Exceptional Cold Grips Parts Of Japan; Utah Posts -19.2F As U.S. Suffers Late-Season Freeze; + China’s ‘Return To Winter’ Persists With Regions Seeing Their Latest Snowfall In Recorded History
Exceptional Cold Grips Parts Of Japan
East Asia has been enduring a fierce polar outbreak in recent days, one that spread eastwards from Siberia.
Remarkable low temperatures have been logged across large areas of Japan.
On Tuesday, a late-April low of -8.2C was posted in Yabukawa, Iwate Prefecture; truly exceptional cold considering the locale’s May monthly low temperature record stands at -7.5C (since books began in 1977). Japan’s national May low stands at -8.1C.
Further waves of anomalous cold look set to sweep the region as the calendar flips, meaning a new May low is possible.
China’s ‘Return To Winter’ Persists With Regions Seeing Their Latest Snowfall In Recorded History
The rare strong cold front has put the brakes on spring for much China, too, where records are being slain.
The mercury widely dropped by 22C across swathes of Gansu, Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces. Here, a staggering 241 low temperature records were broken on Monday alone; these same regions have also been hit by unseasonable snow.
Heavy snow is rarely seen in April in these parts, explains China’s National Meteorological Center.
According to the Center, many areas have registered their latest accumulating snow since records began. Recently, Shanxi received 24cm (9.4 inches), according to the province’s meteorological service, with record totals falling in southern parts.
The cold and snow “arrived suddenly,” so say the locals.
A farmer in Taiyuan, Shanxi, said that snowfall caught him completely off guard: “Now the fruit trees are covered with snow, the temperature is too low. If the flowers are frozen over time, they won’t bear fruit later,” he was quoted as saying.
Shaanxi’s meteorological service echoed the farmer’s concerns, saying the polar chill will reduce fruit yields due to poor pollination. The service suggest farmers spray nutrient solution on frozen orchards, and add sucrose to reduce the impact of frost damage.
East Asia’s anomalous cold will extend through the week, and then, as shown above, could make a record return early May.
The forecast snow also looks exceptional:
Utah Posts -19.2F As U.S. Suffers Late-Season Freeze
America’s late-season freeze is reluctant to shift. Most recently, it delivered -19.2F (-28.4C) to Peter Sinks, Utah — a very cold reading for late April. Note, the national record for May –also set at Peter Sinks (1983)– stands at -19F (-28.3C).
The fierce cold front has wiped away the brief burst of warmth the East was enjoying, and, overall, has subjected some 200+ million American’s to anomalously-cool temperatures, across central, southern and eastern states.
Frost Advisories and Freeze Watches/Warnings are in place for more than 67 million people across the Midwest, Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic, Appalachians and Ozarks: “If you live in an area covered by these freeze alerts, cover up or bring any unprotected plants indoors to avoid potential damage to sensitive vegetation,” warns a Fox Weather report.
A myriad of long-standing temperature records were toppled over the weekend, even in cities (UHI effect) across the Plains and Midwest, including Sioux City, Iowa (21F), Omaha, Nebraska (26F), Wichita, Kansas (32F) and Kansas City, Missouri (31F) — with the latter busting a benchmark set way back in 1893 (The Centennial Minimum).
Two NWS weather sites in the Hastings area of Nebraska set new record lows over the weekend: Grand Island logged its coldest temperature this late into spring for 116 years, since 1907; while the Central Nebraska Regional Airport in Grand Island also set a new low, with Sunday’s 21F busting its previous record of 23F set in 1963 (solar minimum of cycle 19).
Across the U.S., records continued falling into the early hours of both Monday and Tuesday–as visualized below:
Even according to warm-mongers NOAA, the United States has felled 321 monthly low temperature records in April (to the 22nd, so before this latest round of cold) vs the 61 for heat.
“Additional record lows will likely be tied or broken this week,” concludes Fox Weather.
Long-range outlooks reveal this pattern of cooler-than-average temperatures will extend well into May.
You just don’t see this everyday, an SO2 plume from Kamchatka’s blast two weeks ago headed South down the English Channel going into EU right now. NW winds 33kt around a low pressure center moving towards Stockholm. Snowing north of the low in Norway, Sweden, Finland, cool temps GB, Netherlands, Germany:
https://www.windy.com/-Show—add-more-layers/overlays?tcso2,63.273,4.043,3,i:pressure,m:fcMagjE
Temps in my area (Huntsville, AL, USA) are holding below normal. Mid to upper 60s during the day, 20 degrees cooler at night for the next week, with a “spike” upward of a few degrees for a couple of days. A moderate to high chance of rain.
I haven’t even had to mow grass yet.
I’m living in the “Canadian” part of Northwest Florida. We haven’t seen an April like this since the “Ice Age” days of the 70s.
It looks like the god of the weather is beginning to get in their faces – “have you noticed me yet? No? Well then, I’m going to rattle your cage – more is coming soon”. I wonder what they will be saying when they are knee deep in snow in “temperate climate” areas, Stay tuned. This “god” appears to have a sense of humor. The title of that play from the late 1970s comes to mind, “Everything you know is wrong”, but they will (almost) never admit it!
Regarding the cold temperature records in the U.S. from 4/1 – 4/22, the media I’ve seen have inordinately covered the record high temperatures, but only cursory coverage of the low temperatures. I guess the fact they even mentioned the low temperature records is some sort of win? Naw, not really. Most Americans won’t investigate beyond what they hear on TV from their tried and true channels/news organizations. You know, the traitorous, prolific liars.