Free Republic

After a half-decade of drought, California has been buffeted this winter by a series of powerful rain and snowstorms that dumped countless billions of gallons of water on the state’s watersheds. Some of the deluge was captured in the form of mountain snows that will feed rivers and streams during the annual spring melt. But at lower elevations, it was rain, some retained in man-made reservoirs that had become seriously depleted, but most flowing swiftly to the Pacific Ocean. At one point last week, flows on the Sacramento River and its American River tributary were more than 130,000 cubic feet...

Heavy snows in northern China wreaked havoc for the third day running on Thursday, killing at least eight people, stranding thousands of motorists and disrupting air travel... At Beijing's Capital Airport, more than 60 flights were cancelled and up to 100 postponed in the early hours of Thursday due to the fresh snow, the airport said. On Tuesday, more than 200 flights were cancelled or postponed at the airport -- one of the world's busiest -- after snows blanketed the capital. Snow also fell in the outlying regions of Shanxi and Liaoning provinces on Wednesday and Thursday, leading to highway...

128 Million Square Kilometers Were Covered By Snow At China Source:China Meteorological News Press According to CMA meteorological satellite remote sensing monitoring for snow cover, up to January 28, the total area covered by snow at 15 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) is 128.21 million square kilometers. More than 90% of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hubei and Shannxi were covered by snow. The depth of snow cover at central Anhui and south Jiangsu is 30~45 cm and some areas even reached 50 cm. China suffered rare and sustained low temperature, rain, snow and freezing weather since January 10. Experts said...