Its not quite a Polar Vortex but the UK has its coldest night of the year as temperatures dived to -15 deg C (5 deg F) in parts of Scotland

Photo Matthew Chattle

The UK grinds to a halt, as usual, when it suffers its coldest night of the winter so far.

Temperatures dropped to -15 deg C (5 deg F) in Scotland in the early hours of Thursday, making it the coldest night of winter in the UK so far.

The coldest place in the country was Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands.

The Met Office has upgraded its warning for snow in Wales, south-west and south-east England, including London, from 14:00 to 21:00 GMT on Thursday, with 3-7cm of snow forecast.

The BBC REPORTS, Travel delays on roads which could strand some vehicles and passengers
Some delays and cancellations to rail travel Rural communities could be cut off Power cuts are likely and other services, such as mobile phone coverage, could be affected Snow is forecast overnight into Friday, with totals of up to 15cm (6in) possible in some parts of Wales.
In southern England, there could be 3-7cm (1-3in) of snow.
It will run its "winter weather timetable" on Friday - with passengers warned of peak services being busier than normal because of changes to some train times. England, Wales and Northern Ireland also recorded their lowest temperatures of the winter so far - with Redesdale, Northumberland, falling to -10.4C (13.3F), Sennybridge, Powys, dropping to -9.3C (15.3F) and Magilligan, County Londonderry, falling to -8.5C (16.7F).
Snow and freezing conditions are forecast to continue into the weekend as Scotland prepares to shiver tonight through what is expected to be the coldest night of the winter so far.

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A vision of the future? Electricity grid systems, natural gas and other systems shutting down due to extreme weather around the world

Photo Railpictures.net

Electricity grid systems and natural gas and other systems have been shutting down around the world due to heat and cold waves.
Thousands of Minnesotans endured the coldest night in a generation without power.
 Xcel Energy says equipment failures on power poles is leading to outages all over the metro Tuesday evening, which started at about 5:40 p.m.
 At the peak of the outage, about 8,000 residents were affected in the Twin Cities metro area.
Xcel Energy is advising residents in parts of central Minnesota north of the metro to turn down their thermostats and reduce their natural gas use.
According to the energy provider, the extreme weather conditions have resulted in a “significant” strain on Xcel Energy’s natural gas system.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation pulled snowplows off the roads in 11 southeastern counties because of the extreme cold.
The U.S. mail did not deliver Wednesday in large swaths of at least 10 states due to the crippling cold of the polar vortex.

Credit NASA
As historically-low temperatures sweep through much of the US, Chicago train tracks are literally being set on fire to keep the trains operating.
Thousands of Anchorage residents are reported without power early Tuesday morning, according to providers.
Chugach Electric Association, on its online outage reporting map, initially showed more than 6,500 homes without power inside its service area.
Of that figure, Dowling and Spenard made up the bulk of those reporting power loss.

Meanwhile, in Australia, some 45,000 homes across Sydney's eastern suburbs have been hit by power outages amid a heatwave in the coastal city in southeastern Australia, with media reports of residents being trapped in lifts and one hospital losing electricity.
Distribution company Ausgrid said on Thursday that emergency crews were investigating the cause of the widespread outage, which is uncommon in Sydney's upmarket beachside neighbourhoods. Power was lost to homes and businesses in suburbs from beachfront Bondi to the well-heeled areas of Double Bay and Woollahra.
Authorities warned drivers to take care as dozens of traffic lights had been blacked out.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday warned hot dry weather could persist to the end of April, with a 70 per cent chance the majority of the country will experience above average temperatures.
A record-breaking heatwave across southeastern Australia earlier this month triggered outages in some areas and sent power prices soaring, while bushfires have destroyed homes in the southern island state of Tasmania. Last week, Adelaide, in the country's south-central coast, hit a sweltering 46.6 degrees Celsius, creating a new temperature record and becoming Australia's hottest city in the process.

A huge power cut hit thousands of homes across Sutton Coldfield United Kingdom, plunging swathes of the town into darkness last night.
The power cut hit 28,033 customers, Western Power Distribution said.

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Just How SAFE Is Your Vehicle? A new update from Bill Laughing-Bear regarding the threat of the “demon” 5-G on our health

Photo autoguide.com

Dear Gary and Readers of the Big Wobble,

Hello once again from Alaska. 

A while back I was given a copy of The Blaylock Wellness Report, Volume 13, No. 6 from June 2016. Anytime Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. reports, I take note. In this report, the primary article is Electromagnetic Fields: Dangers All Around Us. In it he talks about how the electromagnetic problem is growing. This problem is HUGE!

His research closely matches my own and in June of 2016 there was an estimated 5 billion cell phones in use around the world. In the U.S. alone, more than 300 million were in use, and that was before the “demon” 5-G cell service had progressed to the state it now has. At that time an even greater concern to me were the 200,000 towers in the U.S. with over 4 million towers worldwide. 

This bathing us in non-ionizing radiation is growing at a substantial rate. Complete cities and towns are covered with wi-fi. There are other sources besides towers and cell phones: cordless phones, smart meters, appliances and TV, baby monitors, poor wiring in homes, high transmission power lines, and other daily used devices. I wondered if some of these daily used devices included vehicles. More on that later. 

A cumulative buildup of non-ionizing, EMF Radiation in both animals and in the human body weakens the immune system: our brains become inflamed and our bodies DNA repair system becomes impaired.

Electrical devices produce two types of radiation: electrical and magnetic. Both of these do biological damage. Objects such as walls and bone do block some electrical fields but magnetic fields penetrate most objects including complete buildings. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has set the safety standards way to high. Research has proven the EMF level set a hundred times lower than the standard set by the FCC cause serious damage to biological systems. This is linked to major diseases in humans including brain tumors, eye tumors, breast cancer, testicular cancer, leukemia, salivary gland tumors, and other problems such as headaches, skin rashes, loss of hearing or ringing in the ears, fatigue, abnormal development of babies, behavior problems in young adults and teenagers, and immune suppression. It has also been linked to Alzheimer’s. 

My doctor informed me that some of his patients are no longer able to ride in newer vehicles because it brings on seizures, migraines, erratic heartbeats, and breathing problems. I was also informed by a very close friend that someone she knows of has to ride in the back seat of their new vehicle due to these types of effects. For myself, when I ride in newer vehicles, I have trouble breathing at times, migraines and an erratic heartbeat. 

I decided to test some vehicles. I talked to a mechanic who told me the newer vehicles are loaded with wi-fi devices that transmit signals to the computers in the vehicles. He said, “I wish the industry had not gone that way. It’s hard to fix stupid.” So I set out to do some testing. I will not use the brand names of the vehicles because I do not care to be sued! 

I decided I would test for both milligauss and RF Radiation. I had wanted to show what both of these could do to a human bodies voltage while riding in a vehicle but due to the fact the ground is frozen like concrete for several feet deep, I could not get a grounding rod into the ground to use the meter. All four vehicles tested were tested while parked, with the engines off and then with the vehicles running with lights turned on and heater motors on high. 

The first tested was my 1964 pickup. Sitting in the driver’s seat with the engine off, I read .1 milligauss, the RF was .0 microWatts/cm2. With the truck running and the lights and heater on high, I recorded a reading of .14 milligauss, RF .0 microWatts/cm2.

I then tested my 1993 pickup. With everything off, I read .15 milligauss. With it running, with no switches turned on, the reading was a low .49 milligauss, and turning every option on, a high of 5.14 milligauss. The RF was .0 microWatts/cm2. both on and off.

The next vehicle was a 2004 station wagon. With everything off, I received a reading of .11 milligauss, the RF read .1 microWatts/cm2. With the vehicle running, I read a low of 3.67 milligauss and with every option on, a high of 7.28 milligauss. The RF still read .1 microWatts/cm2. At the end of the test, the owner of the vehicle plugged in her smart phone. A text came in and the RF meter, which is a Model HF 35C built by GIGAHERTZ SOLUTIONS which is made in Germany, showed a reading of 628 microWatts/cm2. A few moments later the phone rang and the meter read 1756 microWatts/cm2. Being in a vehicle with wi-fi is like being cooked alive in an antennae cage. 

The last vehicle tested was a 2015 mini-van. With everything off, the milligauss meter Model UHS2, manufactured by AlphaLab Inc. in the U.S, read 36 milligauss. Turning the vehicle on, I received a reading of 95 milligauss. Turning all the switches on, a high of 214 milligauss. Before turning the vehicle on, the RF read .04 microWatts/cm2. Turning the vehicle on with all the options off, I read an RF of 86. Turning all options on, the RF jumped to 345 microWatts/cm2.

We then turned the ignition off on the mini-van and decided to test the remote start that, according to the vehicle’s manual, can be started one mile away. The RF meter I was using has the ability to read 1999 microWatts/cm2 before one has to add the 20 dB attenuator (an electronic device that reduces the power of a signal without appreciably distorting its waveform. It is effectively the opposite of an amplifier, though the two work by different methods). 

This extends the dynamic range of my meter and sometimes I have to stack them when testing close to cell towers. When the remote start button was pushed, my meter maxed itself at 1999 microWatts/cm2 and I had not thought to bring any attenuators with me. I was not able to show clearly how high the RF signal was. 

Another interesting sidenote with vehicle number four: I had just tested the owners new smart phone, which she uses while riding in the van, and it regularly produced RF of bumping at 1900 microWatts/cm2. Add that to the electrosmog her vehicle is producing! Can you say, “long-term health effects?”

I am sure this test could be expanded greatly to include other makes and models.

I would like to remind the readers of The Big Wobble of my article on February 7, 2018 titled, “It's DIRTY ELECTRIC! EMF causes cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and suicide and is the disease of our 21st century civilization.”Full story 
A quick overview would once again be a wise reminder that anything over 1 milligauss is harmful to humans. Anything over .05 microWatts/cm2 is harmful to humans. Knowledge is power. Let us not forget what we have learned so we can regain that which is being taken from us. Once again, I quote Aldous Huxley: “Facts don’t cease to exist just because they are ignored."

That’s it from Alaska for now.

Bill Laughing-Bear

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Insanely dangerous temperatures of -75 F -60 deg C and its going to get worse! Colder than the Arctic -82-deg F in Canada colder than Mars

Chillmap today
Insanely dangerous temperatures as the polar vortex tightens its grip on the midwestern US, with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures plummet to -75 F -60 deg C
The coldest weather in years will put millions of people and animals throughout the midwestern United States at risk for hypothermia and frostbite to occur in minutes during the final days of January. The deep freeze has commenced across the Upper Midwest with an AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature of 75 degrees below zero Fahrenheit reported at Grand Forks, North Dakota, on Tuesday morning. The worst is yet to come for other parts of the Midwest as the polar vortex gets displaced from the Arctic Circle and dives into the region. In addition to the risks of frostbite and hypothermia, residents will be faced with high heating costs and the potential for frozen and bursting water pipes, dead car batteries and school closures.
The cold can be life-threatening for any person or animal without a proper way to stay warm. According to the Weather Channell, Twitter Ads info and privacy Incredibly, wind chills in the minus 60s and 70s, even a minus-82-degree wind chill, that's almost -64 deg C, were observed Monday in northern Manitoba and southern Nunavut, Canada, according to the National Weather Service.
This bitter cold will be accompanied by strong winds at times through Thursday, yielding life-threatening wind chills in the Midwest that could lead to frostbite on exposed skin in a matter of minutes.
A large swath of the Midwest will have wind chills in the 30s, 40s and 50s below zero by Wednesday. A few spots in Minnesota and eastern North Dakota may see wind chills in the 60s below zero.
Grand Forks Airport in North Dakota reported a wind chill of 61 degrees below zero on Tuesday.
According to CBS, Thousands of Minnesotans endured the coldest night in a generation without power.
 Xcel Energy says equipment failures on power poles is leading to outages all over the metro Tuesday evening, which started at about 5:40 p.m.
 At the peak of the outage, about 8,000 residents were affected in the Twin Cities metro area.
As of 11 p.m., less than 600 customers people were still without power.

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"Mini-Ice-Age?" Midwest Cities Will be Colder Than Antarctica: Chicago coldest ever: Frostbite in minutes: People robbed of winter coats at gunpoint

Earthwindmap

• Coldest Air in a Generation Wind chills in the -30s, -40s, -50s, even -60s are possible
• Midwest Cities Will be Colder Than Antarctica
• Frostbite in minutes
• Chicago coldest ever
• -60 deg F (-51 deg C) Minneapolis
• Chicago people robbed of winter coats at gunpoint...
• Donald Trump asks for Global Warming to return
• The coldest place in the world right now is Geraldton, Ontario
• As the UK suffers another white-out bookies Ladbrokes have slashed the odds on this being the coldest winter on record.

Last July NASA warned us we could be entering a mini-ice-age as our sun enters its solar minimum, which ironically released the energy of a billion WWII atomic bombs with a C5-class solar flare a couple of days ago.
Last summer, the entire northern hemisphere suffered a massive heatwave from North America, Europe and Asia at the same time with warm records broken across the globe.
It's happening again, only this time, the entire Northern Hemisphere has been plunged into record cold.
In the U.S headlines such as CHICAGO COLDEST EVER? FROSTBITE IN MINUTES! -60° WIND CHILL MINNEAPOLIS, are dominating the news and weather websites.
Chicago police are reporting gunpoint robberies targeting people wearing warm jackets as temperatures plunge in the city.
According to the Daily Express, Two-thirds of the United States will be a frozen ice-box today, as freezing arctic air spins across the US Midwest, clips the Great Lakes, the Ohio Valley and pushes on into New England.

And the sub-zero cold and bitter winds will stick around for a couple of days, possibly bringing dozens of record lows with a life-threatening freeze before dissipating by the weekend, the National Weather Service reported (NWS).
The polar vortex is a mass of freezing air that normally spins around the North Pole, but has slipped southward and swirled into the United States, forecasters said.
The hardest-hit area will be the Midwest, where wind chill could bring temperatures as low as -50 F (-46C) in the Chicago area by Tuesday evening, the NWS reported.
One-to-two feet of snow was forecast in Wisconsin, and six inches in Illinois.

As the UK suffers another white-out bookies Ladbrokes have slashed the odds on this being the coldest winter on record.
With an extreme snow blizzard heading Britain's way, the bookies now make it just a 2/5 shot (from 4/7) that this is the coldest winter ever. Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: "We're strapping ourselves in for a snow-filled, record-breaking winter."

There's cold, then there's Siberia cold. 
Oymyakon, Russia — already considered the world's coldest permanently inhabited town — sank to a mind-numbing 45 degrees below zero (43 deg C) on Tuesday but that isn't even considered cold there.
Last January the temperature plunged to -88 deg F (-67 deg C)
That's even colder than the average temperature on Mars, which is 80 below zero, according to Space.com.

Canada
A winter storm currently hammering Ontario is continuing to wreak havoc across the province, and now Toronto's Pearson International Airport is the latest victim of the onslaught.
On Twitter, Canada's largest airport said a number of airlines have had their flights delayed or cancelled as a result of the weather.
Travellers who have flights booked out of Pearson this evening are advised to contact their airline and confirm their flight's status before arriving at the airport.
And while Toronto is expecting up to 20 cm of snow on Monday, it's actually 'warm' in the city compared to a town in Northern Ontario.
According to the Weather Extremes website, the coldest place in the world right now is Geraldton, Ontario, which is in the district of Thunder Bay, and currently feels like -46°C.
The town is one of the places under the extreme weather statements issued by Environment Canada. Almost all of Ontario is under weather warnings today, which include extreme cold and special weather statements, thanks to what Environment Canada said is an Alberta Clipper tracking over Southern Ontario.
Drivers are also being warned to use extra caution while on the roads.
The last time there was a snowfall like this, more than 300 collisions occurred across the GTA in just 24 hours.

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" Without the bats dispersing the seeds we won't have trees!" Flying foxes in danger as record numbers now dying in the heatwave

Photo Wildlife aid
Record high temperatures have devastated bat colonies across South Australia's state capital, Adelaide, with up to 3,000 flying foxes dropping dead from trees by the end of the weekend, according to local media.
At least 1,500 grey-headed flying foxes collapsed at the city's botanic gardens, parklands and riverbanks, with wildlife conservationists calling the incident the largest of its kind, the ABC news channel reported on Sunday.
"By the end of the weekend, we're probably looking at having lost between 2,000 and 3,000 bats," wildlife rescue service Fauna Rescue SA flying fox coordinator Sue Westover was quoted as saying. "All of the deaths have been grey-headed flying foxes, which are actually classed as a vulnerable species now, so this is actually quite devastating," Westover said.
The fruit bats are Australia's largest bat species and endemic to its south-eastern regions, with average wingspans stretching up to 1 meter and weights of up to 1 kg.
"They disperse the seeds, and also pollen which creates new tree growth, new forest growth. Basically, without the flying foxes helping to spread everything, we won't have trees," Westover said. "The highest number was around 600 bats, a few years ago in the heatwave," she said.
Extreme heat hit the southern state last week, with the mercury at a decade-high of 46.6 degrees centigrade in the capital alone, according to the channel.
Poultry farmers also reported massive losses, with one farm losing more than half of its flock of 2,000 birds alone despite cooler temperatures toward the weekend.
"It's a very catastrophic blow to our business.
We have customers that rely on us through retail and food outlets so we'll just have to monitor our egg production now and see who we can supply to," Adelaide farmer Adam Oaten told the news channel.

More on the heatwave

Photo A mass wild horse death has been discovered in a remote location near Santa Teresa in the Northern Territory. Photograph: Ralph Turner

Shocking pictures show dead horses at a dried-up waterhole in central Australia.
Deaths of about 40 horses discovered near Santa Teresa blamed on extreme weather conditions Forty wild horses have been found dead at a dry waterhole in central Australia in what is believed to a mass death caused by extreme weather.
Shocking pictures have been published of the animals, which were discovered by rangers near the remote community of Santa Teresa last week.
About 40 dead feral horses were found at the Apwerte Uyerreme waterhole and another 50 were found in poor health and had to be culled by the Central Land Council.
The region has had record run of 12 days exceeding 42C.
The Ltyentye Arpurte ranger team discovered the animals last Thursday when they drove past the waterhole en route to another job and noticed the absence of roaming brumbies. Full Story Here

Yesterday we reported thousands of birds had been found dead at one of Western Australia's most important inland wetlands, again the current heatwave being responsible for the deaths. Full Story

Meanwhile, bats are dying ‘on a biblical scale’ due to the record-breaking Australia heatwave
Mass flying fox deaths, the ‘canary in the coal mine for climate change’ are dying in alarming numbers.
Some areas have recorded temperatures above 48C, and bat deaths have been reported on a “biblical scale”.
Temperatures above 42C  kill flying foxes, and thousands have dropped dead from the trees in Adelaide, South Australia.
The total dead represents a third of Australia’s spectacled flying foxes.
“This sort of event has not happened in Australia this far north since human settlement,” said Dr Justin Welbergen.
Ecologists have warned the impact of the heatwave could be taking a heavy toll on unseen populations of wild animals.
Seven people have been bitten over the past two weeks, including two by bats infected with an incurable virus similar to rabies. Full story

Millions of fish have died in far western NSW as drought conditions continue to grip the state.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries and WaterNSW are investigating the large fish kill in several rivers and dams at Menindee after a sharp cool change hit the region following a period of very hot weather.
"The ongoing drought conditions across western NSW have resulted in fish kills in a number of waterways recently," DPI senior fisheries manager Anthony Townsend said in a statement on Monday.

Jellyfish have stung more than 50,000 beachgoers on Australia's Gold and Sunshine coasts, prompting officials to issue warnings and close beaches.
Safety authority Surf Life Saving Queensland said the bluebottle jellyfish -- also known as Pacific man-of-war -- have been blown in by recent winds.
The surge in jellyfish numbers coincided with the record-breaking heatwave.

The weather is not good news for summer grain crops such as sorghum," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank.
Many east coast farmers are still reeling from the winter wheat crops, which suffered from recent drought."
Australia, the world's fourth-largest wheat exporter, saw the production of the grain fall to a 10-year low this year when dry weather wilted crops.
With unusually dry pasture, the danger of bushfires looms.

Animal-Die-Offs

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Polar Vortex is coming and will bring bone crunching cold to the US and Canada with temperatures colder than the Arctic circle by Tuesday

Earthwindmap

While Australia broils at temperatures reaching just shy of 50 deg C (122 deg F) the U.S. and Canada are about to be hit with lowest temperatures for many years as the mercury is set to drop to temperatures colder than the Arctic circle in and around the Great Lakes.
The Chicago area can expect temperatures of -44 deg C (-49 deg F) and with the wind chill factor, it will feel even colder.
According to AccuWeather, while the midwestern United States has been dealing with bitter cold, an even harsher and more dangerous stretch of cold is expected in the final days of January as the polar vortex plunges south.

Map AccuWeather.
 "Through late next week, it will be a very cold stretch with high energy draw from the Plains to the East Coast," according to AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok.
 Sunday will bring another day of highs being held to the single digits and teens from Fargo, North Dakota, to Chicago and Detroit, but even harsher conditions can put more people and animals at risk for frostbite and hypothermia during the final days of January.
The polar vortex is expected to become displaced from the Arctic Circle and plunge down to near the upper Great Lakes.
That will occur in the wake of the winter storm that may lay a swath of disruptive snow from the Midwest to a part of the Northeast early this week.
 "Temperatures can be held 20 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit below normal across most of the Midwest around midweek.

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BOOM! Solar Minimum Flare releases energy of a billion WWII atomic bombs as C5-class solar flare is biggest since Oct 2017

Credit: SDO/HMI
We are into Solar Minimum but our Sun is still producing solar flares...
Yesterday, Jan. 26th at 13:22 UT, the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR2733 exploded, producing the strongest solar flare since the M1.1 way back in October 2017.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded this extreme ultraviolet movie of the explosion: This is a C5-class solar flare. In a matter of minutes, it released about as much energy as a billion WWII atomic bombs.
According to Spaceweather.com, that sounds intense, but... On the sun such explosions are considered to be relatively minor.
X-class flares common during Solar Maximum are hundreds of times stronger.
Right now, however, the sun is in the pits of a deep Solar Minimum, which makes a C5-class flare temporarily noteworthy.
The explosion did not hurl a CME toward Earth.

xx

Spaceweather

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Australian Heatwave: Melbourne power system crashes for hundreds of thousands of people on hottest temperature in 5 years for the capital

Photo thenewdaily.com.au
A quarter of a million people were left without power on Melbourne's hottest day in five years as temperatures reached 45 deg C (113 deg F)
Temperature records tumbled across Victoria as the state sweltered through furnace-like conditions that fanned a severe bushfire in the east, strained the public transport system and forced rolling blackouts.
According to The Age, paramedics were called to 1300 emergencies across the state, with the number of people suffering from cardiac arrests and breathing problems increasing as the heat soared. Five children needed to be rescued after being locked in hot cars and two women passed out.
Meanwhile, firefighters battled 40 blazes across the state, including a dangerous bushfire near the town of Timbarra that threatened homes.
“It’s been an extraordinary summer,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Kevin Parkin said.
 “The heatwaves we have had are almost unprecedented.”
According to Reuters,  blistering heat triggered power outages on Australia’s strained grid on Friday as demand for air-conditioning soared and coal-fired generators struggled to meet the surge in consumption.
The record-breaking heatwave over the past week sent power prices soaring across southeastern Australia.
Temperatures in the South Australian capital of Adelaide rose to just shy of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday, a record high.
Fish, birds, bats and other animals have been dying on a Biblical scale along with wildfires crop failure and drought and melting roads.

xx

Climate Change

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Australia Heatwave: Port Augusta hits 49.5C (121 deg F) in South Australia as 25 heat records tumble and the fish die-off crisis continues

Photo The Guardian Menindee Lakes: hundreds of thousands of fish dead in Murray-Darling basin Port Augusta was the hottest place in South Australia when it hit 49.5C at 4.22pm, one of 25 heat records that fell today.
Adelaide has recorded Australia's hottest capital city temperature of all time, hitting a new high of 46.6C at 3.36pm.
West Terrace reached 46.6C at 3.36pm after earlier recording 46.2 at 1.42pm.
The previous Adelaide record was 46.1C, set on January 12, 1939.
Ceduna reached 48.6C at 2.18pm but is cooling rapidly, its temperature dropping 12 degrees in 40 minutes as the cool change rolls over the state from the west.
The Red Lion, a pub in the city’s Elizabeth North suburb, promised to hand out free beers if the mercury rose above 45C.
By 1pm, there was a line out the door and around the block.
According to the Guardian, the mass fish kill crisis in New South Wales is now affecting the state’s north with thousands of carcasses found on the banks of Lake Inverell.
The federal government has launched a review into why up to a million fish died along the Darling River at Menindee, in the state’s west, earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Hundreds of thousands of fish have been killed along a stretch of the Lower Darling River in New South Wales in a second major incident which has led some experts to fear whole populations of local native fish have been wiped out.
Residents near the Menindee Lakes are reporting what is the second major fish kill along a 20km stretch of water near Weir 32.

Climate Change

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BOOM! Mexico colossus the Popocatepetl volcano spews a two-kilometre ash plume into the night sky causing doors and windows to shake 44 km's away

Photo WebcamsdeMexico
The Popocatepetl volcano sent a two-kilometre ash plume in an eruption last night, triggering an ash fall alert for communities in the vicinity.
The 9:06 pm eruption was accompanied by the emission of incandescent material that fell a few meters from the crater on the eastern slope of the volcano and the two-kilometre-high plume of ash, water vapour and gases.
The explosion was heard in nearby towns and caused windows and doors to vibrate as far away as Puebla city, located 44 kilometres to the east of the volcano.
Authorities have issued recommendations following the low-scale eruption, including limiting open-air activities, bringing pets indoors and avoiding eating meals outside.
Anyone who goes outside is advised to wear a face mask, a long-sleeved garment, and a hat.
Once back indoors, people should rinse their eyes and throats with water.
Special attention should be given to water tanks and other water sources for human and animal use, keeping them covered and protected from the volcanic ash.
Hiking near the crater is not advised, as the emission of incandescent material and other ballistic fragments is expected to continue.
The alert for Popocatepetl remains at yellow, Phase 2, which means that the release of water vapour and gas plumes is to be expected, as is the light fall of ash in nearby areas along with incandescent fragments.
The alert level also warns of the possibility of eruptions causing pyroclastic flows and mudslides carrying debris, although at such a small scale that evacuation of inhabited areas is not required.

xx

Volcanoes

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“This sort of event has not happened in Australia's far north since human settlement." Now horses dying from Australian heat

Photo A mass wild horse death has been discovered in a remote location near Santa Teresa in the Northern Territory. Photograph: Ralph Turner
Shocking pictures show dead horses at a dried-up waterhole in central Australia.
Deaths of about 40 horses discovered near Santa Teresa blamed on extreme weather conditions Forty wild horses have been found dead at a dry waterhole in central Australia in what is believed to a mass death caused by extreme weather.
Shocking pictures have been published of the animals, which were discovered by rangers near the remote community of Santa Teresa last week.
About 40 dead feral horses were found at the Apwerte Uyerreme waterhole and another 50 were found in poor health and had to be culled by the Central Land Council.
The region has had record run of 12 days exceeding 42C.
The Ltyentye Arpurte ranger team discovered the animals last Thursday when they drove past the waterhole en route to another job and noticed the absence of roaming brumbies. Full Story Here

Yesterday we reported thousands of birds had been found dead at one of Western Australia's most important inland wetlands, again the current heatwave being responsible for the deaths. Full Story

Meanwhile, bats are dying ‘on a biblical scale’ due to the record-breaking Australia heatwave
Mass flying fox deaths, the ‘canary in the coal mine for climate change’ are dying in alarming numbers.
Some areas have recorded temperatures above 48C, and bat deaths have been reported on a “biblical scale”.
Temperatures above 42C  kill flying foxes, and thousands have dropped dead from the trees in Adelaide, South Australia.
The total dead represents a third of Australia’s spectacled flying foxes.
“This sort of event has not happened in Australia this far north since human settlement,” said Dr Justin Welbergen.
Ecologists have warned the impact of the heatwave could be taking a heavy toll on unseen populations of wild animals.
Seven people have been bitten over the past two weeks, including two by bats infected with an incurable virus similar to rabies. Full story

Millions of fish have died in far western NSW as drought conditions continue to grip the state.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries and WaterNSW are investigating the large fish kill in several rivers and dams at Menindee after a sharp cool change hit the region following a period of very hot weather.
"The ongoing drought conditions across western NSW have resulted in fish kills in a number of waterways recently," DPI senior fisheries manager Anthony Townsend said in a statement on Monday.

Jellyfish have stung more than 50,000 beachgoers on Australia's Gold and Sunshine coasts, prompting officials to issue warnings and close beaches.
Safety authority Surf Life Saving Queensland said the bluebottle jellyfish -- also known as Pacific man-of-war -- have been blown in by recent winds.
The surge in jellyfish numbers coincided with the record-breaking heatwave.

The weather is not good news for summer grain crops such as sorghum," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank.
Many east coast farmers are still reeling from the winter wheat crops, which suffered from recent drought."
Australia, the world's fourth-largest wheat exporter, saw the production of the grain fall to a 10-year low this year when dry weather wilted crops.
With unusually dry pasture, the danger of bushfires looms.

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824 manatee 589 sea turtles 127 bottlenose dolphins and probably billions of fish and countless birdlife dead from red tide algae in Florida

Photo local10.com

It has been one of The Big Wobble's biggest and most tragic stories of the last one and a half years.
A Florida red tide outbreak close to 16 months old has killed more sea turtles than any previous single red tide event on record, and manatee deaths are not far behind.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission attributed 589 sea turtles and 213 manatee deaths to this episode of red tide, which began in late 2017.
It had also killed 127 bottlenose dolphins as of the beginning of 2019, leading the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to declare an unusual mortality event.
Combine manatee deaths from red tide, human actions, cold stress and other causes was 824, according to a preliminary FWC report.
According to the Herald Tribune, a previous die-off killed 803 manatees in 2013 during another red tide bloom.
Preliminary data from FWC showed that the 824 manatee deaths in 2018 from both red tide, sickness and human-related causes surpassed the previous record of 803 set during another red tide outbreak in 2013.
Apart from the manatee, sea turtles and bottlenose dolphins deaths, it is thought billions of fish and countless birdlife have also died.
Because of the partial U.S. government shutdown, NOAA has not provided updates for dolphins on its UME website.
Dolphin strandings spiked in August and November, but have begun to slow down as red tide shows signs of weakening along the Southwest Florida coast.
Don MacAulay of Englewood said he felt the effects of the airborne toxins — a nearly 150-mile by 20-mile wide bloom at its peak — driving over the bridge to Manasota Key.
His throat and eyes burned from the aerosolized red tide toxins carried miles by the sea spray.
The stench of the carnage hung on the summer humidity.
“It was just horrible. Everywhere you stepped, you couldn’t go down to the shoreline.
It was lined all the way with dead fish. ... The bugs were worse.”

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22 days into 2019 and catastrophic weather events bring an unprecedented start to a year extreme records breaking across the globe

Map: BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY (BOM)
If the first 22 days of 2019 are anything to go by this year will be an alarming jump-forward into the deep unknown with the weather being the leading conductor.
according to BoM, Australia was home to all 15 of the world's hottest temperatures on Tuesday, a feat it may well repeat this week as a huge swath of the nation bakes in 45-degree-plus heat.
These ranged from Tarcoola in inland South Australia, which reached 49.1 degrees, to Yulara in the Northern Territory at 46.1 degrees in the 15th slot.
Jacob Cronje, a senior meteorologist with Weatherzone, said he "wouldn't be shocked" by a 50-degree C, 122 deg F reading during the current spell, given the scale and intensity of the heat.
But the heat wave has started a horrific domino effect in Australia in just the first two weeks of 2019.

Thousands of birds have been found dead at one of Western Australia's most important inland wetlands, home of 650,000 birds from 80 species.
The heatwave and algae bloom is thought to be the culprit for the tragic deaths Full story

Last week, in Australia record temperatures of almost 50 deg C (122 deg F) was responsible for roads and car-parts melting, millions of dead fish, wildfires, massive crop failures with thousands of bats dying and falling out of trees along with many thousands of bird deaths, the heat is also adding to drought conditions to parts of central and eastern New South Wales which have had well below average rainfall, since April 2017. Full Story

The only autumn on record drier than this one in southern Australia was in 1902 when the Darling River virtually ran dry at Bourke in NSW, and the Australian wheat crop was all but lost.

On top of this, jellyfish have stung more nearly 50,000 beachgoers on Australia's Gold and Sunshine coasts, prompting officials to issue warnings and close beaches. Safety authority Surf Life Saving Queensland said the bluebottle jellyfish -- also known as Pacific man-of-war -- have been blown in by recent winds. The surge in jellyfish numbers coincided with a busy period on Queensland beaches, with Christmas, the New Year and the school holidays bringing people to the coast. 

However, it's not all heatwaves, monster snowstorms in Europe, Canada, US and Russia already this year is following a trend which happened in the Northern Hemisphere last summer when the whole top half of the Earth was embroiled in an unprecedented heatwave, is now followed by January's Northern Hemisphere coldwave effecting most of the same countries.

If Australia's dangerous hot temperatures are a danger to life, the cold temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere are even riskier.
Earlier this month devastating record snowfall hit Austria, Switzerland and Germany and Greece with temperatures dropping from unusually warm Mediteranian land, too -23 deg C -9 deg F.
Parts of Russia plunged towards -60 °C on Saturday, -76 deg F, Snow-covered highways, near-zero visibility and a bone-chilling cold wave hits part of Canada Temperatures to plummet to - 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 deg C) in the U.S.

Earthwind map. 105 deg C difference in temps across the globe.
Many experts are expecting 2019 to be the beginning of a mini-ice-age, so far a total 14 days (64%) have been sunspot-free, with NASA claiming the Solar Minimum has begun which could plunge the planet into a record cold spell, however, the last Solar Minimum peaked in 2009 with a total of 260 days (71%) without sunspots on our sun and 2008 with a total of 268 days (73%) without sunspots on our sun and 2007 with a total of 152 days (42%) without sunspots on our sun.
2009 was declared as the 8th warmest year on record with 2007 being the 10th warmest on record.
Last year, 2018 had a total of 221 days (61%) without sunspots on our sun and 2018 will be declared the 4th warmest year on record.
U.S. government sites, NASA and NOAA are shut down at the moment due to the lapse of Congressional appropriations but when they do reopen, 2018 will be declared the 4th warmest year on record.
So, three of the four most recent sunspotless years have been in the top ten warmest years ever recorded.

Whether you are a global warmist, a climate changer, a mini-ice-ager, geoengineering advocate or an end of days pragmatist, I think it is fair to say none of us knows what is causing these catastrophic weather events. 

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Thousands of birds found dead at one of Western Australia's most important inland wetlands: Heatwave and algae bloom responsible

Birds roosting at Lake Gregory after a wet season.CREDIT: FILE PHOTO/DCBA

Thousands of birds have been found dead at one of Western Australia's most important inland wetlands.
A Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development veterinarian arrived at Lake Gregory in the East Kimberley earlier this month to take a sample, and found a number of wild birds in "poor conditions with low body weights".
On a department inspection, it was found several thousand birds had died at the wetland, but the cause of death remains a mystery.
Lake Gregory is a permanent freshwater lake located between the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert and was previously described by the department as the most important inland wetland in Australia.
Its ecosystem helps support about 650,000 waterbirds and is a major breeding ground for up to 80 species and a major migration stopover area for shorebirds.
It supports more than 1 per cent of the world population of pink-eared ducks; the same species believed to have been found dead.
A number of black swans also died.
A department investigation excluded bird flu and Newcastle disease as a cause of death, but later identified the presence of blue-green algae close to the lake.
"Laboratory testing has detected blue-green algae in water samples from nearby ponds, which likely contributed to bird deaths," a department spokeswoman said.
"Blue-green algae can be present in water sources and levels are influenced by environmental factors including warm water temperatures, sunny days and nutrients.
"In addition, the water level at the lake is very low, coupled with recent very high temperatures in the area, which may have contributed to the deaths of the birds.
"Waterbirds are vulnerable to these natural ecosystem changes.
Recent rain in the area appears to have alleviated the issue."
There is no quarantine in place.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions said bird deaths weren't uncommon following the wet season.
"Lake Gregory was surveyed last year and more than 20,000 waterbirds were recorded," she said. "This was a large breeding event following an above average wet season.
Bird deaths following such an event are not unusual, particularly when water levels reduce. "Waterbirds are vulnerable to natural ecosystem changes.
Fluctuations in water temperature, nutrients and water levels can result in fluctuations in waterbird numbers."
A 2009 condition report on Lake Gregory identified a number of threats the wetlands could face in the future.
"The level of threat to the site is high ... wetlands are highly productive environments, but are also easily disturbed," the report read.
Lake Gregory is maintained by traditional owners and rangers.

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A powerful mag 6.4 strikes Indonesia: Indonesia suffered its deadliest year in more than a decade in 2018 with 3,000 dead from quakes

USGS
An earthquake of magnitude 6.4, struck south of the Indonesian town of Raba, off the central island of Sumbawa, the U.S. Geological Survey said, the second quake to hit the area on Tuesday.
There was no immediate tsunami warning or reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which hit at a depth of 36 km (22 miles), at a distance of about 230 km (143 miles) south of Raba in the east of the island, which forms part of West Nusa Tenggara province.
The quake followed one of magnitude 6 that struck in the same area.
The two quakes bring the total major quakes to 9 in 2019.
Indonesia suffered its deadliest year in more than a decade in 2018 as a series of earthquakes and tsunamis killed more than 3,000 people.
According to USGS, around 800,000 have died from earthquakes from the year 2000 to 2015, with 2004 being by far the highest year for casualties with almost 300,000 dead with the lowest year being the year 2000 with the small total of 231 deaths.
The highest number of major quakes in a year, ever recorded was 2011, the year of the Fukushima disaster with a total of 205, while the least number in the 21st century so far was the 111 major quakes recorded in 2017, a staggering 94 less than 2011.


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Temperatures humans should not have to endure! North and South Hemisphere temps higher than 100 °C! 212 deg F apart as heat and cold waves continue

Map Earthwindmap

• Australian heatwave expected to continue next week with record temp of  50.7 °C (124 deg F) under threat.
• Parts of Russia plunged towards -60 °C on Saturday -76 deg F
•  Snow-covered highways, near-zero visibility and a bone-chilling cold wave hits part of Canada
• Temperatures to plummet to - 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 deg C) in the U.S.

As temperature records continue to be broken across NSW, residents from Sydney to Menindee have warned the heatwave melting the state is yet to hit its peak, and in some parts is forecast to continue into next week without respite.
On Wednesday and Thursday, new maximum temperature records were set at 27 sites across NSW and the ACT, while some of the hottest overnight temperatures on record worsened the impact of the ongoing hot spell.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Walcha Council will use water from the Yarrowitch River in water carts to cool the bitumen pavement which is currently melting due to the extreme heat.
Meanwhile, Severe Weather Europe reported parts of Russia plunged towards -60 °C on Saturday night, while parts of Australia are in the middle of the summer and the unprecedented strong heat wave have seen temperatures approaching 50 °C. Yesterday, the difference between the two areas was over 100 °C! 212 deg F.

Photo higginsstormchasing.com
Temperatures plunged down to -57.5 °C (-75 deg F) in Delyankir (Oykmyakonski District, Sakha Republic) in far eastern Russia last night.
This part of Russia is one of the coldest places on Earth and the coldest inhabited area – the (fairly) nearby Oymyakon holds the official lowest recorded temperature in the northern hemisphere: -67.7 °C on February 6, 1933.
Meanwhile, parts of Australia have been undergoing a scorching heat wave.
Yesterday temperatures peaked at a blistering 48.3 °C (119 deg F) at Tibooburra Airport (NSW), while a number of stations recorded peak temperatures above 45 °C.
The official highest temperature in Australia recorded so far was 50.7 °C in Oodnadatta on January 2, 1960.

Snow and coldwave causing danger in Canada
Meanwhile, winter threw everything it had at Montrealers on Sunday, from 23 centimetres of snow to wind to sub-zero temperatures that felt like -31deg F, -35 deg C with the wind chill.
By late Sunday afternoon, the snow had lightened up in Montreal and the wind dropped from peak gusts of 70 km/h earlier in the day.
Total snow accumulation was 23 cm, with some more expected overnight.
And as the wind kicked up at about 9 a.m., blowing snow was added to the mix.
Sunday was marked by delayed and cancelled flights, snow-covered highways, near-zero visibility and bone-chilling cold.
"In my 20 years of working as a professional meteorologist, I don't remember any weather pattern like that," said Environment Canada's Alexandre Parent.
Three provincial ministers issued a joint statement alerting citizens to the frostbite risk.
Parent said the combination of snow, cold and wind rarely happens in Quebec since temperatures usually go up when it snows.
"To have a combination of a snowstorm with significant amounts of snow - we're talking about 20 to 25 cm with this winter storm - and to have really cold temperatures - in Montreal, we stand at minus 18 - that's really what stands out," he said.

AccuWeather says a polar plunge of brutal cold has descended on the northeastern United States, which can threaten lives and complicate travel and cleanup efforts following the weekend snowstorm. Even the areas that escaped snow or ice this past weekend will be shivering in the Northeast as brutal cold plunges in from the Midwest.
"In some cases, temperatures may plummet 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 deg C) from their highest levels over the weekend to their lowest levels," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

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A must see and could be the last chance for many in the UK and Western Europe to see this Phenomenon "Super Wolf Blood Moon"

Image NASA

I'm the idiot who dragged himself out of bed this morning at 5: am to see the Super Wolf Blood Moon only to realise I was a day too early!

It will be the last chance for skywatchers in the UK and Western Europe to see a total lunar eclipse in its entirety until 2029 which means it is probably the last chance for many to see. 

According to Spaceweather.com, it's going to be super. 

On Sunday evening, Jan. 20th, at 8:41 pm PST (11:41 pm EST) the shadow of our planet will engulf the full Moon, transforming the grey lunar disk into a coppery-red orb.

The eclipse will be "super" both figuratively and literally. 

During the shadow crossing, the Moon will be within 14 hours of perigee, its closest point to Earth. This makes the Moon a "supermoon," almost 8% wider than an average full Moon. 

Normally, a supermoon would be about 16% brighter than average. 

The eclipse, however, will dim the supermoon, allowing stars to pop out around the swollen orb.

The entire eclipse will be visible from North and South America, as well as parts of western Europe (including the UK) and North Africa.

Walter Freeman, an assistant teaching professor at Syracuse University in New York state, said: "A little bit of sunlight is refracted by the Earth's atmosphere and reaches the Moon, bending around the edges of the Earth. 

This small amount of red light still illuminates the Moon enough for us to see it."

Tonight a bright full Moon will fade to red. Tonight's moon will be particularly bright because it is reaching its fully lit phase when it is relatively close to the Earth in its elliptical orbit.
In fact, by some measures of size and brightness, tonight's full Moon is designated a supermoon, although perhaps the "super" is overstated because it will be only a few per cent larger and brighter than the average full Moon.
However, our Moon will fade to a dim red because it will also undergo a total lunar eclipse -- an episode when the Moon becomes completely engulfed in Earth's shadow.
The faint red colour results from blue sunlight being more strongly scattered away by the Earth's atmosphere.
A January full moon, like the one visible tonight, is referred to as a Wolf Moon in some cultures. Tonight's supermoon total eclipse will last over an hour and be best visible from North and South America after sunset.
The featured time-lapse video shows the last total lunar eclipse -- which occurred in 2018 July.
The blood moon prophecy was a series of apocalyptic beliefs promoted by Christian ministers John Hagee and Mark Biltz, which state that a tetrad which began with the April 2014 lunar eclipse is a sign of the beginning of the end times as described in the Bible in the Book of Joel, Acts 2:20, and Revelation 6:12.
The tetrad ended with the lunar eclipse on September 27–28, 2015.

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The 8th major quake a powerful mag 6.7 rocks the coast of north-central Chile on Saturday bringing the major quake total of 2019 to 8

USGS
A magnitude powerful 6.7 earthquake hit the coast of north-central Chile on Saturday evening, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and witnesses said it rattled buildings farther south in the capital city of Santiago but left only minor damage in its wake.
The quake struck at 10:32 p.m. local time (0132 GMT) about 15.6 km (9.7 miles) south-southwest of Coquimbo, the USGS said.
The quake was 53 km (33 miles) below the surface, a relatively shallow tremor (which are much more powerful than deep quakes) that shook homes and had some worried about a possible tsunami. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, however, quickly discarded a tsunami threat following the tremor.
The quake was the 3rd major quake of this week and the 8th of a busy January.

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