Photo of massive blizzard hitting US - Feb 1 '11

[Charles]

Check out this satellite photo of a blizzard that is currently ravaging the Midwest and is making its way to the East Coast of the US.

It's been a harsh winter for much of the country so far this season.

Read more here.

[Charles]

And at the same time as this blizzard is striking the US, Australia is preparing for what could be its worst cyclone ever.

Look at this...

Read about it here.

[jeffnevins]

Yes- not having a car as I do would make living in other parts of the country now- quite challenging. My heart goes out to those in the U.S. & Australia dealing w/these storms of life.

[Charles]

I've been in some gnarly blizzards growing up in the Midwest but this looks like worst I've seen in I don't know how long. When they strike, there's nothing you can do but wait it out. Everything stops and closes down. The outdoors is hazardous, so you stock up on supplies beforehand and wait until the roads become passable and things start moving again.

This ain't the end of it. Watch and see what happens when the thaw comes and all that snow and ice melts and the spring rains hit. The floods are going to be exceptional.

This is exactly what climatologists projected would happen by now way back in the late 1980s and into the 90s. I remember them saying the earth was going to experience extremes in climate. Harsher, more intense storms, rising sea levels, everything that's currently happening all over the world.

Nothing much to do at this point but hunker down and get used to it.

[Charles]

This is strange. The Arctic is actually warm but North America and the mid latitude areas of the planet are frigid.

.....................


Frigid U.S., warm Arctic — what gives?

Weird weather shows 'why we've got to realize the Arctic is important,' expert says

While much of the U.S. is seeing a wicked winter, the Arctic is going through just the opposite: January saw the least amount of sea ice for that month on record, plus the region's air temperatures are way above normal. So experts are asking themselves: are these two events intertwined?

Read more here.

[Charles]

Wow.

Oklahoma hit -31 degrees Farenheit (-35 Celcius).

Arkansas at -17 degrees (-27 Celcius) and 20 inches of snow (51 centimeters).

That's not just record cold, that's insane cold.

Meteorologists are predicting temperatures to be in the 60s by the weekend and into the 70s by next week (15 to 20 degrees C).

We'll see what happens.

Read more here.

[Charles]

"This ain't the end of it. Watch and see what happens when the thaw comes and all that snow and ice melts and the spring rains hit. The floods are going to be exceptional."

I quoted myself from a post above.

Here's why...

................


City's downtown floods, but it could have been worse

Findlay and much of Ohio on watch after storms that dumped rain, killed 4

Article

Also...

"A large swath of the North Central United States is at risk of moderate to major flooding this spring," the National Weather Service said in its latest forecast on Feb. 24. Below are the scenarios by region."