Free Republic

The severe cold weather currently gripping Eastern Europe has now spread to Italy and as far south as Turkey. As many as 80 people have died, mainly in Ukraine and Poland, as the death freeze settles over the continent. The Ukraine has suffered the most fatalities as emergency ministries confirmed 43 people had perished in minus-28 degree temperatures. Forecasters have confirmed that this area of high pressure has come from Siberia.

The "meat horns" (air raid sirens) just went off.

Most of Southern Louisiana is currently covered by rain showers that are headed eastward to New Orleans. The concern should be that by the end of the game tonight severe weather may be over the Superdome. With all the probable drinking and celebrating, this may make for a bad combination. It will not be Chamber of Commerce weather for this event. This weather was on the Texas border this morning, and has been moving Eastward all day...

Trenton, NJ (left) and Santa Monica, CA (right)

Climate change issue slows analysis of extreme weatherBy Justin Gillis New York Times Updated: 12/25/2011 09:43:18 PM CST At the end of one of the most bizarre weather years in U.S. history, climate research stands at a crossroads. Scientists say they could, in theory, do a better job of answering the question "Did global warming have anything to do with it?" after extreme weather events like the drought in Texas and the floods in New England. But efforts to put out prompt reports on the causes of extreme weather are languishing. Chief among the difficulties scientists face: the hostile political...

Here's a breaking news story about a huge discovery of methane gas reserves. This methane is burping up into plumes from the arctic ocean into the atmosphere from holes in the ice that are 3,000 feet across. Russian scientists say they have discovered thousands of these holes. According to Igor Semiletov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, methane gas is 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. "We carried out checks at about 115 stationary points and discovered methane fields of a fantastic scale — I think on a scale not seen before." With these methane bubbling holes having expanded...

Here's a breaking news story about a huge discovery of methane gas reserves. The bad news is this methane is burping up into plumes from the arctic ocean into the atmosphere from holes in the ice that are 3,000 feet across. Russian scientists say they have discovered thousands of these holes emitting methane plumes from the arctic shelf. According to Igor Semiletov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, methane gas is 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Semiletov has studied these methane plumes for years but most of that time they were only about 30 meters in diameter. Semiletov...

The worst storm in 4 years has hit the United Kingdom with gales of 130 mph hitting Scotland. The nation’s weather service — the Met Office — issued its first red warning of the year as cold, ice and snow batter the British. As Fred Sanford would say, this is the big one, Elizabeth. It is worse than Hurricane Katia, which hit in September. From the Met Office: It is believed to be Britain’s worst storm since the 100mph January 2007 gales which hit Wales and England and killed nine people. Scotland battened down the hatches with school, offices and...

A strong storm system that produced several suspected tornadoes hit the Southeast on Wednesday, damaging dozens of homes and buildings. At least 15 people were injured in Mississippi. Suspected tornadoes were reported in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Four homes were damaged in western Alabama, about 60 miles southwest of Tuscaloosa. It was the worst bout of weather for that state since about 250 people were killed during a tornado outbreak in April. < SNIP >

- UN climate scientists warns of weather extremes - Global warming to create "weather on steroids" - Human settlement in some areas could be wiped out The assessment is the most comprehensive probe yet by the 194-nation Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) into the impact of climate change on extreme weather events. A 20-page draft "summary for policymakers" obtained by AFP says in essence that global warming will create weather on steroids. It also notes that these amped-up events - cyclones, heat waves, diluvian rains, drought - will hit the world unevenly. Subject to modification, the draft summary will...

10 miles west of St. Augustine Florida, where has all the warming gone?The cat won't move off of my belly until spring!

What started as a humid summer-like day in Columbia on Nov. 11, 1911, ended with a howling blizzard that brought a temperature drop of 54 degrees. That day produced the greatest storm recorded in Missouri's weather history, now called the Great Blue Norther. Winds blew wagons off bridges, and more than 50 people across the Midwest froze to death. Pigeons fell dead on the sidewalk, frogs were iced into ponds, and pigs were pummeled by hail. “At 2 o’clock the temperature was 82. By 6 o’clock it was 28, a drop of more than 50 degrees,” the Missourian reported in...

At Watts Up With That, data from the National Climatic Data Center are reviewed. The results are quite startling. Every region of the continental United States has shown a cooling trend during the winter from 2001 to the present, and five of the nine regions have also had a cooling trend during the summer. With respect to annual mean temperature, only one of nine regions–the Northeast–has gotten warmer; the other eight have gotten cooler.

Winds near hurricane force of 74 mph were expected to generate seas as high as 25 feet in the northern Bering Sea, forecasters said. The winds were expected to raise sea levels as much as 9 feet in the Norton Sound. Those levels combined with the high waves were expected to cause significant coastal erosion and major flooding. The winds may also push sea ice on shore, adding to the dangers, NWS forecasters said.

Look at this weekend’s Halloween snowstorm. Headlines across the U.S.A. called it “historic.” Historic because it dumped record snowfall on at least 20 cities from Maryland to Maine. Historic because it was the most snow – and the earliest – in many areas since the end of the Civil War. And we’re not talking mere tenths-of-an-inch here. This snowfall shattered the old records, it obliterated them.

The Farmers' Almanac recently issued their outlook for the 2011-2012 winter season and are predicting a wet and wild winter for much of the nation. According to their forecasters, the Farmers' Almanac is predicting a season of "crime and punishment" with lots of unusually cold and stormy conditions. In the northern Plains, northern Rockies, and western Great Lakes, folks can expect frigid cold temperatures while those in the southern and eastern United States will experience above average temperatures. Near normal temperatures are predicted for the Midwest and far western parts of the country.

Climate experts: Expect more weather disastersNovember 1, 2011 7:35 AM (AP) WASHINGTON - Freakish weather disasters — from the sudden October snowstorm in the Northeast U.S. to the record floods in Thailand — are striking more often. And global warming is likely to spawn more similar weather extremes at a huge cost, says a draft summary of an international climate report obtained by The Associated Press. The final draft of the report from a panel of the world's top climate scientists paints a wild future for a world already weary of weather catastrophes costing billions of dollars. The report says...

New York (CNN) -- Demonstrators encamped in a Lower Manhattan park faced New York's first snow storm of the season Saturday without the benefit of propane tanks and generators that they had been using to cook food and keep warm. "It's pretty dirty, and we're all freezing cold," said Alec Courtney, who says he runs a shoe-shine stand at the city's Zuccotti Park to make money. "We just try to huddle together."Courtney, a resident of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, says he's been camping at the park for the last 20 days and plans to stay there --...

Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 1:37 PM EDT ... DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS... WITH INCREASINGLY WIDESPREAD DOWNED TREES... TREE LIMBS AND POWER OUTAGES EXPECTED THROUGH 5 PM... HEAVY BANDS OF WET SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE AREA THROUGH 5 PM... WITH SNOW FALL RATES OF 1 TO POSSIBLY 2 INCHES PER HOUR. EMBEDDED THUNDER WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. THIS WILL RESULT IN DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS WITH SNOW AND SLUSH COVERED ROADS AND VISIBILITIES REDUCED TO 1/4 MILE OR LESS AT TIMES. WINDS WILL ALSO BE INCREASING THROUGH THE LATE AFTERNOON HOURS TO 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS 30 TO 40...

It's going to be cold tomorrow at the OWS sight.

A Toxic Goo rains on residents of Oakville, Washington May 8, 1997 It sounds like a bad science fiction movie, but for the little town in Washington there was nothing entertaining about the scourge that befell them in 1994. Six times it rained down from above, leaving dozens of local residents ill, and several pets and small animals dead. It all happened in Oakville, Washington, population 665. Here in Oakville, clouds fill the skies daily, bringing rain some 275 days a year. So, when it began pouring on the morning of August 7, 1994, no one was particularly concerned -...

An early season winter storm struck the Sierra Nevada mountains on October 4 and 5, 2011. Ski resorts were likely licking their chops as they saw the snow fell. This winter storm is part of an overall pattern change across the United States as a large trough descends over the western half of the country.********************************snip*******************************************

Texas has warmest summer on record of any state The blistering heat experienced by the nation during August, as well as the June through August months, marks the second warmest summer on record according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C. The persistent heat, combined with below-average precipitation across the southern U.S. during August and the three summer months, continued a record-breaking drought across the region. The average U.S. temperature in August was 75.7 degrees F, which is 3.0 degrees above the long-term (1901-2000) average, while the summertime temperature was 74.5 degrees F, which is...

Susquehanna River to Flood: Susquehanna River now forecast to crest at 26.2 feet. Breaking News Susquehanna River now forecast to crest at 26.2 feet in Harrisburg Published: Wednesday, September 07, 2011, 5:06 PM Updated: Wednesday, September 07, 2011, 5:12 PM By The Patriot-News Forecasts for where the Susquehanna River will crest in Harrisburg have steadily increased in the last two days, and the National Weather Service is now calling for the river to crest at 26.2 feet early Friday morning. Flood stage for the river is 17 feet. At 20 feet, flooding is considered moderate, and at 23 feet, it's...

Man-o-man...this is getting annoying. Here in North Georgia we are having some weather. Basically it's sprinkling with an occasional light breeze. Apparently there are some localized storms with heavy rain and strong winds. So instead of the usual approach of streaming the watches/warnings below the normal programming (with the occasional beep-beep-beep attention getter) - the weather dudes have taken over the channels and are making it out to be Weather WWIII. I am the last guy to diminish the danger of a tornado (lived through one) - but this weather paranoia is getting annoying. They are "urgently" reporting rain and...

After seeing many people still without power in the wake of Irene, I'd like to purchase a generator - something I can use to either attach a few outlets, or, in the event of a longer outage, use to power my entire home (within reason). I'm looking for advice and lessons learned from people who are either happy or unhappy with their purchase/arrangement. Thanks.

“This looks like this is it,” said Ted Ryan, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. “The end of summer is coming up.”

US President Barack Obama warned the US east coast was in for a "long 72 hours" as he led his government's response to Hurricane Irene at a disaster command center in Washington. Obama on Saturday chaired a meeting at the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) set up at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) headquarters in Washington, which is marshaling federal and local hurricane-relief efforts. "This is going to be a tough slog getting through this thing," Obama said during a video teleconference including senior federal officials and local government agencies in the east coast path of Irene. "It's going...

Is It Wrong to Link Hurricane Irene to Global Warming?By John Horgan | August 27, 2011 Six years ago, experts waited until after Katrina to start arguing over whether the hurricane was a consequence, at least in part, of global warming. This week, pundits didn’t even wait for Irene to smash into the U.S. to start squabbling over the same question. The green journalist-activist Bill McKibben, who last week was arrested in front of the White House while protesting an Obama administration proposal to build a new oil pipeline, got things started on Thursday. “Irene’s got a middle name, and...

Hurricane Irene, at this moment, is ravaging the East Coast and will continue to do so for the next few days. It is a hurricane, a natural disaster; it was created by the weather on earth. It has been that way for thousands of years. The previous paragraph was common sense. Unless, that is, you are a liberal. In that case you might, as unbelievable as it may sound, blame Republicans for causing a storm. Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself: liberals are actually blaming a hurricane on Republicans. Take this one, for example, which states outright that...

Watching coverage of Hurricane Irene on the Weather Channel. They showed Gov Bev Perdue of NC having a press conference. Below her name and title, they pointed out that she is a Democrat. That struck me as odd. How many times have we had a hard time finding the party affiliation of a Democrat when he does wrong? Here you have a Democrat with a positive response to a hurricane (contrast to Pres Bush?) and it's in your face. Just in case you're thinking I'm seeing something where there's nothing at all... they had Mayor Bloomburg on earlier. I don't...

WeatherBELL Analytics Meteorologist Joe Bastardi predicts Irene to be a cross between Hazel and the Mid Atlantic Hurricane of 1821. This will make Irene a top three hurricane since 1800.

Forecasters say Hurricane Irene that is taking aim at the East Coast could become a Category 4 monster by Thursday. The National Hurricane Center late Wednesday said Irene is approaching the northwestern Bahamas as a Category 3 storm with winds at 120 mph. But forecasters say that could increase quickly over the next day. Hurricane and tropical storm watches will likely be required for parts of the coast of the Carolinas by early Thursday. Winds in Category 4 storms are more than 131 mph.

Dallas is closer to a new heat record, now that it has registered the second-most hundred-degree days in a year, with 57. KERA's Bill Zeeble has more.

Looks like from all the models that most of the East Coast will be under the gun in a few days from Hurricane Irene, so now is the time to start stocking up on water, ammo, canned food, toilet paper, gas and even an emergency generator. I live outside of Washington D.C. and remember the last time that T.S. Isabel hit, it took over 2 weeks to get the power back on and the panic that that caused. I also went down to New Orleans after Katrina and saw that first hand, so don't wait start stocking up now.

The image of a face appears from a massive storm cloud filmed in New Brunswick on Aug. 1, 2011. The face disappeared within a minute; a lightning bolt from the related storm went on to kill 40 goats FREDERICTON — Was it the face of Jesus or the face of the devil? A You Tube video showing a series of bizarre cloud formations over rural New Brunswick has millions of people worldwide guessing.

KABC-TV Channel 7 reporter Leanne Suter was injured after being struck with a pellet from a BB gun Saturday while doing a live weather report in Fontana, but she was not seriously injured, authorities said. Two teenagers were arrested in connection with the shooting, Fontana police said. Suter was taken to a hospital after being hit in the hand with a BB round, said Lt. Mark Weissmann. She was standing on Summit Avenue near the 15 Freeway when she was shot about 6 p.m., Weissmann said. Two boys, ages 16 and 17, was taken into custody on suspicion of assault...

Drought Withering Away Any Chance Of Recovery Tess Pennington July 27th, 2011 Ready Nutrition The following article has been generously contributed by Tess Pennington of Ready Nutrition. Editor’s Note: On a recent trip through Central Texas we noticed land that had been plush with hay, corn and vegetables is now completely barren. It’s been so dry for the last six months in Texas that we’ve broken just about every record since the 1890′s. One of the ranchers in the area we were visiting says that he is being forced to sell all 1500 head of cattle on his property due...

"The Feels Like Temperatures map show what the outdoor temperature will feel like for the current day." Weather-chicks bring "feelings" to weather reporting! I don't want the weather-chicks telling me how I feel. Just report the scientific facts and let us decide how we feel. Is this a change in reporting to support the global warming agenda? Are they trying to frighten the public? I think so.

THE GREAT DROUGHT OF 2011 Is America's Worst Since The Dust Bowl Robert Johnson Jul. 12, 2011, 6:32 AM Fourteen states are suffering from a drought so early and severe that it's already causing comparisons with the dust bowl years of the 1930's. According to a story in The New York Times, farmers are running wells dry, crops aren't growing and livestock can't be fed. “It’s horrible so far,” said Mike Newberry, a Georgia farmer who is trying grow cotton, corn and peanuts on a thousand acres. “There is no description for what we’ve been through since we started planting...

The Entire State Of Texas Has been Declared A Natural Disaster Robert Johnson Jun. 30, 2011, 7:15 AM More than 200 Texan counties have been designated drought disasters by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and all remaining counties now qualify for federal aid. KCBD in Lubbock reports that 213 counties have lost at least 30 percent of their pasture or crops to wildfires and drought. The natural disaster designation allows farmers and ranchers to qualify for low-rate emergency loans. South Plains farmer Scott Harmon told KCBD, "This is a disaster. This is a train wreck. We've never seen anything like...

A tornado is currently tearing through Louisville, Kentucky. Early reports indicate that Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, has suffered damage.

Please PRAY for the people of central North Dakota."The crest is going to be almost 10 feet higher than the '69 flood. The lower part of Minot is going to be underwater...The crest will be early Monday morning, so far. The levees and dikes will be over run Friday or Saturday, July 1...the crest was going to be 7 feet higher than the flood in '69. Today it has been revised to 10 feet higher. Minot is going to be a lake...It's rain, coming from Canada. They need to open up their dams and are giving people time to get...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- In the wake of the April 27 tornadoes, veteran television meteorologist James Spann is questioning whether too frequent tornado warnings are causing people to ignore them. "I firmly believe apathy and complacency due to a high false alarm ratio over the years led to inaction in many cases that could have cost lives," Spann wrote in a wide-ranging blog post that has generated debate among weather watchers and fellow meteorologists.

Flames reach up to the heavens as lightning flashes criss-cross the sky. These extraordinary images show the full force of Mother Nature as a Chilean volcano erupts for the first time in 50 years. Ash has been thrown six miles up into the sky and the South American government has ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents. Winds fanned the ash toward neighbouring Argentina, darkening the sky in the ski resort city of San Carlos de Bariloche, in the centre of the country, and its airport has also been closed.

WESTFIELD — City officials say no one was killed, and no injuries attributed to yesterday’s tornado have been reported. Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said in a briefing this morning that despite national news service reports that two people were killed in Westfield, no one suffered bodily injury from the storm. Knapik said the city is receiving help from a variety of state and regional resources, including the Army National Guard’s 357th Engineers from Pittsfield, the State Police and the Southampton Fire Department, and a caravan of state workers is on its way from Boston, he said, to assist local residents...

Good morning! There are seventeen months left until we retake the country, until November 2012. As far as I know Caligula is the only one who has declared for the RATS. The GOP field is shaping up with many contenders. Sarah Palin is on a JERK THE MEDIA AROUND bus tour in the Northeast and elsewhere to call attention to America's founding documents and our founding fathers and principles. She has promised her radio talk friends in Alaska that she would tell them first of her decision to run. That hasn't happened yet. And in the hypocriscy department, Caligula's administration...

The world grain inventories were already depleted from truly terrible weather in 2010. Now we are seeing even worse weather so far this year. China is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years. The government says this weather is decimating a major grain belt, and it is leaving livestock without water. Fish farms have been ruined. Who knows the long term effects? More than 4.3M people are having trouble finding drinking water. Actually this last is a much bigger problem throughout China, which has a long term drinking water problem. The Chinese have released extra water from the Three Gorges...

KTVU Health and Science Editor John Fowler takes an in depth look at the growing trend in meteorological manipulation.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Water, water everywhere - and it's a spectacular sight. Record Sierra snowfall over the winter now means record snow melt as temperatures rise, swelling Yosemite National Park's iconic waterfalls, streams and rivers to their most turbulent level in years. Yosemite Falls, the nation's tallest, is spewing enough water to fill a gasoline tanker truck every two seconds. The force of water at Bridalveil Falls across the valley kicks up a mist that clouds the meadow below. It means that until the peak melt around mid-June, visitors will experience more treacherous beauty in Yosemite than...