Romania’s Spring Cold And Snow; Iceland’s Coldest March Since 1979; Almost One Million Lose Power As Freezing Rain Hits Ontario And Quebec; + Records Continue To Fall Across Western U.S.

Cap Allon

Romania’s Spring Cold And Snow

As is the case across much of Europe this week, winter weather is buffeting Romania as a “North Pole cyclone” delivers record low temperatures and heavy, disruptive snow–and even blizzards.

As a result, meteorological service ANM has put in place ‘orange alerts’ until at least Saturday.

“A cyclone formed south of the country which brought significant amounts of precipitation, but at the same time an atmospheric front of polar origin brought temperature values ​​that are currently 12 degrees Celsius below the multi-year averages,” said Elena Mateescu, director-general of ANM.

Flights from Iași Airport were delayed due to the heavy snow, with the road to the airport also blocked by fallen trees.

Dozens of cars were reportedy stranded on the DJ282 road due to a rare April blizzard.

“The only ones who have come so far have been the firefighters, who unfortunately couldn’t do much. They came with a small tracked vehicle and took an injured person,” one stranded driver told Euronews Romania.

A total of 36 schools in Iași alone have been closed, most of which are located in rural areas–locales that are also top of the list for power outages, which are widespread.

The inclement conditions have also blocked ships in the Black Sea ports.

It is April, right…?


Iceland’s Coldest March Since 1979

Iceland’s temperature data is in for March 2023, revealing it was a historically cold month across the land of ice and fire.

With an anomaly of -3.8C below the multidecadal norm, last month was the country’s coldest March since 1979.

This continues what has been a frigid start to the year in Iceland, after what was a Baltic finish to 2022, too. December was Iceland’s coldest final month of the year for half a century–the coldest since 1916 (Centennial Minimum) for the capital Reykjavík.

March temperature anomalies vs previous decade [vedur].
Record Lows And Deadly Snows Sweep Japan; Iceland’s Coldest December For 50 Years; + Cold Arctic Skies Produce Rare ‘Polar Stratospheric Clouds’


Almost One Million Lose Power As Freezing Rain Hits Ontario And Quebec

Freezing rain and thunderstorms pummeled parts of Ontario and Quebec this week, knocking out the power for going-on a millions Canadians, according to official reports — a carbon tax well spent.

As reported by npr.org, some 676,000 Quebecers lost power, as much of the province remained under a ‘freezing rain warning’.

In Montreal, well-over than 300,000 customers lost power, while close to 200,000 went without in the Montérégie region.

Transport Quebec said that the wintry weather forced the closure of the Victoria Bridge, which connects Montreal with its southern suburbs.

“What’s causing the outages is the mixture of precipitation and wind,” Hydro-Québec spokeswoman Gabrielle Leblanc said.. “It weighs down the vegetation. There can be branches and trees that fall on the lines.”

And although authorities hate to admit it, record-breaking cold is also playing a key role.

In Saskatchewan–for example–a myriad of low temperature records have been felled this week, including the Elbow Area’s -23C, which broke the old record of -22C set in 1979; the Leader Area’s -25.1C, which smashed the previous benchmark of -19.4C from 1975; and the Rosetown Area’s -26.2C, which usurped the old record of -24.5C set in 1982 (in books dating back to 1913).

Monthly Low Temperature Records Fall Across Western U.S.; April Blizzards Break Historical Benchmarks; Snowplows In Hawaii; April Cold Records Slain Across Europe; + Deadly Indian Avalanche


Records Continue To Fall Across Western U.S.

Thursday was another day of unseasonal cold across the Western U.S., with the coldest spot taken by Grand Mesa, Colorado (-22F).

A host of monthly low temperatures were felled over the past 24-hours, including in Arizona, Utah, and California.

Friday is set to bring more of the same–only with the fiercest of the polar cold now centered over the Midwest:

GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) Friday, April 7 [tropicaltidbits.com].


Climatologist Cliff Harris, based in Coeur d’Alene–a city in northwest Idaho, said the recent minimum there (23F) tied a record low set in 1965. It got even colder north of Coeur d’Alene, according to Harris, dropping to the upper teens in Spirit Lake.

“That is extremely rare this late,” said Harris. These are more like early-February temperatures. The normal low this time of year is 37F, while the normal high is 56F. Harris points out that recent temperatures are running some 20F under that.

After a brief respite, Harris expects it to get colder again later next week, with mid-April snow a real possibility.

“Winter continues,” he concluded.


Southeast

Cooler weather is forecast for the Southeast this weekend, following what has been a toasty start to April.

The region’s commanding high pressure is finally breaking down, and is set to be replaced and a ‘big dip’ in the jet stream — a southerly-plunging ‘meridional’ flow that will drag polar air as far south as Miami over the Easter weekend.

Daily highs are expected to hold in the 40s for many on Saturday, which would prove record-breaking for the month of April.

Such lows would also be a stark 40F swing compared with what some areas have enjoyed of late.

GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) April 8 – April 11 [tropicaltidbits.com].


The cold front is forecast to stall near the north Gulf Coast, with pockets of energy riding along the impeded front bringing good rain chances across the Southeast.

And eyeing further ahead, this is what the GFS currently has in store for the southwest come mid-April:

GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) April 18 – April 20 [tropicaltidbits.com].


Enjoy your weekend.

And note, even as the Sun approaches solar maximum, it is–as of today, April 7–almost blank, i.e. devoid of spots:

[SDO/HMI]
facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterRepost on X
Please help keep Electroverse online, consider becoming a Patreon.
Become a patron at Patreon!