Fierce Spring Freeze Grips Siberia; Record March Cold Tears Across Scandinavia; -34F In Utah; + Latest Snowfall Ever For Yushan, Taiwan

Fierce Spring Freeze Grips Siberia

Much of transcontinental Russia has been holding very cold of late, particularly swathes of Siberia as well as the northwest.

Over the weekend, a low of -48.4C (-55.1F) was registered in Delyankir, Siberia — a very rare reading in Russia for late March.

For reference, Oymyakon logged -49.6C (-57.3F) on March 28, 1998, with Verkhoyansk posting -50.1C (-58.2F) on March 29, 1942.

The spring chills have been pushing into NW Russia, too.

Here, -32.5C (26.5F) and -32C (25.6F) were registered in Yaniskoski and Lovozero, respectively.


Record March Cold Tears Across Scandinavia

The cold didn’t stop at the Russian border, of course, and extended westward across ALL of Scandinavia.

A record -37.5C (-35.5F) has been posted Finland, with -36.8C (-34.2F) noted in Sweden — historically low readings for late March. In fact, for such low readings after the vernal equinox you have to go back more than a hundred years, to 1916 (the Centennial Minimum).

Record lows have swept ALL of Scandinavia, with the likes of Nikkaluokta, Naimakka, Pajala in Sweden all breaking long-standing benchmarks, with the latter, Pajala, never before observing such a low reading this late into the year (-33.7C/-28.7F).

Likewise in Finland, that low of 37.5C logged at Kittilä airport was 1) the coldest temperature of the entire winter season, besting Kevojärvi’s 35C from March 6, and 2) the latest-ever date for such a low–as confirmed by the Finnish weather service.


Looking ahead, additional cold is on the cards, with frosts proving problematic for growers from the Baltic to the Balkans:

GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) April 5 [tropicaltidbits.com].


Accompanying the unseasonable cold will be heavy and widespread spring snow, particularly for the likes of NW Russia, Finland, Belarus, Poland, the Alps and Turkey; even the UK is forecast flurries, during the first half of April:

GFS Total Snowfall (cm) March 27 – April 12 [tropicaltidbits.com].


-34F In Utah

Record lows hit the North America over the weekend, adding to the hundreds that fell last week.

A moose-hugging -39.9C (-39.8F) was registered at Key Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.

While in the U.S., the coldest spot was taken by Peter Sinks, Utah with Sunday’s low of -34F (-36.7C).


Staying in Utah, the record-breaking snowfall this winter has been truly phenomenal — no hyperbole.

The director of the Snow Hydrology Research to Operations Lab at the University of Utah said she could have never predicted that her equipment at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon would ever be buried by snow — but here we are.

“The snow really has not stopped,” said McKenzie Skiles. “This winter we’ve just been getting storm after storm after storm.”


And while the likes of Utah and California are stealing all the headlines, disruptive snow continues to impact many U.S. states.

In North Dakota, for example, persistent and record-setting snow is impacting statewide affairs, including even funerals.

At Eastgate Funeral Home in Bismarck, the snow has delayed burials in the cemeteries with the pack standing higher than the tombstones in some cases.

“What we are having issues with is because the depth of the snow even in town. There are some cemeteries that are going to say we have to find out where the grave is and determine if we can even do the burial at that time,” said Joe Braun, general manager and licensed funeral director at Eastgate and Parkway Funeral Service.

In hundreds of cases at Eastgate alone, burials are on hold until the warmer months arrive.


Latest Snowfall Ever For Yushan, Taiwan

On Sunday morning, Yushan, the highest mountain in Taiwan, set a national record for the latest-ever snowfall.

Established some 80 years ago, Yushan weather station registered a low of -0.2C (31.6F) in the early hours of March 26, and captured unprecedented late-March snowfall from 7:05 AM, according to Chang, a Central Weather Bureau (CWB) forecaster.


Further flurries were expected later on Sunday, so says Chang, who also points out that Yushan failed to see any snow at all this winter (Dec to Feb) –the mountain’s longest snowless streak– making Sunday’s flakes even more unexpected and remarkable.

Earth’s weather is being thrown out of whack by a number of natural forcings.

These include a waning magnetosphere and historically low solar activity — and their impacts on the jet stream.

Overall, though,

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