South Africa’s Record-Breaking Cold; First Snow Of The Season Hits Colorado Rockies; Flakes Return To Finland; + ‘Snow Removal Market’ Forecast To Rise Between 2023-2030

South Africa’s Record-Breaking Cold

Heavy snow has battered large areas of South Africa of late, with snowfall warnings issued for the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal mountain ranges.

Accompanying the snow has been record-breaking low temperatures.

According to a recent ‘South African Weather Service’ report, a host of benchmarks were busted — eight on one day alone: These include the 4.1C (39.4F) logged at Cape Town–which smashed the previous record of 6.2C (43.2F); the -3.9C (25F) at Prince Albert–which bested the old record of -2.9C (26.8F); and the -4.5C (23.9F) at Graaff-Reinet–breaking the -4.2C (24.4F) set in the year 2000 — to name just three.

Another cold wave is due to clip South Africa next week, according to latest GFS runs:

First Snow Of The Season Hits Colorado Rockies

Colorado’s highest peaks received their first snows of the season last week, but now flakes are falling at ‘pass-levels’, too.

Over the weekend, sizable dumpings were noted at Hoosier Pass:

First snow of the season in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. pic.twitter.com/ZNWclWNkj2

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 16, 2023

The first snowfall of the season was also reported at the likes of Fairplay, South Park (on Friday, September 15th):

South Park colorado september 15
#Colorado #snow pic.twitter.com/nWIDYpRwBB

— Mike in the Mountains (@huskercspackler) September 15, 2023

Colorado will continue to hold anomalously-cold this week as a pool of ‘pinks’ and ‘purples’ maintains over the region.

Likewise, the East will endure temperatures some 3C below the seasonal average — from Maine to Georgia.

Flakes Return To Finland

Snowy conditions are also set to make a return to Scandinavia this week, namely Finland.

A low pressure system is forecast to ride north and clash with a descending mass of polar air.

According to Jari Tuovinen, of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), the front will linger over Lapland on Tuesday and Wednesday which, given the low temperatures, should see the arrival of the region’s first snows of the season.

In something of a ‘swing between extremes‘, temperatures are forecast to climb to 15C in Lapland by the end of the week, as the winds shift and pull warm air up from the south.

“It’s possible that temperatures will rise to 15C in Lapland, even though it was snowing there only a few days earlier,” Tuovinen told Helsingin Sanomat.

Longer range forecasts are picking up another temperature crash for Scandinavia, before the end of the month. September 28th, in particular, is looking frigid for northern, central and eastern Europe more broadly:

‘Snow Removal Market’ Forecast To Rise Between 2023-2030

According to a new report, the ‘Snow Removal Services Market’ is expected to witness “significant growth in the coming years”, primarily driven by increasing demand for snow-clearing of highways, streets, airports and seaports.

The market is segmented into three sections: snowplowing and snow removal, salting and deicing, and clearing of sidewalks.

The report, conducted by Precision (a leading worldwide market researcher), anticipates that the global snow removal services market will rise at “a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2023 and 2030.”

The United States is expected to play a key role in this, with the North American market predicted to grow “remarkably”.

Europe, likewise, will see “a magnificent growth in CAGR [compound annual growth rate] during the forecast period 2022-2029”.

The report also takes into account the Asia-Pacific region, as well as South America, the Middle East and Africa, and states that all will contribute to the expanding market: The report identifies a “growing demand for snow removal services around the world” for highways, streets, airports and seaports — demand that is at odds with the mainstream protestations which continue to call for “no more snow”.

I, however, trust the money flow over multidecadal weather forecasts.

The global trend is snowier. This is shown by the data:

You can request a free sample PDF of the Precision Report here.