Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Say it ain’t snow! The weather outside really is frightful Thursday, and staying home for a lot of school kids in the Washington area is surely delightful. But D.C.’s first snowfall has created conditions that are cold, wet and dangerous for many commuters. It isn’t just snow either. There’s also sleet and freezing rain to contend with. Check out photos of winter’s first slap of the season below.

...The bottom line A detailed analysis of many different factors suggests to me that much of the eastern half of the nation should experience a colder-than-normal winter with more snow than normal. Coastal storms in the eastern US will be much more of a threat this winter as compared to last year when La Nina conditions dominated in the equatorial Pacific. Overall temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic region are likely to end up about 1.5-3.0 degrees (F) below-normal for the winter season and perhaps an even more dramatic chill will take place in the Southeast US where overall temperatures may average...

Freak changes in the composition of space around the sun are about to drive a chain of meteorological events locking the UK into a savage early Arctic freeze, it has been claimed. The so-called solar corona has become dotted with holes on its Earth-facing side threatening serious knock-on effects to the flow of the jet stream and the weather this winter. Temperatures are expected to nosedive towards the end of October bringing ‘substantial snowfall’ across Scotland, northern and central England. It could herald the start of a four-month Polar assault with snow and sub-zero temperatures threatening to grip the nation...

“Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.” – George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones “Reflect on what happens when a terrible winter blizzard strikes. You hear the weather warning but probably fail to act on it. The sky darkens. Then the storm hits with full fury, and the air is a howling whiteness. One by one, your links to the machine age break down. Electricity flickers out, cutting off the TV. Batteries fade, cutting off the radio. Phones go dead. Roads become impassible, and cars get stuck. Food supplies dwindle. Day to day vestiges of modern civilization –...

OKLAHOMA CITY - Thousands of gallons of water went pouring into the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority office Sunday. "A hundred thousand gallons of water had already spilled in the building," said Jack Damrill, communications director for the OTA. Damrill said cold temperatures caused the fire sprinkler system to burst. "It's just amazing. Water poured out of there in a short amount of time," Damrill said. The water didn't just stop on the main floor; it kept flowing through cracks and the ceiling, spilling through offices on the first floor. "We've had to relocate a couple of people to some different offices,"...

If only Michael Mann could “adjust” real temperatures the way he adjusted them on his infamous “hockey stick” graph that formed the key argument of Al Gore’s scaremongering hit movie, An Inconvenient Truth. But instead of “The end of snow” (New York Times, 2014), Britain has gotten hit with a long and very cold winter. The tabloid Daily Star sensationalizes the cold snap with “studies” that come up with the figure of 48,000 “excess” deaths blamed in the cold snap. Quite frankly, one can concoct all sorts of studies to “prove” or “demonstrate” all sorts of dubious propositions. So,...

The screaming Canadian curling couple is back! The commentator said that recently they got into a huge argument on the ice. The husband was so mad he actually threw the other team's stone. His wife was screaming "No! No!" but she screams so much he he ignored her. LMAO! ..........In spite of the fighting, the screaming couple just won the gold.

The first two openly gay male U.S. winter Olympians are doubling down on their feud with Vice President Pence over his record on LGBTQ rights. Freeskier Gus Kenworthy posted a photo on Instagram of himself and figure skater Adam Rippon with a caption that calls out Pence, who is leading the U.S. delegation to the 2018 Olympics, by name. Rippon was named to the U.S. Olympic team first, making history as the first openly gay man to represent the country in the Winter Olympics. Kenworthy was named to the team a few weeks later. “The Opening Ceremony is a wrap...

The opening ceremonies haven't been held, but figure skating started today! Mr. RooRoo is semi-suicidal, he HATES figure skating. All snarky color commentators, please weigh in!!!! I'll throw out the first pitch: The second male skater (from Germany I believe) chose a HORRIBLE costume, he had big yucky armpit sweat stains, it was hard to focus on anything else.

internet-connectivity seems to be what really counts, even for dishwashers. Indeed, our new machine flashed a light in excitement about finding a signal from our router. It must have been really happy! Dear Cousin Punxsutawney Phil, Cordial thanks for your response to my letter of last year to our Aunt Climate. I think you were right on target and our great aunt has listened to our gripes. Of course, she’s not alone; as you know the U.S. President, in his speech on the State of the Union, a couple of nights ago, did not even mention “climate change” once. Presumably,...

Some strange booms have shaken residents in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. The series of explosion-like sounds rattled residents from Waupun, Campbellsport and elsewhere Tuesday and sent Fond du Lac County sheriff's deputies out looking for a cause. Geologists say the booms were likely a phenomenon commonly known as an ice quake.

A North Carolina swamp park has posted a video explaining how alligators survive in a frozen pond, and it’s both creepy and bizarre... ...The alligators seem to instinctively know when the water is about to freeze, says Howard, who is general manager of the park. They respond by sticking their nose above the surface at just the right moment, allowing the water to freeze around them.... Alligators then enter “a state of brumation, like hibernating.” Alligators can regulate their body temperature in all sorts of weather, park officials said, and can essentially remain frozen in place until the ice melts.

Boy, it's cold across America. It's so cold, politicians are picking their own pockets, people are flocking inside the U.S. Capitol just for the hot air, and the outlook for anti-Trumpers has been downgraded from miserable and bewildered to hopelessly depressed. Here's one reason anti-Trumpers are especially down this winter: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). According to About.com , this woeful malady is triggered by overcast winter weather. Lack of exposure to sunlight can cause low levels of melatonin and serotonin. Low levels of both cause depression-like symptoms. Lots of people are affected by SAD at this time every year, but,...

Boston suffered its worst flooding in 40 years on Thursday when it was walloped by the 'bomb cyclone' winter storm - and there's an interesting reason why. Benjamin Sipprell, a meteorologist in Boston for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, told the Daily Beast that the flooding was a result of the blizzard hitting at high tide, and the high tide being higher than usual due to Wednesday's supermoon. A supermoon is a full moon that occurs when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit. This happens about four to six times a year. The tides are caused by...

The cold blast hitting the U.S. is exposing the absurdity of left-wing energy policies in New England. Natural gas prices are skyrocketing in the region as the gas demand for both heating and electricity exceeds supply. ISO New England issued a “cold weather watch” for January 5 to alert the wholesale power market to a surge in demand for the weekend, as temperatures are expected to plummet. The grid operator believes it has enough power, but the demand could exceed supply. Don’t blame the weather for soaring energy prices and possible electricity shortages; blame the left-wing politicians and radical environmentalists...

Just when you thought the Big Freeze couldn’t get any worse, here’s Al Gore to twist the knife. It’s bitter cold in parts of the US, but climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann explains that’s exactly what we should expect from the climate crisis. https://t.co/6UfJ9Xxpq6 — Al Gore (@algore) January 4, 2018 Yep. Where others might see a crisis, Al Gore has spotted a Rahm-Emanuel-style opportunity to promote his renewables scam. This bitter cold, he wants you to know, isn’t a sign that his global warming theory is a busted flush. It’s a sign that he’s even more right than ever...

Former Vice President Al Gore has weighed in on the record cold and snow in the U.S. “It’s bitter cold in parts of the US, but climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann explains that’s exactly what we should expect from the climate crisis,” Gore wrote on January 4 on Twitter. *snip* Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth did not warn of record cold and increasing snowfalls as a consequence of man-made global warming.

Manhattan is set to get 3 inches of snow starting around 5 or 6 a.m. Thursday, but parts of Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island should brace for at least double that, experts warned.

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump chimed in on the weather Thursday, citing the cold wave sweeping across much of the central and northeastern United States as justification for his controversial move to leave the global climate change pact. "In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year's Eve on record," Trump tweeted from his Mar a Lago resort in Florida, where he is on holiday vacation. "Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!"...

Shivering, snowbound cities are scrapping their outdoor New Year’s Eve countdowns. Polar-bear plunges are being canceled because of fears of frostbite and hypothermia. Winter-hardened towns are gaping at their new lows: 32 degrees below zero in Watertown, N.Y. Minus 36 in International Falls, Minn. Record-breaking snowfalls have stranded older and disabled residents inside their homes for days. Cars are buried under mountains of snow, and lethally low temperatures are forcing cities across the Northeast and Midwest to open emergency “warming centers” for homeless residents and people whose furnaces are no match for the cold.