite images from space after the blizzard

Pictures from height of blizzard and record snow in Baltimore Snowstorm breaks more records hitting Maryland the hardestStorm update: A top 10 snowstorm and blizzard conditions

White Christmas: Snow totals, snow pack, and arctic sea ice building

Two snowstorms have hit the middle of the nation in December

Two snowstorms have hit the middle of the nation in December
This second storm hit shoppers and travelers for the holiday. View Slideshow » Click here to find out more!

Read moreUS Blizzard: Christmas Misery for Millions; Oklahoma State of Emergency (Video)

Blizzard Blasts Eastern US: Hundreds of Thousands of Homes Without Power

And how about Europe?

Cold snap strands thousands of European travellers (AFP):
PARIS — Tens of thousands of European travellers were stranded Sunday in rail stations, traffic jams and airports as heavy snow and ice caused massive disruption at the start of the Christmas holiday season.

Arctic-like cold snap wreaks havoc across parts of Europe (Deutsche Welle):
Temperatures in parts of Germany fell to below minus 33 degrees Celsius overnight, as parts of Western and Northern Europe from Portugal in the south to Poland in the east were hit by heavy snowfall.

In Eastern Europe, snow as deep as 2.5 meters has been reported, while temperatures in Mediterranean regions such as Spain dropped to around minus 20 degrees overnight.

Poland reports 29 deaths in deep-freeze weather – Summary (DPA)

Cold snap death toll rises to eight in Czech Republic (Roundup (DPA)

Eurostar Suspends Service Indefinitely (New York Times):
LONDON — Eurostar suspended all its rail links between London, Paris and Brussels on Sunday as cold weather caused chaos on the high-speed passenger line for a third day, with no relief in sight.


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A man makes his way towards the White House. Americans pining for a white Christmas got more than they bargained for as a record-breaking snowstorm closed airports and roadways across the northeastern United States, putting a damper on the holiday’s biggest shopping weekend. (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A ferocious snow storm blanketed much of the eastern United States Sunday, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of homes, paralyzing air traffic and stranding motorists.

The governors of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Delaware declared states of emergency in advance of the storm, the worst to hit the region in decades.

Three people died on Virginia roads Saturday as some 3,000 accidents shut down interstates for several hours, according to the state’s department of emergency management. The Virginia Department of Health confirmed one other weather-related death.

Hundreds of thousands of customers lost power in West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina.

The worst of the storm was over for Washington as it swept northeastward, but a lot of roads were still unplowed in the city unused to so much snow so early in the year.

Only scattered flurries remained after snowfall shattered a 1932 December snowfall record, with 16 inches (40 centimeters) covering streets and homes. It was also one of the biggest snowstorms to hit the capital since records began in 1885.

Read moreBlizzard Blasts Eastern US: Hundreds of Thousands of Homes Without Power

Deadly Winter Storm Sweeps Across America

As a sign of non-existent global warming accelerating!


At least 17 people have died after a huge storm swept across the American Midwest and New England.

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In Madison, Wisconsin, the worst affected area, more than 19 inches of snow fell Photo: AP

More than a foot of snow has fallen in 12 states as blizzard conditions buried cars under snowdrifts as much as 15 feet deep.

Most of the deaths were due to traffic accidents. In Kansas, visibility dropped to only 50 feet while in Iowa a major highway was closed, leaving lorry drivers stranded.

Hundreds of schools closed, thousands of homes lost power and flights have been cancelled across a wide area.

The Midwest is accustomed to bitterly cold winters but the strength of the storm, which also brought ice and 50mph winds, still took the region by surprise.

In Madison, Wisconsin, the worst affected area, more than 19 inches of snow fell and the local university was closed for the first time in nearly 45 years.

“It is a rare event because people are used to dealing with snowy conditions,” said a university spokesman.

Nebraska received more than 10 inches of snow, the most the state has seen in December for 50 years.

Des Moines, Iowa, recorded its second highest December snowfall – 12 to 15 inches – since records began in 1888.

Read moreDeadly Winter Storm Sweeps Across America

US: Big Chill As Winter Storm Slams Country

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(CNN) — As if the heavy snow, ice and high winds from a major winter storm weren’t enough, temperatures plummeted in the upper Midwest and elsewhere Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

The storm brought blizzard conditions to some areas as gusty winds and blowing snow created whiteout conditions across much of the upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions. Winds of at least 35 mph and rain to the east caused hundreds of flights to be delayed or canceled, leaving travelers stranded. Parts of the Southeast received more than 6 inches of rain, causing flash flooding.

A 28-year-old woman was killed in Omaha, Nebraska, Tuesday night when a truck plowing snow in a parking lot backed into her, police spokesman Jacob Bettin said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

In Nashville, Tennessee, early morning winds — possibly up to 50 mph — toppled the Christmas tree at the Tennessee State Capital, said CNN affiliate WKRN-TV. A facilities supervisor said the tree had been secured with hooks in concrete.

An Arctic high pressure system or air mass began moving southward from Canada on Wednesday, bringing with it frigid temperatures.

The temperature in Portland, Oregon, was 12 degrees, breaking the previous record of 15 degrees, set in 1972, said Jonathan Wolfe, meteorologist with the weather service’s Portland bureau.

By Wednesday afternoon the temperature in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was 9 degrees. It was minus 2 degrees in Denver, Colorado; and 11 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Forecasters warned that places such as North Dakota and Minnesota could get dangerous wind chill readings of 25 to 35 degrees below zero.

Read moreUS: Big Chill As Winter Storm Slams Country

US ‘Monster’ Winter Storm Resembles Wintery Hurricane With Blizzard Conditions

… as another sign of accelerating man-made global warming!

Heavy snow arrives in New Hampshire (The Union Leader)

Parts of Michigan could get 12-16 inches of snow (Chicago Tribune)


Dangerous Midwest Storm


A storm is moving through Middle America, bringing everything from freezing rain to heavy snow and warnings of a possible blizzard. As Dean Reynolds reports, its time to batten down the hatches.

(CBS/AP) A fierce winter storm hammered more than a dozen states Tuesday with dangerous ice, heavy snow and vicious winds that threatened to create 15-foot drifts in parts of the Upper Midwest.

As much as two-thirds of the country will be affected by the storm by the time it moves off the Maine coast Thursday night, said Jim Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines.

“It’s a monster of a storm,” Lee said.

snow-storm
A pedestrian makes her way across a downtown skywalk as snow falls, Dec. 8, 2009, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

After drenching California with rain and blanketing the mountain West, the storm was expected to bring significant snowfall and blizzard conditions from Utah to the Great Lakes. Wind advisories and warnings were in effect from New Mexico to the Mid-Atlantic states with flooding in the south. Winter storm warnings were likely to be issued in New England by Wednesday.

A foot or more of snow was expected in parts of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, meteorologists said. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph could create snow drifts of 8 to 15 feet.

Read moreUS ‘Monster’ Winter Storm Resembles Wintery Hurricane With Blizzard Conditions

US: Cheyenne records snowiest October on record

As a sign of man-made global warming!

Autumn record-setting snowstorm wallops Rockies, Plains



As of the end of the day on October 29th, the total snowfall recorded at the National Weather Service office in Cheyenne, WY for the month of October reached 28.0 inches.

This sets a new record for the most snowfall ever recorded in Cheyenne for the month of October. The previous record was 23.1 inches which was measured in October of 1906. The following information is the top 5 snowiest Octobers since 1850.

Rank Snow Year

1 28.0 2009

2 23.1 1906

3 21.3 1969

4 15.3 1929

5 14.6 1925

Read moreUS: Cheyenne records snowiest October on record

Beijing’s first snow of season ‘artificially induced,’ to combat a lingering drought

Those chemicals are toxic.


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Pedestrians make their way across the snow in Tian’anmen Square

BEIJING — Chinese meteorologists covered Beijing in snow Sunday after seeding clouds to bring winter weather to the capital in an effort to combat a lingering drought, state media reported.

The unusually early snow blanketed the capital from Sunday morning and kept falling for half the day, helped by temperatures as low as minus 2 Celsius (29 Fahrenheit) and strong winds from the north, Xinhua news agency reported.

Besides falling in the northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin and the northern province of Hebei, the eastern port city of Tianjin also got its first snow of the autumn, the report said.

“We wont miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought,” the report quoted Zhang Qiang, head of the Beijing Weather Modification Office, as saying.

Chinese meteorologists have for years sought to make rain by injecting special chemicals into clouds.

Read moreBeijing’s first snow of season ‘artificially induced,’ to combat a lingering drought

Austria: Hunting season called off after weather chaos, hailstones kill up to 90 per cent of wild game

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There will be no pheasant or rabbit hunting in the northern part of Salzburg’s Flachgau region this year, in the wake of a severe hail storm that killed many wild animals last July.

There will be no pheasant or rabbit hunting in the northern part of Salzburg’s Flachgau region this year in the wake of a severe hail storm that killed many wild animals last July.

Provincial hunting chief Sepp Eder said today (Thurs) that 80 per cent of rabbits and 90 per cent of pheasants had been killed by tennis-ball sized hail in the Michaelbeuern, St. Georgen, Lamprechtshausen and Bürmoos municipalities.

He put the total number of pheasants killed by hail in the area at 2,500, adding that 200 deer had either been found dead or so badly injured they had to be put out of their misery.

Eder said wild animals had sought refuge in grain fields in vain, as high wind during the hail storm had blown the masses of ice in all directions, making it impossible to find a secure refuge.

He noted parts of Bavaria and Lower Austria had also been hard-hit by hail but not as badly as the Flachgau.

Eder predicted it would take three to five years for the wildlife population to return to normal size in that region.

Wild animals were not the only casualty during summer hail storms, which cost Austrian farmers 70 million Euros in damages.

Insurance companies received more than 16,000 damage reports, one-fifth more than in 2007. More than 100,000 hectares of cropland and every tenth farmer were affected.

Read moreAustria: Hunting season called off after weather chaos, hailstones kill up to 90 per cent of wild game

New Zealand hit by freak snow storm

A freak snow storm has left hundreds of people stranded and unable to return to their homes in New Zealand’s central North Island.

A state of emergency was declared after heavy snow trapped around 700 people in their vehicles on two of the country’s major roads.

Read moreNew Zealand hit by freak snow storm

US freezes as Arctic air blasts in from Canada

America is not unfamiliar with low temperatures, but the present cold snap is exceptional by any standards


Lake Michigan has been turned into a frozen wasteland by plunging temperatures (AP)

Alabama was colder than Alaska, water fountains froze into ice sculptures in South Carolina, and Florida shivered through an Arctic air blast as the coldest week of the winter continued to grip large parts of the US.

The Northeast in particular suffered from the bitterly cold air from Canada that sent temperatures plunging in some places below minus 34C (minus 30F) and left even hardy veterans of such weather reluctant to venture outdoors.

Related article: Weather Eye: temperatures in Western Europe go crazy (Times)

It brought to an end a week which will be remembered for some time in Chicago. The city has now suffered the most consecutive days of snow since records began in 1884 and, on Friday, the wind chill took the temperature to minus 40C.

The cold claimed at least six lives and contributed to dozens of traffic accidents.

One death involved a man in a wheelchair who was found in sub-zero temperatures stuck in the snow, a shovel in his hand, outside his home in Des Moines, Iowa.

Temperatures of minus 12C to minus 18C and sub-zero wind chills were expected in western New York through the weekend, with more seasonable conditions moving in early next week.

Read moreUS freezes as Arctic air blasts in from Canada

North Dakota gets blizzard on top of December’s record snow


This photo provided by bus passenger Maria Nasta shows a scene from a 59 vehicle pileup including three buses and two tractor-trailer rigs that crashed on a snowy highway on Sunday morning Jan. 11, 2009 on Interstate 93 at Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Courtesy Maria Nasta)

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A fast-moving blizzard clogged roads and closed schools in North Dakota on Monday, causing more headaches for residents still trying to dig out from a record snowfall last month.

And, forecasters said a blast of cold air was on the way that could send the thermometer as low as 30 below zero.

Related article:
Storm brings more snow and strong winds to Iowa (Chicago Tribune)
Dirty snow causes early runoff in Cascades (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
First the Snow, Then Comes the Bitter Cold (MSNBC)

“Four-wheel drives are useless – people are just snowed in,” Rhonda Woodhams, the office manager for the Williams County highway department. “People are calling in saying they’re out of milk and diapers for their kids, or they have doctor appointments they need to get to.”

Read moreNorth Dakota gets blizzard on top of December’s record snow

Heavy Snowstorm brings chaos to Madrid

MADRID, Spain (CNN) — A heavy snowstorm caused chaos Friday at Madrid’s Barajas Airport, where flights were suspended for hours before Europe’s fourth-busiest airport reopened in the late afternoon.

A woman enjoys the snow in Madrid, where the airport suspended flights because of the weather.
A woman enjoys the snow in Madrid, where the airport suspended flights because of the weather.

Planes were flying again at 4:40 p.m. (10:40 am ET).

“It’s a huge snowstorm. You don’t see this in Madrid often,” an airport spokeswoman said.

Related articles:
Cold snap in Europe takes its toll (AFP)
12 deaths blamed on snow and cold across Europe (AP)
Central Europe, France, UK, Italy Hit by Cold Air
(Bloomberg)
Thousands shiver in Europe’s big chill
(Reuters)

The airport has 1,205 daily inbound and outbound flights. But for the first time, the airport halted operations due to a weather problem, the spokeswoman said.

Read moreHeavy Snowstorm brings chaos to Madrid

Australia faces worse, more frequent droughts: study

PERTH (Reuters) – Australia could experience more severe droughts and they could become more frequent in the future because of climate change, a government-commissioned report said on Sunday.

Droughts could hit the country twice as often as now, cover an area twice as big and be more severe in key agricultural production areas, the Bureau of Meteorology and Australia’s top science organization, the CSIRO, said in a joint report.

The study also found that temperatures currently defined as “exceptional” were likely to occur, on average, once in every two years in many key agricultural production areas within the next 20 to 30 years, while spells of low rainfall would almost double in frequency from current figures.

Australia, suffering its worst drought in 100 years, has seen its wheat exports tumble in the past two years.

The Pacific nation is normally the second-largest wheat exporter in the world, but the harvest has been decimated to just 13 million tonnes last year because of drought.

Read moreAustralia faces worse, more frequent droughts: study

Russia: Weather Manipulation

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian air force planes dropped a 25-kg (55-lb) sack of cement on a suburban Moscow home last week while seeding clouds to prevent rain from spoiling a holiday, Russian media said on Tuesday.

“A pack of cement used in creating … good weather in the capital region … failed to pulverize completely at high altitude and fell on the roof of a house, making a hole about 80-100 cm (2.5-3 ft),” police in Naro-Fominsk told agency RIA-Novosti.

Ahead of major public holidays the Russian Air Force often dispatches up to 12 cargo planes carrying loads of silver iodide, liquid nitrogen and cement powder to seed clouds above Moscow and empty the skies of moisture.

A spokesman for the Russian Air Force refused to comment.

June 12 was Russia Day, a patriotic holiday celebrating the country’s independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Weather specialists said the cement’s failure to turn to powder was the first hiccup in 20 years.

The homeowner was not injured, but refused an offer of 50,000 roubles ($2,100) from the air force, saying she would sue for damages and compensation for moral suffering, Interfax said.

Read moreRussia: Weather Manipulation

WMO: La Nina may be partial cause of S China’s freeze-up

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GENEVA — The current La Nina weather phenomenon may just be a partial cause of South China’s freeze-up at the start of 2008, said the United Nations World Meteorological Agency (WMO) Monday.

The latest La Nina pattern, which began in the third quarter of 2007, has picked up strength in the past three months, with sea surface temperatures now about 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius colder than average over large parts of the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean, said the latest report issued by the WMO.

A rescuer carries an 80-year-old woman out of Jinlian village in Longnan county, East China’s Jiangxi Province, Feb. 3, 2008. After being trapped for days in frozen weather and without electricity and water supply, 1,761 people in the village were rescued successfully on Sunday. [Xinhua]

Read moreWMO: La Nina may be partial cause of S China’s freeze-up