Winter In The USA 2013-2014

[Mark]

Its only October but looks like winter has started.

South Dakota blizzard kills 20,000 head of cattle.

October 10, 2013 – SOUTH DAKOTA – Like in a scene from an apocalyptic parable, dark carcasses of cows and steers lie motionless in silent clusters across swaths of South Dakota. An early blizzard caught ranchers off guard this week in the state, killing as many as 20,000 head of cattle, a state official says. But ranchers say they are the real victims. The storm left many of them in ruins, and now Washington is leaving them out in the cold. “With the government shutdown and no farm bill in place, we need South Dakotans to help their neighbors,” Gov. Dennis Daugaard said. This year’s federal farm legislation got hung up in Congress before the shutdown. There’s no money to help the ranchers, and Daugaard is asking for donations. South Dakota’s civil air patrol did flyovers to take pictures of whole herds that keeled over together, dotting the gaping, snow-covered flatlands with big, black blotches. Ranchers who thought they were doing the right thing were blindsided, said state veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven. Now they are dazed by their losses. “

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/10/us/south-dakota-blizzard-kills-herds-cattle/

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[Mark]

Camanche, Iowa and East Moline, Illinois were hit the hardest.

MidAmerican Energy says 100 different incidents of trees hitting or downing power lines left more than 4,000 customers without power.

And then there was thick, dense fog. White snowflakes were visible, but not much else.

http://wqad.com/2013/10/22/first-october-snowfall-since-1980-leaves-thousands-without-power-others-stranded/

[Mark]

Also breaks record for shortest number of days between 4-inch snowstorms Spring to Fall.

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Quote from NWS Facebook post.

“this will mark a new record for the fewest number of days between the last 4+” snowfall in the Spring and the first 4+” snowfall in the Fall. This year will only be 197 days, which would break the old record of 203 days set in 1970, and would be a full 100 days shorter than the average of 297 days for the period of record since 1893.”

https://www.facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.SiouxFalls.gov/posts/639424609429704

[Mark]

ATHENS, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Athens broke a record low temperature Thursday that previously stood for over 100 years.

Freeze warning issued for Atlanta, cold day ahead

The temperature dropped to 23 degrees at 5:48 a.m. Wednesday morning in Athens which broke the record low of 24 degrees previously set in 1911.
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/23961906/athens-breaks-record-low-wednesday

[Mark]

Dangerous cold blanketed northwestern North Dakota on the heels of heavy snowfall in some areas.
 The National Weather Service on Thursday morning issued an advisory for wind chills in the region as low as 30 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit).

Weather Service reports show that a system that crossed the state on Wednesday dropped as much as 6 ½ inches of snow in some areas, prompting the state Transportation Department to issue a travel alert for the northwest and north central parts of the state.

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/419047/group/homepage/

[Mark]

At least 50 drivers were stranded in a snowstorm that closed an 80-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 93 between Pioche and Ely on Friday, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department.

“The motorists were trapped in snowstorms that accumulated up to 6 feet (almost 2 meters),” Highway Patrol Capt. Tom Merschel of the Elko Command said. “Some were trapped between 10 to 12 hours.”

Lincoln County has accumulated 5 inches of snow, but an estimated 3 feet of snow has been measured closer to Ely.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/snow-and-rain-storms-hit-nevada

[Mark]

The “Nordic outbreak,” which has already claimed eight lives, ”will end up impacting much of the nation,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Harris.

More than a foot of snow was reported on Sunday in many mountainous areas of Utah and Colorado, with almost four feet (120 cm) in Abajo Peak in southeast Utah, according to the Weather Channel.

Flagstaff, Arizona, has seen 6 inches of snow since Thursday night, according to AZ Central.

As the storm moves Northeast, snowfall is expected over Tennessee through West Virginia on Wednesday, said Weather Channel meteorologist Dr. Tom Niziol.

See entire article:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/24/21596548-severe-weather-threatens-holiday-travel-across-most-of-the-us?lite=

[Mark]

California citrus growers worried about devastating damage.


“This cold air is going to overtake just about the entire country,” said Carl Parker, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.

In California, temperatures Wednesday fell into the 30s in typically mild San Francisco. In the Central Valley, where 85 percent of the citrus crop is still on the vine, growers are worried about devastating damage.

In the Dakotas, the extreme cold posed a threat to cattle ranchers, who lost thousands of their stock in a blizzard in early October.

The temperature at Ely, Nev., reached minus 17 early Wednesday, and the wind chill dropped to about minus 30.

Chicago temperatures could plunge to the low teens by Friday night, while Duluth, Minnesota, could drop to minus 22F..

In Lubbock, Texas, the low Saturday morning could be below 10.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/03/21734950-arctic-invasion-brutal-weather-system-threatens-most-of-us-with-snow-ice-wind?lite

[Mark]

In western Colorado,  the low temperature this morning was -24F at 4 miles southwest of Craig.  This set a new record low temperature for December 6, breaking the previous record of -10F set in 2011.

At the Grand Junction regional Airport, the low was -9F. This set a new record low, breaking the previous record of 7F, set in 2011.

At Palisade, the low was 5F setting a new record low, breaking the previous record of 6F set in 1912.

At 1 mile east of Rangely, the low was -22F, setting a new record low, breaking the previous record of -12F set in 1972.

In eastern Utah, At Jensen, the low this morning was -23F. This set a new record low, breaking the previous record of -10F set in 1972.

http://www.wunderground.com/US/CO/010.html

[Mark]

December 7, 2013 – ARKANSAS - At least 10 deaths — including three in California — were blamed on the deep freeze that continued to grip the U.S. on Friday, canceling hundreds of flights and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power. The Santa Clara County, Calif., Sheriff’s Office said hypothermia — an extremely low body temperature — had killed three people since frigid conditions rolled in late Wednesday, NBC Bay Area reported. An earlier report from the medical examiner’s office said four people had died, but it included a person who was found dead last week, before the current weather system hit the region. With icy conditions stretching almost coast to coast, the cold blast was blamed for deaths as far east as Indiana, where a woman died in a four-vehicle crash in Wayne County, and as far south as Arkansas, where an ice-coated tree fell on the camper housing a 62-year-old man in Pope County, authorities told NBC News.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/06/21787171-frozen-nation-at-least-10-dead-as-cold-ice-and-snow-grip-us

[Mark]

Icy conditions stretch almost coast to coast - At least 11 dead – Hundreds of thousands lose power – Thousands of flights canceled.

Arctic air, snow and freezing rain moved across the U.S. Saturday from California to the Northeast, as the winter storm that has killed 11 people continued to wreak havoc.

The deaths of at least 11 people — including three in California and the mayor of a small Missouri town — were blamed on the deep freeze.

The big chill extended to parts of the country much less accustomed to it. Parts of Nevada were at 18F below zero; in Flagstaff, Arizona, the temperature dropped to 7F; temperatures as low as 27F were expected in usually mild Las Vegas and surrounding areas, and the National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for Riverside and San Bernardino counties in “sunny” Southern California.

Five states have recorded at least 2½ feet of snow since Wednesday.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/06/21787171-frozen-nation-at-least-11-dead-as-cold-ice-and-snow-grip-us?lite

[Mark]

By Elisha Fieldstadt and Daniel Arkin, NBC News

A winter storm wreaked havoc in the Midwest and East on Sunday, covering roads with dangerous sheets of ice and snow that triggered fatal pileups involving dozens of cars, officials said.

As temperatures plummeted, the wild storm was barreling east, threatening to slam major cities in the Northeast with rough conditions.

A fatal chain-reaction crash involving “about 50 cars” shut down westbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Sunday afternoon, state police told NBCPhiladelphia.com. The pileup was triggered after a motorist involved in a minor accident got out of his car and was hit by another vehicle and killed, authorities said.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/08/21817579-take-extra-precautions-massive-wintry-storm-system-hits-country-hard-as-it-plows-eastward?lite

[Mark]

Record cold in South Dakota, too.

Mitchell, Minnesota’s mercury sank to 18F below zero a little after 7 a.m. on Saturday.

This shattered the city’s 105-year-old Dec. 7 record low of minus 12F set in 1908, said Philip Schumacher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls.

Another area town, Tyndall, also made history, plunging to minus 8F on Saturday, obliterating the previous record low of 9F below set in 2005.

However, both were warmer than Aberdeen, South Dakota, which hit 27F below zero on Saturday, defeating the previous Dec. 7 record of minus 24F set in 1976.

Winter weather is nothing new in South Dakota, but such cold temperatures in the first week of December are less common, Schumacher said.

“If this were January, it’s certainly not unheard of to get into the teens and 20s. In early December it is a bit unusual,” he said.

http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/content/105-year-old-record-shattered

[Mark]

New storm could dump up to 10 inches on parts of Maine and several inches on major Northeast cities.

New York will get 2 to 4 inches of snow before the day is out, said Kevin Roth, a lead meteorologist for The Weather Channel. Boston could get 3 to 5 inches and Philadelphia 1 to 3 inches.

“This is not gonna be the biggest snowstorm on record by any means,” said Tom Niziol of The Weather Channel. “But 3 to 5 inches of snow during rush-hour traffic for tens of millions of people…”

Heavy snow is also possible Tuesday in Idaho, Montana and parts of Wyoming, according to the National Weather Service.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/17/21934443-snowy-double-whammy-forecast-for-midwest-and-northeast?lite=

[Mark]

Quadruple last year’s snowfall.

Wexford County had seen more total snowfall by the end of November this year than it did through December of 2013, says Al Cooper, Wexford County Road Commission manager.

So far, said Cooper, the county has received a total of 62 inches of snow this season. Last year, the road commission reported a total of 22.75 inches of snow by Dec. 31.

Pete Meyer, general manager of business operations at Caberfae Peaks, said the resort has received more snow on their hills recently than he’s ever seen.

“It’s the earliest that we’ve been 100-percent open in the last 30 years,” Meyer said. “What has been most helpful are the below-average temperatures. That’s allowed us to make snow and open earlier this year.”

Quadruple last year’s snowfall

Meyer said the ski resort has reported 59 inches of natural snowfall as of Dec. 16.

Last year, the ski resort had reported 13.5 inches of snow as of Dec. 16.

The NOAA reported 53 percent of the lower 48 states had some snow cover on Dec. 15. The percentage topped all readings on that date since records began in 2003.

http://www.cadillacnews.com/news_story/?story_id=1814708&year=2013&issue=20131218

[Mark]

About 400,000 customers in eastern Canada and another 400,000 in the northern United States had no power as of Monday.

Another 50,000 customers were without power in Quebec and 6,000 more in New Brunswick.

Temperatures as low as -15C (5F) are expected in southern Canada over the next few days.

At least 11 deaths have been blamed on the storm system in North America, five of them in accidents on ice-covered Canadian roads.

‘Truly catastrophic’

In Toronto, virtually every tree branch and twig is encased in ice. Many streets are blocked by fallen branches and festooned with yellow safety tape where live power lines have come down.

Toronto Hydro’s chief executive officer Anthony Haines said it was “truly a catastrophic ice storm that we have had here, probably one of the worst we’ve ever had”.

In New York’s St Lawrence County, almost two inches (51mm) of ice had accumulated on Sunday.

About 280,000 were still without power in Michigan, including 80,000 in Detroit.

A spokesman for one of the Michigan electricity firms told the Detroit Free Press it could be the end of the week before power is restored.

The US National Weather Service warned “another round of snow and ice” was expected for New England on Monday.

See entire article and lots of photos:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25499753

[Mark]

Hundreds of thousands left in the dark.

Toronto Hydro reports that 250,000 people are without power in what they call the worst ice storm in the city’s history. It’s possible that many won’t have power back in time for Christmas.

Two hospitals have been affected by the blackout, while a major one is on emergency reserves.

Meanwhile, dense sheets of ice have locked up transit and closed off roads in Canada’s largest city.

Stretching beyond Toronto, the ice storm knocked out power to about 350,000 customers across the province of Ontario, and at least 45,000 homes lost electricity in Quebec, where six people have died as a result of the storm.

“This ice is not going anywhere”

Temperatures are forecast to plummet behind the storm front, leaving the coating of ice on power lines, trees, roads and sidewalks. “This ice is not going anywhere,” said Marie-Eve Giguere, a meteorologist based at Environment Canada’s Downsview office in Toronto. “It’s staying with us.”

For some, the storm is reminiscent of the 1998 “Ice Storm of the Century,” when 35 lives were claimed, millions of trees were downed and some eastern Canadians were left without power for more than a month.

The worst-hit areas are around the shores of Lake Ontario where ice accumulation on surfaces has reached 2 to 3 cm (¾ to 1¼ inch) in some locations – easily enough to topple trees and other vulnerable structures (but still less than half of recorded accumulations during the 1998 ice storm).

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/thousands-in-the-dark-as-ice-storm-hits-ontario-quebec-maritimes/article16082828/

http://news.yahoo.com/insane-ice-storm-crippling-toronto-looks-202213800.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/at-least-five-killed-thousands-without-power-as-ice-storm-hits-quebec/article16083278/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/five-things-to-know-about/article16083698/

[Mark]

This includes Canada, the U.S.A. and the U.K.

The worst affected state was Michigan, with about 180,000 homes and businesses still without power.

In Toronto, Ontario, some 72,000 people were still waiting to be connected to the grid.

Much of southern Ontario and southern Quebec experienced temperatures between -15 and -20, with the mercury expected to drop further through the night.

In Maine, more than 70,000 customers remained without electricity, and another 2,300 people in Vermont and New York state were in the same boat.

With temperatures far below freezing, ice on power lines was refusing to budge after the severe weekend weather.

“Tens of thousands are without electricity in the UK too,” says reader Ian in the UK. “And we are expecting a second powerful storm by the weekend to heap more misery on the British people.”

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/25/22045934-swathes-of-icy-midwest-northeast-without-power-on-christmas-morning?lite

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/12/25/ice_storm_thousands_in_toronto_still_without_power.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/24/ice-storm-2013-power-outage_n_4497332.html


 

[Mark]

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The coldest air of the season so far, featuring temperatures well below zero, will continue to blast out of Canada, the northern Plains, and the the Upper Midwest early this week. The frigid air will also reach into the upper reaches of the Northeast at midweek.

Portions of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are likely to have several days where the temperature does not climb above zero this week.

People in these areas awoke to temperatures well below zero Sunday morning. RealFeel® temperatures plunged to minus 50 to minus 30 F.

Cities in the North Central states facing around the clock, sub-zero temperatures include Fargo, N.D.; Minneapolis; Rhinelander, Wis.; and Ironwood, Mich.

Temperatures may struggle to climb out of the single digits around Chicago Monday. The air will be warmed slightly downwind of the Great Lakes, but even Detroit will be cold with highs around 20.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/belowzero-air-to-sweep-across/21428255

[Mark]

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
504 AM CST THU JAN 02 2014

...RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE SET AT INTERNATIONAL FALLS MN...THE TEMPERATURE WAS -42 DEGREES AT 5 AM IN INTERNATIONAL FALLS MN.
THIS TEMPERATURE BREAKS THE OLD RECORD LOW FOR THIS DATE OF -37
DEGREES...WHICH WAS SET IN 2010. THE TEMPERATURE WILL LIKELY FALL
FURTHER THIS MORNING.

http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=INL&product=Cf6&issuedby=INL