Polar Plunge To Grip Europe; Tahoe’s Emerald Bay Freezes Over For First Time In Decades; + Ski Seasons Extended Across U.S. Thanks To Historic Snowpack
Polar Plunge To Grip Europe
Another avalanche death has been posted in the European Alps this week — an 18-year-old British man has been swept to his death in Switzerland, with another person still missing.
The tragedy occurred in the resort area of Meiringen following heavy snowfall.
Swiss Alpine Rescue and several helicopters were immediately deployed, and recovered the body of the British teenager. The search for the second skier is ongoing. Air rescue teams have joined the search, as have mountain specialists and local police.
A police spokeswoman said: “The avalanche was set off when two of the skiers went down. They were both buried. The emergency services, which were deployed immediately, could only recover a buried man who was dead.
“The search for the second person had to be interrupted. It was resumed in the morning of Wednesday. But the emergency search was then stopped around lunchtime. There have been no sightings of the skier or any ski equipment.
“The rescuers have done everything they were able to do. Resources have been exhausted. We have tried everything that we could. It is quite a big area to search. The avalanche was 800m long.”
Looking ahead, further rounds of heavy spring snow are on the cards for the Alps — as well as parts of the UK, practically all of Scandinavia, the Balkans, and a large band extending north-to-south over far-eastern Europe, including the Ukraine:
The heaviest snows will arrive in line with a late-March polar plunge, due to bring temperature anomalous of as much as -16C below the seasonal norm to Sweden and Norway, for example:
While speculating further ahead, the British tabloids are getting excited about new long-term weather models that predict “a record cold Easter” this year, prompting bookmakers to slash their odds on Easter being the chillest ever.
This remains to be seen, and if you know the UK tabloid rhetoric, it usually proves complete and utter bollocks. But still, “weather warnings across the UK suggest we’re already well on course for a record-breaking cold Easter,” so says Alex Apati of Ladbrokes, and Met Office reports do show the vast majority of the country being hit by an extreme cold spell come April 9.
Temperatures as low was -8C (17.6F) are scheduled to hit the Scottish Highlands, once again — record lows for the time of year.
Tahoe’s Emerald Bay Freezes Over For First Time In Decades
Tahoe’s Emerald Bay has completely frozen over for what is thought to be the first time in decades.
Located just north of South Lake Tahoe, the last time the inlet froze over is believed to have been in the early 1990s, according to California State Park officials.
The below photos are from a little earlier in the month:
Emerald Bay sees partial freezes every winter, but for the bay to completely ice over is highly unusual, so say officials.
The ice is currently believed to be about 6 inches deep.
Ski Seasons Extended Across U.S. Thanks To Historic Snowpack
Staying in Tahoe, Heavenly Mountain, Palisades Tahoe, Northstar, Kirkwood, and Sugar Bowl are among the many ski resorts that are extending their season.
While most resorts usually close in early/mid-April, many are now staying open until May, some longer.
Palisades, for example, announced Thursday that they have received so much snow they’re staying open through July 4.
Heavenly ski resort officials say a brutal winter has impacted this season’s operations.
“We opened Nov 11 and it’s been cold and snowy ever since. We haven’t seen a big melt or a lot of settlement. We’ve had four full closure days and then a number of wind hold days or visibility hold days just due to the amount of active weather we’ve seen this season,” said Ricky Newberry, Senior Director of Mountain Operations.
Heavenly expects to set a new snow record this year.
Traversing south, Mammoth Mountain announced it too is extending its ski season until at least the end of July after SoCal received historic totals this season, now just one snowstorm away from breaking its all-time record of 668 inches.
“Sitting on one of the deepest base depths ever recorded at Main Lodge, it’s going to be some of the best spring skiing and riding we’ve ever seen,” read a statement posted on Facebook:
Shifting a little east, into Utah, it was way back in 1983 when the Beehive State’s snowpack was higher than it is now.
Thursday’s round of storms boosted Utah’s statewide snowpack to 25.7 inches, according to Natural Resources Conservation Service data, making it only the fourth time on record (beginning 1980) that the state has reached 25+ inches.
The other three occurrences were in 1982 (25.5 inches), 1983 (26 inches) and 1984 (25.2 inches).
Utah is now just 0.3 inches from that all-time record set 40 years ago now.
This reality chimes with what Prof. David Dilley recently postulated: “Weather is beginning to revert back to pre-1982 patterns around the world.”
The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center projections indicate a higher probability for more winter storm action to close out the month, meaning Utah’s all-time 1983 record (of 26 inches) is all but assured of falling.
While in Colorado, the state has endured an exceptional year for snowfall, with all regions, with the exception of the far southeast region, ahead of the 30-year snowpack average.
Persistent and disruptive winter weather has blown through seemingly non-stop this season, particularly across the southwest. And even now, with April fast approaching, areas were forecast 72 inches over a two-day period this week.
San Miguel-Dolores-Animas-San Juan river basin is pushing 180% of the snowpack norm.
And on March 23, the region surpassed the to-date all-time snowpack max of 29.9 inches set back in 1993.
With a cold and snowy end to March on the cards, this season’s snowpack is likely to best the highest ever (1987’s 32.1 inches).
Enjoy your weekend.
It’s still a little too cold for me to get my corn into the ground, so I’ll spend my days finishing the goat shed and pig sty. Our new Kunekunes are ready to be collected next week. Self-sufficiency is key in the times we’re entering into. For those who want to not only survive by thrive, steps need to be taken everyday. Do something. It’s now spring — throw some seeds into the ground.
See you Monday.
Goed weekend Cap,
tot maandag.
Thank you. Im enjoying your posts. Is there anywhere I can find more info on how weather changes will affect southern africa
Timing will be critical for planting with the Tonga eruption. I’ve grown on my land for 30 years and never had a season like last summer. Fruit trees had blooms but no fruit huge rains drowning the garden. I still had produce but only because I elevated each row. The whole season just didn’t feel right. Very apprehensive of the coming season what’s it going to be.
The warmer the ground above 50 degrees F will increase germination rates. Especially if you are growing sweet corn. Warmer the better for the high sugar sh2 corn.
Soon will be the time to transition to include the Southern Hemisphere notations. When iceagenow.info was still running, I would take note of the per date cold records set in both the North & South Hemispheres on the same day. It’s not as unusual as one might think.
Today we recorded Finland’s coldest temperature of the year. Rather late in the spring. Typically its january coldest time of the year.
https://yle.fi/a/74-20024031
Just wondering about your breed of pig. New Zealand kune kune are an over fat, slow growing animal that is known to be not a good eat. The wild Captain Cooker is good eating, but definitely not the kune kune
KuneKunes imprisoned in concentration camps during WW11 did not have an obesity problem. Diet matters.
10 to 12 inches of wet heavy whiteness in the madistan, wi area. Predicted only 2 to 4 inches, next week big storm coming in could be 4 days of rain or 4 days of winter. Wisconsin, dane county is full of watermelon people. Green on outside and marxist red on inside. March and April are almost never nice here but usually have atleast one 60 degree day by now. Zero
Cap, please consider addressing the issue of water vapor as a greenhouse gas.
I am researching this at this time. I have heard that natural gas is multiple times more effective at trapping heat than CO2. Where does water vapor fit in as far as trapping heat?
I am firmly in the camp that CO2 is not a toxin, but necessary for life on this planet. From chemistry class, 1 CO2 into a plant + 1 O2 out. And a warmer planet makes it more possible to grow more of anything.
I don’t trust NASA or any government agency opinion, and this is NASA’s opinion.
https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/vapor_warming.html
There is more water vapor above the equator, and it is warm there because water vapor is a greenhouse gas, which is called a theoretical assumption. No proof.
If you turn this argument around, it should prove that due to the lack of water vapor on the polar ice caps, it will become increasingly colder.
Clouds are also water vapor and have a cooling effect.
That has already been demonstrated. So when there is a lot of snowfall at the pole, Greenland, Canada and so on, this snow, and the clouds from which this snow falls, would actually speed up the cooling at the pole.
So soon the pole will be -150°C, and the equator uninhabitable at 80+°C.
See how twisted NASA’s reasoning really is, just to support the green deal.
Another hypothesis, this time mine. There is a lot of water vapor above the equator, as shown in their photo.
There is also a lot of warm sea water, and the sun is high.
Days and nights are always about the same length/short.
The sun’s rays that shine almost perpendicular to the earth have nothing to do with it, says nasa.
Or is there a lack of long nights and too much energy from the sun during the day, making it warmer than at the pole, and causing a lot of water evaporation above the oceans?
This is the physics lesson I learned in school, which is now about 35 years in the past.
These physics lessons are still the only real truth for me.
Please also read here who finances NASA, and why it is substantial.
https://root-nation.com/nl/ua/news-ua/it-news-ua/ua-nasa-artemis-finansi/?amp
“The 2021 US spending bill also included $2 billion for the Space Force, the newest branch of the US military.”
The US Congress needs NASA, and NASA desperately needs US government money.
Can this create a reliable source?
Today is Sunday 26 March 2023.
Here in Englewood Fl we had what I call a “warming jump”.
That is in three days the sky temp upped from 10 F to 30 F to 40 F.
Normally after such a jump with air temps following last 5 days
52 F – 56 F – 58 F – 70 F – 64 F (today with fog) we will have rain. This is supposed to be the dry season, running from Dec – Jun.
The temp jump is a week early from last year 2022 which occurred on 31 March 2022.
Why is this important? When I moved here in 2003 we did have quite the dry season. One would see plumes of smoke 2-3 places a day of vegetation burning. This was normal. Rain would start 1 June with a deluge, three inches one year 2012 I think. Seems the rain has been starting earlier and earlier in the year since then.
So last year sure enough it rained 2 April after the 2022 warm jump. I want to see if it rains similarly on Tuesday a couple of days after the warm jump. Accuweather doesn’t predict showers til 1 April and 4 April. Usually they have been off a few days this year, so let’s see if the rains move up in time from their prediction.
By the Way, last year 2022 we had 1.7 inches in March 12, 15 & 24th. This year 2023 only 0.1 on 12th.
As it gets colder perhaps the warm moist air collects around the equator.
As David Dilley recommends living within 16 Degrees of the equator. During a freeze in Jacksonville the tropical plants froze off but not the roots which then grew back. Whereas plants growing in cold weather developed smaller leaves, witness pine trees.