Earth Changes 2013 - Daily Updates

Tuesday, Jan. 22 - With the jet stream blasting straight south out of northern Canada, cold air will continue to flood the eastern two-thirds of the country into Tuesday. The cold air will probably reach its greatest areal extent Tuesday. Cities as far south as Nashville and Richmond may not make it above freezing all day. Major Great Lakes cities such as Chicago and Detroit will struggle just to hit the teens Tuesday, and lake-effect snows are likely to continue in favored lake-effect snow belts southeast of all five major lakes.

Uploaded on Jan 22, 2011 - 2010 Atrium in Germany - Imagine our compasses starting pointing south someday. This is not science fiction. A total reversal of Earth's Magnetic Fields actually happened over 740 thousand years ago. The Earth's Magnetic Field is weakening. Magnetic field strength is decreasing rapidly in certain areas of South America and South Atlantic; up to 12% in 30 years. The decay of Earth Magnetic Field will have serous effect on satellites in space and trains and electrical grids on the ground

Massive melting of Andes glaciers
COMMENTS (715)

The tropical glaciers are melting at their fastest rate in 300 years


Glacier threat to Bolivia capital
The vanishing glaciers of Ecuador
Glaciers in the tropical Andes have shrunk by 30-50% since the 1970s, according to a study.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21163386




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Climate Change Update (24 January 2013) "Nuke Effect" snow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBBKevc28Xc


Climate Change Update (27 January 2013) Iran's Fordo nuclear facility

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmuenbDPWo8


Love Always
mudra

January 23, 2013 – CLIMATE – An unusual event playing out high in the atmosphere above the Arctic Circle is setting the stage for what could be weeks upon weeks of frigid cold across wide swaths of the U.S., having already helped to bring cold and snowy weather to parts of Europe. Forecast high temperatures on Monday, Jan. 21, from the GFS computer model. This phenomenon, known as a “sudden stratospheric warming event,” started on Jan. 6, but is something that is just beginning to have an effect on weather patterns across North America and Europe. While the physics behind sudden stratospheric warming events are complicated, their implications are not: such events are often harbingers of colder weather in North America and Eurasia. The ongoing event favors colder and possibly stormier weather for as long as four to eight weeks after the event, meaning that after a mild start to the winter, the rest of this month and February could bring the coldest weather of the winter season to parts of the U.S., along with a heightened chance of snow. Sudden stratospheric warming events take place in about half of all Northern Hemisphere winters, and they have been occurring with increasing frequency during the past decade, possibly related to the loss of Arctic sea ice due to global warming. Arctic sea ice declined to its smallest extent on record in September 2012. Sudden stratospheric warming events occur when large atmospheric waves, known as Rossby waves, extend beyond the troposphere where most weather occurs, and into the stratosphere. This vertical transport of energy can set a complex process into motion that leads to the breakdown of the high altitude cold low pressure area that typically spins above the North Pole during the winter, which is known as the polar vortex. The polar vortex plays a major role in determining how much Arctic air spills southward toward the mid-latitudes. When there is a strong polar vortex, cold air tends to stay bottled up in the Arctic. However, when the vortex weakens or is disrupted, like a spinning top that suddenly starts wobbling, it can cause polar air masses to surge south, while the Arctic experiences milder-than-average temperatures. During the ongoing stratospheric warming event, the polar vortex split in two, allowing polar air to spill out from the Arctic, as if a refrigerator door were suddenly opened. For reasons I don’t think we fully understand, the changes in the circulation that happen in the stratosphere [can] descend down all the way to the Earth’s surface,” said Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasting at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) in Massachusetts. As the polar stratosphere warms, high pressure builds over the Arctic, causing the polar jet stream to weaken. At the same time, the mid-latitude jet stream strengthens, while also becoming wavier, with deeper troughs and ridges corresponding to more intense storms and high pressure areas. In fact, sudden stratospheric warming events even make so-called “blocked” weather patterns more likely to occur, which tilts the odds in favor of the development of winter storms in the U.S. and Europe. –Climate Central

January 27, 2013 – AUSTRALIA - Queensland was today in the grip of another extraordinary flood crisis, with three people dead, helicopters rescuing residents from roofs, and cities and towns facing inundation. Dramatic rescues were underway in Bundaberg, where the city’s worst flood on record left dozens of people trapped on rooftops. Authorities later ordered people in flood-hit north Bundaberg to leave their homes, warning their lives were at risk. At least 1200 Bundaberg properties were already flooded this morning, and there were fears that number could reach 2000. The communities of Gympie and Maryborough were also being inundated following the torrential downpour caused by ex-tropical cyclone Oswald. There is also a major flood crisis developing in the Lockyer Valley, where 19 lives were lost in the state’s 2011 floods. Brisbane and Ipswich are bracing for flooding expected tonight, with further flood peaks expected tomorrow and Wednesday. As Oswald moves south, about 2000 people have been cut off by floodwaters in northern NSW, where heavy rain and winds of up to 140km/h are battering the region. A weather station near Mullumbimby recorded almost 540mm of rain in 24 hours. So far, three flood deaths have been confirmed – those of an 81-year-old man whose body was pulled from the water near Bundaberg, a 27-year-old man who tried to cross a flooded creek near Gympie, and a motorcyclist swept away trying to cross a bridge in the Oxley Creek south of Brisbane last night. A three-year-old boy is also in a critical condition with head injuries after a tree fell on him and his mother on Brisbane’s north-side. His 30-year-old mother is also being treated in hospital for head injuries. In Bundaberg, entire suburbs were evacuated but some people waited too long and about 30 were stranded on rooftops in atrocious conditions prevented rescuers from reaching them. Premier Campbell Newman said the situation in Bundaberg was “very serious” and six helicopters with winching capabilities were rescuing at least 30 people from rooftops. “There is an expectation today of a major flood, probably the largest the city has ever seen,” Mr. Newman said. The Burnett River, which cuts Bundaberg in two, was at 8.9m at 7am today and rising rapidly. –Australian

Two people were missing and the body of a third person was recovered from raging floodwaters as severe storms pounded northeastern Australia on Sunday, forcing more than 1,000 to flee their homes.


Indonesian authorities will use generators and cloud-seeding measures to defuse and push away rain-laden clouds to avoid more flooding that has paralysed Jakarta, an official said Friday. Heavy rain over the mega-city last week caused 32 deaths and at its peak forced nearly 46,000 people to flee their inundated homes.


Tens of thousands of Mozambicans are stranded without food and water after floods swept through the south of the country this week, sparking a large-scale humanitarian crisis. With the displaced now living in the open and eating grasshoppers to survive, the Mozambican government and international agencies like the Red Cross are warning of a looming catastrophe. When the floods came on Wednesday, residents of Chokwe town escaped the raging flow of the Limpopo
River with what little they could carry.

January 29, 2013 – AFRICA – At least 150,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique due to intense flooding, according to the United Nations. The UN said on Tuesday that the number displaced is expected to rise as fresh rains spread flooding northward. At least 40 people have been killed so far by heavy rains and overflowing rivers in the southeastern African country, which is experiencing its worst floods in more than a decade. “People in high-risk areas are still being rescued,” Rita Almeida, a spokeswoman for Mozambique’s National Disaster Management Institute, said. “We are asking people to move out of houses that could be destroyed by rain,” Almeida said. The south of the country has been worst-hit by the flood surge, especially in the province of Gaza where 150,000 residents have been forced to flee to higher ground, Patricia Nakell, a UN spokesperson, said. The town of Chokwe, which had been badly damaged in floods 13 years ago, was once again devastated and residents sought refuge on rooftops. The UN is coordinating relief efforts with non-governmental organizations. Aid agencies and government emergency services have set up temporary camps in elevated areas to aid the flood victims. “The main needs are tents and clean water, but they basically need everything,” said Katherine Mueller, a spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “There will be a huge need of sanitation, mosquito nets, shelter, kitchen sets and blankets as families begin returning home in the coming weeks.” Water levels on the Limpopo River are reportedly at higher levels than those recorded during the deadly floods in 2000. The deluge is expected to swell the Zambezi river basin, spreading the disaster to northern and central Mozambique. –Al Jazeera

Climate Change Update (29 January 2013) TEPCO Pumps Nuclear Waste

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VldtZG5Gr0


Love Always
mudra

The threat of severe thunderstorms is about to return as a strong cold front emerges from the Rockies and intercepts milder air returning to the nation's midsection.

Wednesday Forecast

This pattern will be favorable for thunderstorms to produce damaging winds and possible tornadoes Tuesday and Wednesday in parts of the South, lower Midwest, and eventually the Mid-Atlantic region. The maps on this page show the latest timing forecast for these storms from The Weather Channel's Global Forecast Center. http://www.weather.com/news/weather-severe/severe-weather-tracker

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2271147/Nine-people-killed-freak-hailstorm-rains-massive-boulders-Indian-villages.html#ixzz2JYpeAM73

The heaviest snowfall in a century brought Moscow and the surrounding region to a near standstill and left hundreds of people without power, officials said Tuesday.

And with snowfall set to continue at least until the end of the week, the authorities are bracing for more chaos on the roads.

"There hasn't been such a winter in 100 years," Pyotr Biryukov, deputy mayor for residential issues, said Tuesday in comments carried by Interfax. "The snow this year has already reached one and a half times the climatic norm," he said.

The capital has seen 216 centimeters of snow fall since the beginning of winter, Biryukov said.

Average snowfall in Moscow is 152 centimeters a year. Biryukov said the city saw 26 centimeters in the 24 hours preceding his Tuesday afternoon news conference and has seen 36 centimeters since the beginning of February.



Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/heaviest-snowfall-in-a-century-hits-moscow/475102.html#ixzz2K6B7t85f
The Moscow Times

Two storms will merge quickly enough to bring colder air, heavy snow and increasing wind to New England. Some areas will be hit with an all-out blizzard and a couple of feet of snow. The worst of the storm will hit late Friday and Friday night and will wind down Saturday morning. However, lingering effects from blowing and drifting snow, blocked roads and other travel delays are likely to linger into much of the weekend.


BOSTON (CBS) - The snowstorm Friday will be big, but will it be historic and rival some of the legendary storms of Boston’s past? The short answer is it just might. I think it is safe to say that Friday’s storm will easily be the biggest one of not only this season but last season as well.

* Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory for...
southeastern Escambia County in northwest Florida...
southeastern Baldwin County in southwest Alabama...

* until 1000 am CST

* at 800 am CST... showers and thunderstorms moving over the
advisory area have produced 1 to 2 inches of rainfall over the past
hour... and an additional 1 to 1.5 inches will be possible through
1000 am CST. This will result in minor flooding of poor drainage and
low lying areas and ponding of water on roadways.

* Locations impacted include...
Pensacola international Airport... Perdido Beach...
Orange Beach... West Pensacola... Warrington...
Pensacola... Myrtle Grove... Goulding...
Brent...

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

Excessive rainfall runoff will cause ponding of water in urban
areas... highways... streets and underpasses as well as other poor
drainage areas and low lying spots.


Lat... Lon 3027 8764 3043 8755 3049 8724 3047 8715
3043 8717 3039 8721 3038 8726 3033 8727
3033 8720 3035 8715 3033 8713 3032 8715
3031 8725 3032 8731 3029 8742

Special Statement..
.. A line of strong thunderstorms will affect southeastern Baldwin
County in southwest Alabama... western Santa Rosa and southern
Escambia counties in northwest Florida... through 945 am CST...

At 825 am CST... a line of strong thunderstorms was located along a
line extending from 8 miles southeast of Robertsdale to 4 miles east
of Foley to 4 miles north of Gulf Shores... and moving east at 40 mph.

* Locations impacted include...
Perdido Beach... Orange Beach... Gulf Shores...
Gonzalez... Ensley... Bellview...
Lillian... Foley... Elberta...

This includes Interstate 10 in Florida between mile markers 1 and 10.
This includes Interstate 10 in Alabama between mile markers 49 and
66.

The primary threats from these storms are wind gusts up to 55 mph.
Winds this strong could blow off tree limbs and also blow around
small unsecured objects. Seek shelter until these storms have passed.

These storms may continue to intensify and a warning may soon be
needed. Please continue to monitor local radio or TV for further
National Weather Service updates or possible warnings

Published on Feb 2, 2013
Earth reeling from eight major earthquakes striking in 5 days
http://www.sott.net/category/4-Earth-Changes

Fields of fire: 4 volcanoes now erupting simultaneously in Kamchatka
http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com

http://www.sott.net/category/4-Earth-Changes
The National Weather Service forecasts blizzard conditions in New England by late Friday afternoon.
As much as 2 feet of snow could fall on a region that has seen mostly bare ground this winter, the National Weather Service said. That's exciting for resort operators who haven't had much snow this year.

The storm would hit just after the 35th anniversary of the historic blizzard of 1978, which paralyzed the region with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane force winds from Feb. 5-7.

"This has the potential for being a dangerous storm, especially for Massachusetts into northeast Connecticut and up into Maine," said Louis Uccellini, director of the weather agency's National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

Gov't warns of impending quake shortly before M6.9 hit northern Japan — "Make yourself safe, turn off the gas..."

[No radiation involved] "Most of the presented vegetables were deformed from Nishigo mura Fukushima"
Posted by Mochizuki on February 2nd, 2013
http://fukushima-diary.com/category/dnews/

February 6, 2013 – RUSSIA – The snowiest winter in a century has hit the Russian capital, causing Muscovites to get stuck in traffic jams 3,500km in length on Monday evening – the distance from Moscow to Madrid. Since the beginning of the winter, over 2 meters of snow has fallen on the Russian capital, the Moscow mayor’s aide in housing and public utilities Pyotr Biryukov told Interfax. Snowfall is expected in Moscow for four or five more days, he added. On Monday, 45,000 community services employees and 15,000 units of equipment were attempting to cope with 26 cm of snow – nearly a fifth of the average annual fall. The latest snowfall has become a nightmare for drivers with the capital’s commuters trapped in gridlock. Many of those who left their workplace in the evening had to spend five to 10 hours getting home. The average speed of vehicles was no more than 7-9 km/h. The number of road accidents – 3,000 – was much higher than during an ordinary day, with minor accidents quadrupling, according to Channel One TV. ­Pedestrians were having a hard time, too, trying to make their way through ice and huge snowdrifts on the sidewalks. Over 50 people were injured after falling. On Tuesday morning, the streets became virtual ‘skating rinks’, with passengers of minibuses forced to push the vehicles up the hill from time to time, and then jumping into the moving vehicles. Overnight, almost 150 huge trucks became stuck on the Moscow ring highway, blocking it for hours. Moscow’s Yandex Traffic Jams application showed that traffic was at level 10, the highest possible. Meanwhile, over a hundred flights were grounded at Moscow airports. Notably, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev’s plane was unable to land in Vnukovo airport, and proceeded to St. Petersburg. ­It’s not the first time that Moscow has seen massive snowfalls this winter – in mid-January the situation was similar in terms of heavy falls – and traffic. Yandex Traffic Jams also recorded level 10 at that time. In December, the harshest temperatures in 70 years were recorded, with thermometers showing temperatures as low as -50 degrees Celsius in some regions of Russia. Meteorologists predict more snow is in store for Muscovites in February and March. “March is considered a winter month here,” one top Hydro Meteorological Center official indicated to Interfax. –RT

Earthchanges: Earth’s weather goes haywire

“Earth’s stability is collapsing…and one by one, the biospheric processes regulating life itself are going awry. These are early characteristics of climate shock and are indications that even more ominous changes are yet to unfold…areas of the Earth…will become increasingly inhospitable from the extremes of climate change. As incredible as it seems, we’re witnessing signs of epochal change-across the planet which are typically consigned to geological periods of planetary extinctions. The climate stability, we once knew, is gone forever.” –The Extinction Protocol – page 9, 2009[left]

A blizzard of potentially historic proportions threatened to strike the Northeast with a vengeance Friday, with up to two feet of snow forecast along the densely populated corridor from the New York City area to Boston and beyond.

Published on Feb 6, 2013
A decade of below normal rain and snow, plus higher temperatures is causing Lake Huron and Lake Michigan to look more like great puddles than Great Lakes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says other Great Lakes - Superior, Erie, and Ontario - are also well-below average. Kristina Behr has the story.

February 8, 2013 – GREAT LAKES, US - Two of the Great Lakes have hit their lowest water levels ever recorded, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday, capping more than a decade of below-normal rain and snowfall and higher temperatures that boost evaporation. Measurements taken last month show Lake Huron and Lake Michigan have reached their lowest ebb since record keeping began in 1918, and the lakes could set additional records over the next few months, the corps said. The lakes were 29 inches below their long-term average and had declined 17 inches since January 2012. The other Great Lakes — Superior, Erie and Ontario — were also well below average. “We’re in an extreme situation,” said Keith Kompoltowicz, watershed hydrology chief for the corps district office in Detroit. The low water has caused heavy economic losses by forcing cargo ships to carry lighter loads, leaving boat docks high and dry, and damaging fish-spawning areas. And vegetation has sprung up in newly exposed shoreline bottomlands, a turnoff for hotel customers who prefer sandy beaches. The corps’ report came as shippers pleaded with Congress for more money to dredge ever-shallower harbors and channels. Shippers are taxed to support a harbor maintenance fund, but only about half of the revenue is spent on dredging. The remainder is diverted to the treasury for other purposes. Legislation to change that policy is pending before Congress. “Plunging water levels are beyond anyone’s control, but the dredging crisis is man-made,” said James Weakley, president of the Cleveland-based Lake Carriers’ Association. Kompoltowicz said the Army corps might reconsider a long-debated proposal to place structures in a river to reduce the flow of water away from Lakes Huron and Lake Michigan, which are connected. Scientists say lake levels are cyclical and controlled mostly by nature. They began a steep decline in the late 1990s and have usually lagged well below their historical averages since then. But studies have shown that Huron and Michigan fell by 10 to 16 inches because of dredging over the years to deepen the navigational channel in the St. Clair River, most recently in the 1960s. Dredging of the river, which is on the south end of Lake Huron, accelerated the flow of water southward from the two lakes toward Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean. Groups representing shoreline property owners, primarily in Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay, have demanded action to slow the Lake Huron and Michigan outflow to make up for losses that resulted from dredging, which they contend are even greater than officials have acknowledged. Although the Army corps produced a list of water-slowing options in 1972, including miniature dams and sills that resemble speed bumps along the river bottom, nothing was done because the lakes were in a period of above-average levels that lasted nearly three decades, Kompoltowicz said. The corps has congressional authorization to take action but would need money for an updated study as a first step, he said. The Detroit office is considering a funding request, but it would have to compete with other projects nationwide and couldn’t get into the budget before 2015. “It’s no guarantee that we’re going to get it, especially in this budget climate,” Kompoltowicz said. “But there are serious impacts to navigation and shoreline property owners from this extreme event. It’s time to revisit this.” Roger Gauthier, a retired staff hydrologist with the Army corps, said a series of “speed bumps” could be put in the river at a reasonable cost within a few years. Without such measures, he warned, “it would take years of consistent rain” to return Lake Michigan and Lake Huron to normal. –Yahoo News

February 8, 2013 – SANTA CRUZ, ISLS – The deadly 8.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit the Solomon Islands days ago, struck along a subduction zone, the same geologic setting responsible for the world’s most powerful earthquakes. In a subduction zone, two of Earth’s tectonic plates meet and one slides beneath the other into the mantle, the deeper layer beneath the crust. The Solomon Islands sits above the collision between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of the magnitude-8.0 earthquake, the Australia plates dives beneath the Pacific plate toward the east-northeast at a geologically speedy 3.7 inches (94 millimeters) per year, according to the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). The earthquake hit at a depth of 17.8 miles (28.7 kilometers) and was the second largest earthquake in the Solomon Islands region in almost 40 years, IRIS said in a statement. Several aftershocks followed; the largest measuring magnitude 6.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The tsunami generated by the quake, reported as 3 feet (0.9 meters) in height, hit villages on Santa Cruz Island, destroying structures and homes, according to news reports. A tsunami watch was issued for Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand, but not for the rest of the Pacific, according to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. Subduction zone quakes shove the seafloor in one sudden movement, which may generate a tsunami by pushing the ocean water above. However, depending on the depth and size of the earthquake, the actual seafloor surface may not move a significant amount, so a big earthquake doesn’t always produce a massive wave. For example, a magnitude-7.6 subduction zone earthquake in the Philippines in August 2012, which started deep in Earth’s crust, did not trigger a tsunami. There were dozens of earthquakes around the Solomon Islands in the month leading up to the massive 8.0 earthquake, the USGS reported. More than 40 magnitude-4.5 quakes shook the islands in the past week alone, and seven of those temblors were larger than a magnitude-6.0, the USGS said. –Discovery

Planet in crisis: “We are entering an era of increased planetary instability, brought on by a significant rise in the geothermal gradient, and subsequent magmatic fluid expansion within the planet’s interior. It will be a time, in which, we will see catastrophic and exponential increases in the number of natural disasters- most notably: earthquakes, storms, and volcanic eruptions. Yet, it is not the number of earthquakes that will strike the planet in the future that should most concern us. It will be the cluster eruption of mega-quakes, and their resonate aftermath, which will signal the planet has entered an intensified cataclysmic period of transition…these quakes will signal the secondary stage of Earth’s thermal acceleration, and should come to be viewed as signs of increasing disorder. Some of the quakes will strike as singular events; others will erupt in clusters, and some will strike some of the world’s most dangerous faults…this time will be marked by increased tectonic plate agitation, and an increase in the outbreak of the most powerful and destructive type of earthquakes, known as mega-thrust earthquakes.” –The Extinction Protocol, pp. 166,167,172 (2009)

February 9, 2013 – COLOMBIA - The U.S. Geological Survey says a strong but deep earthquake 7.0 magnitude earthquake has shaken western Colombia. The earthquake struck 129.3 km (80.3 miles) below the surface. The USGS says the quake struck at 9:16 a.m. (1606 GMT) Saturday and had a magnitude of 7.0. It was located about 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Pasto. There are no immediate reports of damage. –ABC News

Our analysis begins with the tropical convection index called the Madden-Julian Oscillation, or MJO. We currently see the MJO in Phase 1, with the strongest tropical convection occurring in west Africa or into the Indian Ocean.

When the Madden Julian Oscillation is in Phase 1 during the second half of winter into March, cooler temperatures tend to prevail across many areas east of the Front Range, especially prevalent in the Great Lakes and into the Northeast. Temperature anomalies can average a few degrees below normal, and this phase is best known for providing the aforementioned regions with the best opportunities for cold outbreaks. We are not seeing that cold trend get too strong at this time, however, because the MJO is very close to the center circle. When the MJO tracks into that center circle, it means convection is too weak for any adverse weather to be inflicted on the nation. In coming days, we will see the MJO rebound back into a modest-strength Phase 1, but then swing around into Phase 2, as the ECMWF model illustrates above. If we look again at the charts on the left, we find temperatures bounce back to relatively normal (but still cool) levels for those east of the Mississippi. A striking difference is the sudden appearance of well below normal temperature anomalies in the Rockies. It is plausible that we could see these below normal temperature anomalies appear as we progress into the next several days. Precipitation wise, while Phase 1 does favor coastal storms as exhibited by above normal anomalies in the Southeast, this wet sector shifts more inland into the southern Ohio Valley during Phase 2. This tells me that we could see storms stay more inland and affect the Ohio Valley more-so than the Northeast. That's not to say coastal storms will be rid of the equation, but they will begin to find a discouragement for such a coastal track. Before long, we are entering a modest Phase 3. This is the last favorable phase before the cold anomalies leave. Phase 3 holds the cold across much of the nation, and precipitation continues to move more inland, now more towards the southern Plains and even into the southern Midwest.

Medium range forecasts for 500 millibar heights by the European model (left) and American model (right) show general agreement in the setting-up of low pressure anomalies across the East US, and high pressure anomalies across the West US. This is a textbook example of a good scenario where to get cold and storms to flow into the East. Depression of heights in the East leads to a suppressed jet stream, which allows cold to flourish in the region. The suppressed jet stream strengthens the subtropical jet stream and provides additional opportunities for coastal storms. Long range forecasts do show this example of storms dropping south from the Pacific Northwest as the two jet streams merge and the storm then heads up the coast. A lack of high pressure over Greenland is a major catch that could put a flaw in this system. Without the high pressure over Greenland, I am hesitant to believe that this scenario will lead to big Nor'easters. While they are indeed possible, the lack of Greenland high pressure could lead to these storms just going out to sea rather than hanging around on the East Coast. This situation will have to be carefully watched before any decisions are made about who gets the storms and who is left out.

A long range concern of mine is the development of an Omega Block in the Bering Sea. An Omega Block is where high pressure sets up in any given area. In response to elevated pressure anomalies, below normal pressure anomalies (low pressure) must set up on both the left and right sides of the original high pressure system, forming the Greek letter Omega. The last time we saw an Omega Block in the Bering Sea, an unfavorable pattern evolved in much of the nation. If this Omega Block is to develop, low pressure on one side of that high pressure could stretch down into the northeast Pacific Ocean and West Coast. Long range model guidance has been hinting at such a scenario, and if it were to evolve, high pressure would make a solid (and likely successful) attempt at establishing itself over much of the nation. The MJO cycling towards Phases 4-5 doesn't help either, as Phase 4 introduces warm temperature anomalies across much of the nation. If this Omega Block were to happen, and the low pressure did develop in the NE Pacific and West Coast, it would probably occur beyond the 20th of February. During this timeframe, the Madden Julian Oscillation would most likely be in Phase 4, which aligns nicely with the Omega Block's attempt at hoisting high pressure and warm temperatures over the nation.

Weekly Prognosis:

February 9 - February 16: Threat for coastal storms remains through the week. Valentine's Day likely to bring Nor'easter. Accumulations flirting with one foot in spots. Warm temperatures and high pressure prevails in West US until end of week.

February 16 - February 23: Persistent low pressure moves out of East US. Pacific pattern begins to turn unfavorable, Madden Julian Oscillation begins cycling through Phases 3 and 4. Cold temperatures early in week are erased by gradual warm up into end of week. Coastal storm threat remains, may be suppressed from unfavorable Pacific pattern.

February 10, 2013 – BOSTON, MASS - The Northeast started digging itself out after a blizzard dumped up to 40 inches of snow with hurricane force winds, killing at least nine people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. By early Sunday, utility companies were reporting roughly 350,000 customers still without electricity across a nine-state region after the wet, heavy snow brought down tree branches and power lines. About half a million had been down as of late Saturday. Air traffic began to return to normal Sunday after some 5,800 flights were canceled Friday and Saturday, according to Flightaware, a flight tracking service. Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, and Long Island MacArthur Airport reopened on Sunday morning. Both were closed on Saturday. Boston’s Logan International Airport reopened late on Saturday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Rare travel bans in Connecticut and Massachusetts were lifted but roads throughout the region remained treacherous, according to state transportation departments. As the region recovered, another large winter storm building across the Northern Plains was expected to leave a foot of snow and bring high winds from Colorado to central Minnesota into Monday, the National Weather Service said. South Dakota was expected to be hardest hit, with winds reaching 50 miles per hour, creating white-out conditions. The storm was expected to reach parts of Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin. Friday and Saturday’s mammoth storm stretched from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic and covered several spots in the Northeast with more than 3 feet of snow. Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts took the brunt of the blizzard. Hamden, Connecticut, had 40 inches and nearby Milford 38 inches, the National Weather Service said. Amtrak said it planned to run a limited service between New York and Boston on Sunday and a regular Sunday schedule from New York to the state capital in Albany. However, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority and Connecticut Transit said service would remain suspended Sunday. Stratford, Connecticut, Mayor John Harkins told WTNH television on Saturday snow had fallen at a rate of 6 inches an hour and even plows were getting stuck. The storm dropped 31.9 inches of snow on Portland, Maine, breaking a 1979 record, the weather service said. Winds gusted to 83 miles per hour (134 km per hour) at Cuttyhunk, New York, and brought down trees across the region. The storm contributed to at least five deaths in Connecticut and two each in New York state and Boston, authorities said. A motorist in New Hampshire also died when he went off a road but authorities said his health may have been a factor in the crash. The two deaths in Boston were separate incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning in cars, an 11-year-old boy and a man in his early 20s. The boy had climbed into the family car to keep warm while his father cleared snow. The engine was running but the exhaust was blocked, said authorities. –Reuters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4dW_72IPXM&sns=em

time lapse of the blizzard