Terrible snowstorms hit US and Canada

[West is Best]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7146947.stm

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1297233,00.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/weather/12/...m.ap/index.html

Severe winter weather continues to grip the US and Canada.

The Northern Hemisphere is in the grip of a cold spell. Snow cover anomalies are well up on recent years, with temperatures well down on the mean.

I think we should pay more attention to snow cover, as we did indeed a few years back when it was the then fad. This from the NISDC:

'In terms of spatial extent, seasonal snow cover is the largest single component of the cryosphere and has a mean winter maximum areal extent of 47 million square kilometers, about 98 percent of which is located in the Northern Hemisphere.

Northern Hemisphere snow extent map: Week of maximum snow extent (52.578 x 106 km2) for the period 1979 to 1995 (image from 8-14 January 1979) Image courtesy of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder. Source: Northern Hemisphere EASE-Grid Weekly Snow Cover and Sea Ice Extent product.

Snow cover is an important climate change variable because of its influence on energy and moisture budgets. Snow cover accounts for the large differences between summer and winter land surface albedo, both annually and inter-annually. Snow may reflect as much as 80 to 90 percent of the incoming solar energy, whereas a snow-free surface such as soil or vegetation may reflect only 10 to 20 percent.'

http://nsidc.org/sotc/snow_extent.html

[su rui ke]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7146947.stm

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1297233,00.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/weather/12/...m.ap/index.html

Severe winter weather continues to grip the US and Canada.

The Northern Hemisphere is in the grip of a cold spell. Snow cover anomalies are well up on recent years, with temperatures well down on the mean.

Meanwhile, in another part of the northern hemisphere (China) things are a little different.

From NOAA's global monitoring pages, some temperature anomalies for the past month:

Guangzhou +1.73

Beijing +1.37

Qiqihar (Heilongjiang) +1.24

Shengxian (nearest station to me) +0.72

Lhasa +2.21

[WhiteFox]

Meanwhile, in another part of the northern hemisphere (China) things are a little different.

From NOAA's global monitoring pages, some temperature anomalies for the past month:

Guangzhou +1.73

Beijing +1.37

Qiqihar (Heilongjiang) +1.24

Shengxian (nearest station to me) +0.72

Lhasa +2.21

Yin and Yang!

With regards to North America, the Upper Midwest and High Plains have been in the grip of a real cold start to winter. It will be interesting to see the temperature returns for December when they come in; I'd say that Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin will see considerably below average temps. New England also looks like returning below average temps. Offsetting that however, the South East has had a pretty close to a record breaking December in terms of high temperatures. So, it may be quite a bit below average in some areas, but it is significantly above in others.

[tom_f123]

very impresive snowfall totals for new york if only we had that here

[West is Best]

Some great pics of the snow on Sky News website: http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_galler...97265-1,00.html

[PersianPaladin]

Yin and Yang!

Yep....natures wonderful heat-exchange and balancing system at work.

GW my a*se.

[Coopsy]

Here are some pics from a friend in Eastern Canada, Ontario

[rossco89]

now i`m really jealous. I want some too. If only it was still like that over here

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

I was watching the news last night and some of those conditions were absolutely atrocious...very dangerous. As an aside I loved looking at Mark Austin's face because he reported on AGW for ITN and this didn't support his viewpoint.

BFTP

[summer blizzard]

Pretty typical La Nina winter for them so far it seems, with what they call, a 40N winter.

[❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️]

Is it just me or does North America seem to get record breaking snowfall/cold every year. This year is record breaking, last year there was all that lake effect snow up to 6 foot or something insane, and the ice rain. Couple of years ago the massive snow on New York that dumped like 2 foot there.

And we get nought

[Coopsy]

When they talk about records they often refer to records for thatday, rather than whether it had snowed more than ever. Ie it may snow 4inches in June - that would be record snowfall, but obviously not for the year if that makes sense

Plus the records dont go back too far so more records are being broken than in the UK

[Bobby]

Damn this country is rubbish. We get excited here over a bit of wet sleet.

[Essan]

When they talk about records they often refer to records for thatday, rather than whether it had snowed more than ever. Ie it may snow 4inches in June - that would be record snowfall, but obviously not for the year if that makes sense

Plus the records dont go back too far so more records are being broken than in the UK

And N America is a big place - so more likelihood that somewhere or other will see a record broken. The media like that term and won't worry if the only place that actually saw record breaking temps or snowfall was a tiny village of 200 people in the midst if nowhere that no-one's ever heard of

[debs]

And N America is a big place - so more likelihood that somewhere or other will see a record broken. The media like that term and won't worry if the only place that actually saw record breaking temps or snowfall was a tiny village of 200 people in the midst if nowhere that no-one's ever heard of

Hey that sounds like the village I live in.....don't knock it.......

TTFN

Debs

[rossco89]

Damn this country is rubbish. We get excited here over a bit of wet sleet.

yep. I remember when i was a wee kid we had loads of snow every year and it would lie for about week or so, now we`re lucky if we get flurry of snow.

[0000]

The early 80's was fantastic here for the glorious white stuff! :lol:

[Roger J Smith]

Things are pretty grim in Montreal this week, with about three feet of snow on the ground after two large snowstorms in the past few weeks and no thaw ... the streets are still choked with snow, the city is running out of places to dump snow that is removed, and there's a "gas" (petrol) shortage as trucks can't get into many of the service stations to fill the tanks.

With all the snow, there's no place to park, the pedestrians are having to deal with mountains of snow here and there, and in general the city is running at about half speed.

The outlook is for a slight warming trend on Sunday and part of Monday, then more snow and very cold again. The slight warming trend (to about 4 C) with a bit of rain will only have the effect of leaving more ice on the roads and sidewalks -- and the winter has only just begun. I think it has been 37 years since there was this much snow in Montreal for a large portion of the winter season (1970-71).

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

Things are pretty grim in Montreal this week, with about three feet of snow on the ground after two large snowstorms in the past few weeks and no thaw ... the streets are still choked with snow, the city is running out of places to dump snow that is removed, and there's a "gas" (petrol) shortage as trucks can't get into many of the service stations to fill the tanks.

With all the snow, there's no place to park, the pedestrians are having to deal with mountains of snow here and there, and in general the city is running at about half speed.

The outlook is for a slight warming trend on Sunday and part of Monday, then more snow and very cold again. The slight warming trend (to about 4 C) with a bit of rain will only have the effect of leaving more ice on the roads and sidewalks -- and the winter has only just begun. I think it has been 37 years since there was this much snow in Montreal for a large portion of the winter season (1970-71).

I think we are seeing the effects of the open arctic water and the moutainous amounts of snow that is being and will be deposited and what will we see by the end of winter. It is interesting to note that some severe temps even compared to norm are being widely experienced not just in Canada which is having an 'awesome' winter up to now...using that word in the correct sense.

BFTP

[debs]

yep. I remember when i was a wee kid we had loads of snow every year and it would lie for about week or so, now we`re lucky if we get flurry of snow.

Hi Acchos,

I have to agree with this. I uncovered quite a few of my diaries from the 70's 80's and decided to read through them. Theres mention of quite a few snow events and schools days off because the pipes had burst. The diaries span from 1976 to 1985 and every year theres mention of snow. Now I grew up in Washington, Tyne and Wear, so we were pretty much North of the country. The earlier diaries I kept were a little bare as I was only 9 at the time but there was a mention of the 1976 heatwave and the fact the the Kielder Reservoir was drying up. There was even the mention of Erica Row in one of my diaries (don't ask why coz I can't remember,) and lots of other exciting facts like GMTV starting and Channel 4....oh it was so nice reminicing.......oops drifting off there, anyway the 80's did provide lots of snow and it was great, thats why I moved over here to relive my childhood memories.

TTFN

Debs

PS Hope I have'nt given away my age too much.....lol

[Yozzer]

Hi Acchos,

I have to agree with this. I uncovered quite a few of my diaries from the 70's 80's and decided to read through them. Theres mention of quite a few snow events and schools days off because the pipes had burst. The diaries span from 1976 to 1985 and every year theres mention of snow. Now I grew up in Washington, Tyne and Wear, so we were pretty much North of the country. The earlier diaries I kept were a little bare as I was only 9 at the time but there was a mention of the 1976 heatwave and the fact the the Kielder Reservoir was drying up. There was even the mention of Erica Row in one of my diaries (don't ask why coz I can't remember,) and lots of other exciting facts like GMTV starting and Channel 4....oh it was so nice reminicing.......oops drifting off there, anyway the 80's did provide lots of snow and it was great, thats why I moved over here to relive my childhood memories.

TTFN

Debs

PS Hope I have'nt given away my age too much.....lol

Hi Debs,

Just watching BBC news 24 and noticed they had the pic you took of your ditched car! Royalties will follow...but don't hold your breath!

[cj114]

The States and Canada have often had terrible winters. The cold wind off the Hudson in January is something I never want to experience again.

It makes the winters we had in the 80s look daft!!!

I had a dream of living in New Hampshire, so beautiful. But, I know that the cold would kill me.

Canada esp seem to be geared up for this kind of weather. We can't even have a leaf on a line, before life stutters to a halt.

We in the UK, have a temperate climate............................so, we are never prepared for anything. Because it's just so unpredictable!!

Hope the latest snowfall does not spoil your Christmas Roger. Looks great, but so hard to get around in, esp when supplies start to become affected.

Merry Christmas everyone.

[Roger J Smith]

No worries there, I live almost as far from this snowfall as you do, in the other direction ... we had 3 inches of snow here (on the west coast) Saturday morning, but it has since melted in rain at 6 C.

[West is Best]

More terrible snowstorms hitting the US. 9 people killed in pileups during blizzards including as far south as Texas. Tens of thousands are without electricity.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7158691.stm

It's a reminder that snow may seem fun, but it's also dangerous.

As the US continues to experience a severe cold start to winter, one wonders what the effect on the AGW lobby will be.

[Paul Sherman]

Truly amazing what they are getting over there, was on I40 Only 6 months ago with temps around 100f, the trailor rigs drive too damn fast, have seen them hurtling past at 80mph before in Rain so hard and visibility so low you would scarcely drive at 10mph in.

Aside from the tragedies, a Cold hard winter oftens heralds a very active Spring for Tornado Season in the Plains and Mid-West!

Paul S