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A Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angeles to London reached the ground speed of 801 mph with the help of strong winds, according to reports. The blistering speed was reached while at 35,000 feet above Pennsylvania. The Boeing 787 twin-jet aircraft was given a boost by a furious jet stream, the high-altitude air current along which storms travel.

Parts of Manitoba hit -53 C, colder than Mars In terms of astonishing weather facts, it doesn't get much more impressive than being as cold as a distant planet for a day. Grounded planes It's so cold that one airline has decided not to fly in or out of Winnipeg. ExpressJet, a partner of United Airlines, cancelled some flights Monday night and Tuesday morning. Passengers are being moved onto flights operated by other airlines and rerouted through other cities. ExpressJet says the unique combination of extreme low temperatures and ice crystals exceed safe operating guidelines for their aircraft. A spokesperson told CBC News...

A super La Nina is developing. Historically, these strong La Nina events drop the Earth’s average temperature around one degree Fahrenheit, and the drop comes quickly. As a result, some of the same places that had record heat this summer may suffer through record cold this winter.La Nina is the lesser-known colder sister of El Nino. La Nina chills the waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean, and in turn cools the entire planet for one to two years or more. This chilling has the potential to bring bone-numbing cold to many parts of the world for this and the following...

LOS ANGELES | Abby Sunderland’s quest to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world was star-crossed from the start, and weather was always the principal villain. Originally scheduled to launch in early December to avoid the chilly winter weather and deadly waves in the Indian Ocean, the California teenager and her team met with delays equipping her boat, Wild Eyes, money shortages and unfriendly hometown weather. When she finally set sail Jan. 23, experienced sailors issued warnings given the late start, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Forecasters see no tropical storm activity Herald Staff Report MANATEE --Hurricane watchers say today that the tropics are clear of potential tropical storms at least through Tuesday night. Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami say an area of showers east of Florida has diminished or merged with a frontal boundary, and the low-pressure area poses no threat. The hurricane center watches the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico for weather that could develop into dangerous storms during the 2007 hurricane season. Through the first month of the hurricane season, there has been little tropical weather.

A meteorologist in the Taunton office of the National Weather Service today confirmed what anybody walking outside quicky realizes, which is, it is about as cold as it can be for the month of March. At 11 a.m. it was 3 degrees above zero with a wind child of about 20 degrees below zero, Meteorologist William Simpson said. The temperature at midnight was 16 degrees which is the March 6 record for the lowest maximum temperature for the date, according to Mr. Simpson. The record low maximum temerature for the month of March is 10 degrees, set on March 3,...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A cold front will move through Central Florida Friday bringing the chance for a hard freeze in many Central Florida counties late Friday and early Saturday morning, according to Local 6 meteorologist Larry Mowry. Temperatures will be about 10 degrees colder Thursday in Central Florida, but the freezing temperatures will not arrive until late Friday. "Behind the front is the real, bitterly cold air that will be arriving Friday night into Saturday morning," Mowry said. "All that cold air that is bottled up in the arctic has a lot of free flow over that snow in the...

The Arctic pattern is likely to relax next week, but even average cold would keep us within striking distance of a record cold month.......A reloading of the Arctic air mass could seal the record cold February..... For the second consecutive Tuesday, I am writing a column for Wednesday's newspaper as a potential winter storm is approaching Southwest Virginia. And just as with last week's Alberta clipper snowfall, I don't know what the final result will be as I write this. Look out your window and find out. There will probably be many different outcomes at different locations within our circulation...

With the most powerful storm in recorded history weakening but every bit as devastating as its predecessors, saint, sinner and blogger alike are again wondering if God really does use nature in retribution for sin. Bill Moyers, late of PBS and CBS television and the day's keynote speaker, cited the incredible devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and linked it with the Genesis flood. He noted that millions of conservatives believe the biblical teaching that God brought the deluge to punish human sin and also accept "God-ordered genocide" elsewhere in the Old Testament. Others also used the Katrina moment to level...

On Sunday, the head of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers, resigned under pressure after he was found guilty of misconduct for the sexual harassment of a subordinate female worker at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Secretary General Kofi Annan reportedly read the report showing clear evidence of Commissioner Lubbers's conduct and did nothing about it. It seems that protecting the reputation of a friend was more important to Annan than protecting the people who work for the UN. This is unacceptable. When will Annan resign? Unfortunately, this is not the UN's only...