By: Christopher C. Burt, 8:26 PM GMT on February 05, 2014
source
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=240
Heavy snow and ice storms have pounded the U.S., southeastern Europe, and Central Asia
Kansas measured its 3rd snowiest calendar day on record with 12.9” on February 4th
Amazing ice and snow accumulations have struck Slovenia, Austria, and northern Italy where flooding at low elevations has resulted in deadly flooding.
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Incredible Ice Storm in Slovenia, Heavy snow in Southern Alps
Ice accretions up to (and perhaps over) 3” have toppled power lines and left 25% of the countries homes without power. Authorities say 40% of the country’s Alpine forests have been decimated. Southern Austria was also hard hit.
Incredible ice accumulations of up to 3” have encased everything in Postojna, Slovenia the past few days. In the capital city of Ljubljana 33 mm (1.3”) of ice accumulated.
Curiously, January was the warmest on record there.!!!
Photo from Reuters News Agency.
Video 1. A drive through the ice storm-devastated roads of Slovenia on February 4, 2014. The tree damage is astonishing. Thanks to wunderground member aislinnpaps for posting this
.
At higher elevations amazing snowfalls, said to be on the order of a once in 75-100 year event magnitude, have occurred in southern Austria and northern Italy. In Austria Dellach saw 92 cm (36.2”) of snowfall in 24 hours February 1st and 116 cm (45.7”) in 48 hours. Kotschach picked up 102 cm (40.2”) in 24 hours and Lienz saw 71 cm (28.0”) in 24 hours and 96 cm (37.8”) in 48 hours. Lower elevations in Italy have seen flooding rains where Rome picked up 240 mm (9.45”) in the four-day period of January 31-February 3. At least four lives have been lost due to flooding in central Italy so far.
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Blizzard conditions have also paralyzed southeastern Romania including Bucharest. Even in normally temperate
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Record cold and snow in Central Asia
Further to the east a cold wave and snow have enveloped portions of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. An all-time record low temperature of -21.7°C (-7.1°F) was measured at Termez, Uzbekistan on February 3rd and even Mazar el Sharif in Afghanistan (at a low elevation of just 350 m/1,150’) reached -19.0°C (-2.2°F) with a 23 cm (9”) snow accumulation. Normally mild Kandahar has seen a significant snow accumulation (about 5-10 cm/2-4”), said to be the heaviest in 30 years. In Tajikistan, news reports claim 80 cm (31”) of snow fell at one (unidentified) location in just “a few hours”. The record cold and snows are only notable for the low elevations at which they are occurring since, of course, cold and snow are common in the higher elevations of these nations.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
Christopher C. Burt is the author of ‘Extreme Weather; A Guide and Record Book’. He studied meteorology at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=240
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CRIKEY !#&@ ...... IT'S THE WEATHER CYCLES 
WUWT reporting on record snow and cold anomalies in DETROIT.USA
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/02/09/detroit-not-only-buried-under-debt-but-record-snow-too/</h3
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EXTRACTS from NOAA report
Boosted by a pair of significant snow storms in the first week of January,
snowfall records have been broken in Detroit and Flint.
Detroit received 10.8″ total during the January 1st – 2nd period before receiving another 10.6″ during the major storm that impacted the entire area on January 4-5th. Hitting the jackpot on the 4th and 5th was Flint, where a whopping 17.1″ was measured.
Detroit and Flint each set a new January record for snowfall in 2014.
How about for the entire 2013-2014 snow season through the end of January? At Detroit, this has been the snowiest start to a winter on record through January 31. This year is in the top 5 for Flint.
Detroit has had 24 days this month with at least 6″ snow depth, which is a new record.
COLD
January 2014 has placed into the top 10 coldest Januarys of all time and the top 20 coldest months of all time at Detroit and Flint.
1884 /85 still holds the record for number of days below zero in Detroit for a winter season
at 21 days
Detroit is currently at 10 days for this season but the average for any year is 3.6 days
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=dtx&storyid=99811&source=2
LOVE the photos in this news report
US storm that left traffic misery hits eastern Canada
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26203675
NEW YORKS CENTRAL PARK.. NEW YORK.. Mid Feb 2014
UK weather: Thirty two people rescued from beach front restaurant after high winds send shingle smashing through windows
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-weather-thirty-two-people-3147375#ixzz2tNoOEHAB
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook
James McCrossan, a chef at the restaurant, said: “The wind was just smashing against the windows. It almost looked like the windows were bending.
more here
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/15/uk-storms-and-flooding-live-updates
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15th feb 2014.. reportViolent storms will batter cliffs and promenades along the south coast this weekend, with tidal surges and gale-force winds set to cause more flooding for days to come. Forecasters warned that there would be no let-up in the severe weather as defence chiefs committed 5,000 military personnel to the flood relief mission.
The Environment Agency said the misery would continue into next week. By late Friday it had issued 23 severe flood warnings – meaning there is a threat to life – along the Thames, the Severn at Gloucester, on the Somerset Levels, and on the south coast, along with hundreds more flood warnings and alerts across England and Wales.
Forecasters said that high sea levels and waves up to 10 metres (33ft) high created a high risk of flooding to parts of the Dorset coast this weekend, particularly Christchurch, Chiswell and Preston.
The Thames has risen to its highest levels in 60 years, forecasters say, with communities in Windsor, Maidenhead, parts of Surrey, Buckinghamshire, west Berkshire and Reading at risk of significant flooding in the coming days.
source
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/14/no-let-up-severe-weather-storms-flood-uk-forecasters-warn?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
Another round of snow has made its way into the Northeastern United States as people continue to dig out from earlier storms.
Snow began falling in Boston on Saturday afternoon, and New England is expected to be hardest hit by the latest blast.
The National Weather Service says up to 35.5cm of snow is expected in eastern Massachusetts. Connecticut could see 20 to 25cm along its Rhode Island border.
New York City’s Central Park received 3.8cm of new snow after getting nearly 30cm of snow on Thursday.
The newest storm was expected to spawn blizzard conditions along the Massachusetts coastline, including Cape Ann, Hingham, Cape Cod and surrounding islands.
more here
http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=950603&cid=BP_RSS_TOPSTORIES_5_BlizzardconditionsinUSnortheast_160214
NOAA climate report for the USA ..January 2014
source
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/2014/1
SOME MORE INFORMATION ON THE WINTER STORM CHARLIE THAT AFFECTED BRITAIN a week ago around the 10th of FEB? 2014
http://rt.com/news/uk-charlie-storm-weather-191/
The center of approaching ‘Mega Storm Charlie’ is more intense than the Great Storm of 1987, meteorologists say.
Superstorm Charlie is currently measuring at an even lower pressure than the 1987 storm, which was caused by a deep low of 951 millibars. Charlie is registering 948 millibars – even lower.
January was already the wettest on record that Britain had experienced
People look on as high waves strike the harbour wall at Porthcawl, south Wales on February 8 2014. (AFP Photo / Geoff Caddick)
source
http://rt.com/news/uk-charlie-storm-weather-191/
New England slammed as brutal winter storms continue
The latest and perhaps most brutal series of storms to roll across the South and East this winter was finally slipping off the coast of Maine on Sunday. But it was not going quietly.
Parts of Massachusetts were hit with more than a foot of snow Saturday night and Sunda,y while heavy winds left thousands without power on Cape Cod.
Snow continued to fall in New England in the afternoon, and forecasters said parts of Maine could see a few more inches before the storm moves out.
The latest wintry salvo wraps up — for now — five days of ice storms, massive snowfalls, flight delays and power outages that crippled much of the South and East. Offices and businesses were shut down, highways were either abandoned or slammed with stopped traffic and more than 10,000 flights were canceled.
The storm rolled into the South on Tuesday, with freezing rain bringing havoc to parts of Texas. On Wednesday it hit Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama hard and then paralyzed parts of the Carolinas. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power in those states, some for days. In Raleigh, hundreds of drivers abandoned their cars on ice-slicked roads.
Later that night and into Thursday, parts of the MidAtlantic region were hammered with snow. Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia were staggered by a foot or more.
On Friday, about 100 vehicles were involved in a series of wrecks on the Pennsylvania Turnpike above Philadelphia. Dozens of people were injured, and the Turnpike was closed for four hours as traffic backed up for miles.
The storm roared in New York and New England in two or three waves. The latest blast finally appeared to be moving on Sunday.
Contributing: Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2014/02/16/snow-storm-new-england/5532695/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weathermain+%28USATODAY+-+Weather+Flipboard%29&dlvrit=825985
Winter storm threatens 20 states, 60 million residents
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/02/21/snow-storm-blizzard-midwest-south/1934667/
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(Picture: People dig out their cars on Jones Street in Sioux City. Tim Hynds, Sioux City Journal)
extracts
Parts of Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas have been blasted with more than a foot of snow
Officials feared the storm would be the worst in the central U.S. since the Groundhog Day blizzard in 2011, which killed dozens and left hundreds of thousands powerless.
Wichita was hit with 14 inches of snow, the city’s second-largest snowstorm on record
So far, Hays, Kan., has seen the most snow from this storm, with 17 inches.
A whiteout was reported on the Kansas Turnpike, and 90 miles of Interstate 70 was shut down.
Grand Island in south central Nebraska reported 10 inches of snow.
In Iowa, snow was expected to fall at up to 2 inches per hour with wind gusts reaching 30 mph during the peak of the storm Thursday night, said the weather service’s Roger Vachalek. Des Moines was expecting 8 inches or more.
The heavy, wet snow could cause power outages, and
enough snow could fall in Boston to set an all-time record for snowiest February ever. The record was in 1969, when 41.3 inches of snow piled up. So far this month, Boston has seen 32 inches of snow.
Video of
ice accumulation on Atlanta roads
http://www.usatoday.com/media/cinematic/video/5415415/
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– A strong storm system packing damaging winds, dense fog, and heavy snow pelted the central part of the United States on Thursday, causing massive traffic jams and loss of power, meteorologists said.
At least a dozen tornadoes were reported in central Illinois,
where strong winds damaged and destroyed numerous buildings and toppled trees and power lines, according to the weather service.
More here
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/21/usa-weather-midwest-idUSL2N0LQ0HX20140221
A report from NASA
read on..
NASA on ‘the big chill’ this winter: ‘In some places temperatures were 40°F colder than average’
Calgary a winter wonderland in May
http://www.theprovince.com/news/alberta/Calgary+winter+wonderland/9800702/story.html
quote
Heather Smith, a meteorologist with the weather agency, said the snow was being generated by a strong low pressure system in the pacific pushing moisture into the province combined with an arctic high ushering in cold air.