Over 50 Inches of Snow Blankets Wisconsin Town; Possible State Record

A northern Wisconsin town picked up over 50 inches of snow since Monday, and that may have set a state snowstorm record.

A weather observer in Gile, Wisconsin, technically part of the town of Montreal, measured 50.1 inches of snow from the morning of November 10 through early morning on November 14. 

Yes, you read that right: over four feet of snow in just four days' time in this area about 100 miles east of Superior, Wisconsin, or just southwest of Ironwood, Michigan.

Photos tweeted to meteorologist Jim Cantore by Jason Juno (shown above) showed giant snowpiles, some of which appeared to be over six feet high, in the town Thursday night.

The massive snow accumulation was due to a combination of widespread snowfall from Winter Storm Astro earlier in the week, followed by several days of lake-effect snow as cold air poured over the relatively warm and still unfrozen waters of Lake Superior. 

In responding to a question from Cantore whether a 50+ inch snowstorm had ever been recorded in the Badger State in November, the National Weather Service office in Duluth took a preliminary look:

This may not just be a November record, either.

According to the Wisconsin State Climatology Office, the state record for a single snowstorm was set during the infamous Halloween Blizzard of 1991 in Superior (31 inches from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2).

Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt cited a 39-inch snowstorm in Hurley from Nov. 1-3, 1989 as the state's single snowstorm record in his book, Extreme Weather.

This event will likely be reviewed to see where it officially ranks in Wisconsin snowstorm history. Part of the challenge in this case is how long a period defines a single snowstorm. 

The greatest 24-hour snowfall total in state history was 26 inches in Neillsville (Dec. 27, 1904) and Upson (Mar. 13, 2006). 

"Twenty-inchers are pretty common. But we get those usually with a few days in between to catch up. Getting this much in one storm, without stopping, is really unusual, even for us," Peg Sutherland, a Gile resident, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Nearby Hurley, Wisconsin, averages about 174 inches of snow a year, but only about 24 inches during the entire month of November. Heavy lake-effect snow in this area is common due to the proximity of Lake Superior and nearby hills helping to lift the moist flow off the lake.

Sutherland told the Pioneer Press there have been some 300-inch winters, there. "But this is about the most we've had at one time."

Jay Hengtgen, who owns a restaurant in Gile, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel his driveway needed plowing three times a day for the past three days.

Parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula picked up over 40 inches of snow, including near the town of Ishpeming. According to the National Weather Service in Negaunee, Michigan, just outside of Marquette, the 26.2 inches of snow on November 10-11 was the heaviest two-day snowfall there so early in the season. Last winter didn't deliver a 25-inch snow depth in Negaunee until January 18th.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/four-feet-snow-buries-wisconsin-town-20141114

Record-Breaking November Arctic Cold: How Long Will It Last?

Arctic air is now firmly entrenched over much of the nation's mid-section, Northwest and, finally Northeast, sending temperatures crashing to values you might expect in mid-winter in some areas.

Here are some cold notables so far:

- Burlington, Colorado, on the eastern Plains near the Kansas border, dipped to -10 Thursday, setting a new record low for the month of November.

- Casper, Wyoming, dipped to -27 at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday night, shattering their all-time November record low of -21 on Nov. 23, 1985 (records date to 1939). The temperature stayed at -27 at midnight Thursday, making it the new record low for Nov. 13 as well. Previously, the soonest Casper plunged to -27 was on Dec. 5, 1972. Casper's high of 6 on Nov. 11 was the record earliest single-digit or colder high temperature there. (On Nov. 15, 1955, the high was only -3 degrees). Wednesday, Casper only managed a high of 3 degrees!

- Denver's high of 6 on Nov. 12 was the coldest daily high so early in the season. Only three other November days had daily high temperatures colder in Denver, dating to 1872. Early Thursday morning, Denver chalked up a bone-chilling -14 degrees, easily the coldest temperature so early in the season. (Nov. 17, 1880 was the previous earliest such cold reading in Denver.)

- Livingston, Montana, dipped to -21 Wednesday, their coldest so early in the season. That said, they once dipped to -31 degrees just one day later in the calendar, on November 13, 1959.

- Riverton, Wyoming had a daytime high of 0 degrees Thursday. 

- In the Southern Plains, Amarillo (21), Lubbock (27),  Childress (29) and Goodland (14) all set their coldest daily high temperatures on record for so early in the season on Wednesday.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/arctic-cold-outbreak-november-locked-20141110

Arctic Blast Brings First Freeze, Record Cold to Parts of the East

An arctic blast arrived during the weekend with the first freeze of the season for many, and record low temperatures felt by many as well.

High temperatures early last week were above average from the Northeast to the South. Savannah, Georgia, set a record high of 90 degrees on Monday, which was the latest 90 degree temperature recorded there (the previous record was October 21). Record high temperatures were also tied last Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, (84), Tuscaloosa, Alabama, (85) and Alma, Georgia (89).

Last Tuesday, record high temperatures were set once again, including Rochester, New York, (80),Morgantown, West Virginia, (79), New Bern, North Carolina, (86) and Youngstown, Ohio (77).

That warmth quickly came to an end, and the areas that saw record highs on Monday and Tuesday saw temperatures nosedive.  In Columbia, SC, after making it to 87 last Tuesday, they were greeted by their earliest measurable snowfall on record Saturday morning.  

(MORE: Expert Analysis | Winter Storm Central)

It felt chilly and raw from the Midwest into the Southeast and it was very windy behind the cold front, too. Wind gusts of 40-60 mph were strong enough to cause some power outages and tree damage along the east coast.

Record lows were set Saturday morning in Springfield, Missouri (22) and tied in St. Joseph, Missouri (20). Twenties were felt as far south as northeast Oklahoma and northern Arkansas, while lows in the 30s were seen as far south as Mobile, Alabama, Slidell, Louisiana, and parts of the western Florida Panhandle.

Afternoon temperatures Saturday plunged or held in the 40s in much of the Tennessee Valley, and as far south as the Lowcountry of South Carolina. The strong north to northwest winds made it feel even colder.

It was even colder Sunday morning in the Southeast.

Record low temperatures were set in Florida on Sunday, including Daytona Beach (41), Melbourne (44), and Vero Beach (41) to name a few.  Toledo, OH tied their record low Sunday morning, making it to 22.

http://www.weather.com/sports-rec/below-zero/first-freeze-record-cold-20141029

Wintry Conditions in Chicago: Lake Michigan Overflows onto Lake Shore Drive; Over 300 Cancelations at O'Hare

Not only is Chicago experiencing its first snowfall of the season, gusty winds are also producing troubling conditions for both commuters and travelers.

Current Winds

Wind gusts as high as 53 mph were recorded at the Chicago Midway International Airport. Wind gusts reached 49 mph at the Chicago Executive Airport. Nearby in Gary, Indiana, winds gusted as high as 69 mph at the Gary/Chicago International Airport.

ABC-7 reports that high winds whipped up tall waves on Lake Michigan and led to closures on Lake Shore Drive’s northbound lanes. The windy conditions were created by a rapid change of air pressure.

(FORECAST: Arctic Blast Will Bring First Freeze, Record Cold to Parts of the East) 

"When an area of low pressure sets up near an area of high pressure, air flows quickly from high to low in the form of wind. The greater the pressure differences, the faster the wind speeds that can develop,” weather.com meteorologist Chrissy Warrilow said.

O’Hare International Airport canceled over 300 flights because of the weather, while Midway International Airport continued normal operations, NBC Chicago reports.

According to the National Weather Service, a tenth of an inch of snow was recorded at both the Chicago O’Hare Airport and the Rockford Airport. This is the first measurable snowfall recorded in Chicago on Halloween. 

http://www.weather.com/news/commuter-conditions/chicago-snow-winds-impacts-20141031

San Francisco Rising to Threat of Swelling Seas

The fog of uncertainty cast by rising seas is starting to lift from $25 billion worth of public projects planned in San Francisco.

The City by the (rising) Bay, where bayfront shorelines will continue to experience worsening high tide flooding, where the nearby international airport is among the nation’s most vulnerable to floods, and where Pacific Ocean shoreline erosion could be accelerated by sea level rise, has adopted a first-in-the-nation approach to assessing potential infrastructure risks posed by rising seas.

(MORE: Greenhouse Emissions on the Rise)

The new guidance, which includes a simple project checklist, will help officials incorporate sea level rise into decisions about building and upgrading everything from pipes to police stations to streets. Seas have risen 8 inches since industry started burning fossil fuels, although long-term ocean cycles have temporarily spared the West Coast from some of those impacts in recent decades. Two or three more feet of sea level rise is forecast globally this century.

http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/san-francisco-tackles-sea-level-rise-threat-20141024

Florida: Record Nine Years Have Passed Without A Hurricane Landfall, But That Streak Will End ... Eventually

Friday, October 24 marks nine years since Hurricane Wilma made landfall in southwest Florida, a record hurricane-free streak for the Sunshine State.

(MORE: Recap | Photos | One of Costliest)

This is the longest stretch on record dating to 1851 that no hurricanes have made landfall in the state. The longest hurricane-free streak prior to this one was five consecutive seasons from 1980 to 1984.

This is impressive, considering the coastline of Florida spans more than 1,260 miles from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Ocean, and an average of 8 hurricanes have formed each year since 2005.

Equally impressive is the barrage of storms that pummeled the state before the hurricane drought.

NOAA

Hurricane Wilma (2005)

Wilma made landfall just south of Naples, Florida, as a Category 3 hurricane, producing widespread wind damage in southern Florida.

Charley, Frances, Jeanne and Ivan pounded Florida in 2004, followed by Dennis, Katrina andWilma in the historic 2005 hurricane season. Ritapassed south of the Florida Keys that year, but did produce significant storm surge flooding in Key West.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/florida-hurricane-free-streak-luck-run-out-20140801

Kelvin-Helmholtz Billow Clouds Spotted in Thornton, Colorado (PHOTOS)

Though it looks like someone painted the sky with breaking ocean waves in the collection of photos above, there's a very good atmospheric explanation for what is really happening. The rolling, wave-like cloud formations are called Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds. Sometimes they are also called billows. They are named for scientists Lord Kelvin and Hermann von Helmholtz, who discovered the process by which they form.
Severe Weather Expert Dr. Greg Forbes of The Weather Channel says, "They are the atmospheric equivalent of those great breaking waves that you sometimes see on the ocean."

These breaking atmospheric waves occur in an environment with a large amount of vertical wind shear and stable air. Wind shear is a change in the speed and direction of winds as you go higher in the atmosphere.

In this case, winds at the top of the cloud layer are moving faster than the base of that same layer. This causes the top to crash downwards in a curling manner after it hits the stable layer above.

Pacific Northwest Storm Unleashes Powerful Damaging Winds; Trees, Power Lines Down

A strong storm system moved into the Northwest this weekend, delivering damaging winds and heavy rains.

Oregon suffered the brunt of the storm's fury Saturday as wind gusts of up to 91 mph whipped areas of the state, downing trees, power lines and causing multiple power outages. 

As of Saturday evening, over 68,200 customers were without power in Oregon and Washington. 

According to the National Weather Service in Medford, several trees fell on vehicles in Madrona & 101 RV park, prompting the rescue of those trapped. One person was reported injured and hospitalized. The park suffered fires started by downed wires and was severely damaged.

KVAL-TV noted that scattered outages were reported by utilities across western Oregon after wind began picking up late Saturday morning.

Powerful winds downed trees, and firefighters and PGE responded to several reports of downed power lines, according to Fox12 Oregon. 

http://www.weather.com/safety/thunderstorms/pacific-northwest-storm-update-20141026

Typhoon Vongfong Injures Dozens, Reaches Japanese Mainland

Just days after Typhoon Phanfone left three American servicemen dead on Japan's Okinawa Island, Typhoon Vongfong battered its shores once again with ferocious winds and drenching rain before weakening overnight on Sunday. Dozens have been injured and at least one fisherman is missing. One American is among the injured, according to some Japanese media reports.

The storm reached the southwestern tip of the four main Japanese islands Monday and should reach Tokyo by Tuesday. Authorities issued landslide warnings and told at least 375,000 people to evacuate on Kyushu as Vongfong approached.

At least 52 people have been injured nationwide, according to NHK. Both a man in his twenties and a nine-year-old girl had fingers severed when high winds slammed doors shut.

“These are two separate cases, but in both cases they lost one of their fingers as the door closed violently due to the strong winds,” a local official told the Japan Times. 

Several elderly people In Okinawa City and Uruma sustained injuries in falls, according to the Okinawa Times. More injuries were reported in Ginowan, Yomitanson and Yaese-cho. 

The Asahi Shimbun, a national newspaper, said three Chinese fishermen were swept into the Pacific Ocean by high waves in Shizuoka Prefecture, well east of Vongfong's core, on Sunday morning. Two of the fishermen were rescued, but the third remains missing.

http://www.weather.com/safety/hurricanes/vongfong-okinawa-japan-20141012

Tropical Storm Fay Batters Bermuda; Thousands Left without Power, Airport Flooded

Tropical Storm Fay brought down power lines, damaged buildings and uprooted trees as it passed over Bermuda Sunday morning. The ferocity of the storm, which escalated quickly on Sunday morning, took many Bermuda residents by surprise. 

(MORE: Tropical Storm Fay Forecast) 

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my 82 years,” Spanish Port resident Charles Rebello told the Royal Gazette.  “I thought it was going to be an ordinary wind, but it turned into much more. Trees were bent double. All kinds of trees were coming down. It’s going to take me weeks to clean it up.”

According to Bermuda Electric Light Company, around 27,000 customers were without power Sunday morning. 

The company has asked residents to withhold calls for several hours so that crews can restore power as quickly as possible.

The Royal Gazette reports that the terminal building of LF Wade Airport has experienced major flooding. Though runways are open for emergency flights, most flights have been on 'rolling delays' and passengers aren't being allowed through the airport. 

Several roads on the island are blocked due to downed trees and debris and officials are urging residents to stay off the roads until crews are able to clear them. Two cruise ships that were scheduled to dock in Bermuda today have been delayed. 

The island archipelago of Bermuda has 65,000 inhabitants and enforces strict building codes to ensure that homes and buildings can withstand bad weather, the Associated Press reports. 

http://www.weather.com/safety/hurricanes/fay-bermuda-impacts-20141012

Derecho Hits Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, Knocking Out Power to Thousands; Fort Worth Stockyards Heavily Damaged

A derecho, or long-lived severe weather system with damaging straight-line winds, moved through Arkansas, North Texas and Louisiana on Thursday, tearing roofs off houses, downing huge trees and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands. At least three tornadoes have been confirmed, an EF1 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and EF1 near Benton, Kentucky and EF0 near Waldenburg, Arkansas. 

"A warm, moist air mass set up throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas on Thursday. Temperatures were in the upper 80s for much of the region, and dew points were even in the 70s," said weather.com meteorologist Chrissy Warrilow. "This warm, moist air served as the 'fuel' that enhanced and sustained the thunderstorms that developed along a plunging cold front."

Texas

Strong storms that barreled through Dallas and Fort Worth left behind damage to buildings and vehicles, knocked out power for hundreds of thousands and at injured at least two people.  Wind gusts reached speeds as high as 83 mph in the town of Wills Point, east of Dallas, according to local storm reports.

At least one person was struck by lightning in Texas, KXII reports. A female teacher at Lamar Elementary School in Denison was getting into her car when lightning struck nearby, the report added. KXII also said she never lost consciousness, but was transferred to Texoma Medical Center for precautionary reasons.

Another person suffered minor injuries after a roof blew off at Arlington Baptist College, the Arlington Police Department reports.

Images on Twitter showed major damage to the Fort Worth Stockyards, a popular tourist attraction with restaurants and clubs. A wall appears to have collapsed and piles of bricks were crushing several vehicles. A revolving door was destroyed by high winds at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, according to National Weather Service storm reports.

http://www.weather.com/safety/thunderstorms/southern-plains-southeast-derecho-20141003

October Chill Targets the East, Summer Returns in the West

The calendar now says "October," and a plunge of chilly air is driving south in time for the month's first weekend in the Midwest and East. Meanwhile, the West coast will be heating back up.

This past Sunday, Caribou, Maine basked in 84-degree warmth, the hottest temperature on record so late in the season, there. Daily record highs were also set Sunday in at least a dozen other northern cities, including Newark (87), Providence (86), Sault Ste. Marie (80) and Duluth (81). 

Changes, however, are in the wind, and they will continue into the weekend. An upper-atmospheric trough is carving southward into the East and Midwest, while a corresponding upper-atmospheric ridge builds into the West. The past few days we have had a ridge in the East and a trough in the West.

This pattern change will bring temperatures that are 20-30 degrees colder for some locations in the northern Plains. Temperatures will also be cooler in parts of the Midwest and Northeast, where highs will go from the 70s and 80s this past weekend, to the 50s and 60s, with a few locations in the Midwest even staying in the 40s, this weekend.

Over the weekend, we can't rule out a few wet snowflakes mixing in with a cold, wind-driven light rain from Minnesota and Iowa into Illinois and Michigan. 

In fact, there should be bands of lake-enhanced rain, and yes, perhaps some wet flakes in the hills away from the lakes, overnight through at least early Sunday from Upper Michigan to central and Upstate New York. Quite a calling card for fall, eh?

So fall conditions will likely return to the Midwest and Northeast this weekend, while summer won't let go of the West coast yet. Fall is definitely a season of change and this will be apparent to many as we head through early October.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-forecast/pattern-change-ahead-20140927

Volcano Erupts In Japan, Leaves Hundreds Stranded

A volcano in central Japan erupted on Saturday, injuring at least 40 people and leaving another seven missing. 

Mount Ontake erupted just before noon local time, sending a thick plume of ash into the sky on a clear fall day and causing people on the mountain to flee.

"It was like thunder," a woman told broadcaster NHK of the first eruption at the volcano in seven years. "I heard boom, boom, then everything went dark."

Over 250 people were initially trapped on the mountain, but most were able to make it down by Saturday night. The injured were still trapped in mountain lodges, because they were unable to descend 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake on their own, said Sohei Hanamura, a crisis management official in Nagano prefecture. Thirty-two people had serious injuries, including at least seven who lost consciousness.

Lodge managers were familiar with first aid procedures and were communicating with rescue officials in town, he said.

On the Gifu prefecture side of the mountain, 52 people were able to descend, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

The 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake sits on the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, on the main Japanese island of Honshu.

In a YouTube video shown on Japanese TV, shocked climbers can be seen moving quickly away from the peak as an expanding plume of ash emerges above and then engulfs them.

Mikio Oguro, an NHK journalist who was on the slope on an unrelated assignment, told the station that he saw massive smoke coming out of the crater, blocking sunlight and reducing visibility to zero.

"Massive ash suddenly fell and the entire area was totally covered with ash," he said by phone. He and his crew had to use headlights to find a lodge to take refuge.

"My colleagues later told me that they thought they might die," Oguro said.

Japan's meteorological agency raised the alert level for Mount Ontake to 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. It warned people to stay away from the mountain, saying ash and other debris could fall up to 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away.

California King Fire: Rain Aids Firefighters, Local Infrastructure Spared

Heavy rains and projected wet weather for the weekend are giving firefighters the upper hand against the massive King Fire. 

The wildfire, which has burned more than 150 square miles in the Sierra Nevada, is close to several hydroelectric plants and power lines.

Although it’s destroyed a dozen homes near the town of Pollock Pines in El Dorado County, most of the area’s infrastructure (including several reservoirs important to Northern California) has been spared.

"Temperatures have dropped considerably, and relative humidity values have increased since earlier in the week. This, coupled with a slight chance of rain through the weekend, will provide more favorable conditions for managing the flames,” weather.com meteorologist Chrissy Warilow said.

The King Fire that authorities say was started Sept. 13 by an arsonist was 68 percent contained Friday.

The fire burned intensely through more than 5 miles of the canyon carved by the Rubicon River, which is designated a wild trout river. Walsh said damage to the river and its fish will depend on whether the fire leads to erosion and mudslides this winter.

The fire also passed through the Leonardi Falls Botanical Interest Area, known for its unique and sensitive plants. Walsh did not know how much damage was done to the 215-acre site northeast of Stumpy Meadows Reservoir.

It burned around three sides of the reservoir itself, which is the sole water supply for the 2,400 residents of Georgetown, 15 miles downstream. But the flames missed a boat launch, recreation area and the historic Gold Rush town's water distribution system.

The fire came within a mile of the El Dorado Irrigation District's power house along the South Fork of the American River, and within 8 feet of a pipe that feeds mountain water to the hydroelectric plant. Surveillance cameras showed flames burning near other buildings and wooden flumes without doing harm.

"Fortunately, we dodged a couple bullets," utility spokeswoman Mary Lynn Carlton said. "We were really lucky."

http://www.weather.com/safety/wildfires/california-king-fire-20140926

Heavy Rains Create Flash Floods in Florida

Heavy rainfall in Florida flooded roadways on Friday afternoon, stranding several cars and even a school bus.

As much as 4.41 inches of rain were recorded on Bannerwood Lane in Palm Coast, which is south of St. Augustine in northeast Florida. The National Weather Service received reports of several vehicles stranded in the floodwaters.

Flagler County Sheriff Deputy Paula Priester states that a school bus en route from Rymfire Elementary had to return back to the school due to high floodwaters.

Further south, over 2.5 inches of rain fell in Tampa, which stranded cars in Hillsborough County at Occident and Fern Street, WFLA reports.

The heavy rain event may be the beginning of a long weekend of flash flooding, as heavy rain and thunderstorms remain in the forecast for much of Florida through Sunday.

http://www.weather.com/safety/floods/heavy-rain-flash-flood-tampa-palm-coast-florida-20140926

Global Warming Is Changing the Gulf of Maine, Imperiling Its Lobster, Fish Catch

The words "Maine" and "lobster" go hand-in-hand, but the day is coming when the Pine Tree State's rocky coastline will no longer be home to its most famous crustacean.

That's because the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of the world's oceans, scientists say, pushing out long-established species of commercial fish like cod, herring and northern shrimp, which are quickly departing for colder waters further north.

Meanwhile, black sea bass, blue crabs and new species of squid -- all highly unusual for the Gulf -- are turning up in fishermen's nets.

The Gulf of Maine's warming reflects broader trends around the North Atlantic. But the statistic -- accepted by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- underscores particular fears about the Gulf's unique ecosystem and the lucrative fishing industries it supports for three U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.

"These changes are very real, and we're seeing them happen quickly," said Malin Pinsky, a biology professor at New Jersey's Rutgers University who studies ocean temperature change and was not involved in the research that resulted in the 99 percent statistic.

It is a rallying point for environmental activists, who see the response to the temperature rise and its impact on fisheries as a touchstone for the global debate about climate change.

"The warming is already here," said Jeff Young, a spokesman for Pew Charitable Trust's oceans project, which has campaigned in favor of restrictions on fishing for herring, another species leaving for colder water. "And we have to deal with it."

The rising waters in the Gulf -- a big dent in the East Coast stretching from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick -- have interfered with the work of Diane Cowan, founder of the Lobster Conservancy, who has conducted lobster censuses in New England for 22 years.

The changes threaten a three-state industry valued at more than $1 billion in 2012, a year in which fishermen caught more than 550 million pounds, NOAA statistics say.

Governments are reacting by creating new commercial fisheries; Maine regulators are in the process of creating a licensing process for black sea bass, a species associated more with the mid-Atlantic.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/warming-gulf-maine-imperils-lobster-20140903

In Oceans Made Hotter, More Acidic By Global Warming, What Life Will Survive?

Marine losers abound in the hustling currents of warming and acidifying oceans. Trying to figure out which types of sea life, particularly those that form calcium carbonate-rich cells and exoskeletons, such as some plankton, corals, and shellfish, will thrive amid climate change can be like playing a high-stakes shell game.

New research suggests that at least one type of plankton could overcome what would seem to be long odds, and double down on its ecosystem dominance. The surprise finding is a positive early development in an oft-bleak field as scientists start to investigate which marine species face the greatest risks of dying out — their shells emptied by the lethal effects of environmental switcheroos.

Most of global warming’s heat is ending up in the oceans, making the waters less hospitable for many species.

And a quarter of the carbon dioxide pumped into the air by humans is dissolving into oceans, where it undergoes chemical reactions that increase the water’s acidity by reducing concentrations of carbonates that some organisms use to produce shells. These changes have contributed to coral bleaching, to holes in sea snail shells, and to die-offs at oyster farms.

Coccolithophores are single-celled plants surrounded by individual calcium carbonate sheaths that underpin many food webs. They form plankton blooms so thick they are tracked using satellites.

Researchers working in a laboratory exposed a species of the plankton, Emiliania huxleyi, to fast-paced environmental changes reminiscent of those underway in the wild. They reported Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change that they had observed surprisingly fast rates of evolutionary adaptation.

Much more work with this and other types of sea life will be needed before scientists can paint any kind of clear picture of the future of marine ecosystems. But the findings provide important early clues.

“You will get species that are able to evolve, and others that are not,” Reusch said. “That’s a big question that will occupy us for the next 10 or 20 years; to find out if there are any meta attributes that we can tell from the genomes, and from the physiology, that are telling us how evolutionarily flexible they are.”

http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/what-survive-oceans-hotter-acidic-20140915

Solar storm heading for Earth

A "strong" solar flare that launched off the sun Wednesday afternoon could cause some fluctuations in Earth's power grid and slight disturbances in satellites and radio transmissions on Friday and Saturday.

Major disruptions are not expected, even though the flare was classified as an "X-class" flare, which is at the high end of the solar flare scale. Wednesday's flare followed a weaker flare late Monday.

"We expect geomagnetic storm levels in the G2 (moderate) and G3 (strong) range," said Bill Murtagh, space weather forecaster for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"G2-G3 geomagnetic storms can cause some problems for the (power) grid but are typically very manageable," Murtagh said in an e-mail Thursday morning. "We may also see some anomalies with satellites so satellite operators around the world have been notified. And problems with the accuracy of GPS have been observed with this level of storming."

Forecasters with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., said the flare "caused impacts to high-frequency radio communications on Earth" Wednesday afternoon.

PHOTOS: 'Snowtember' Whitens Montana to South Dakota

Heavy snowfall Wednesday night and Thursday morning covered parts of Montana, Wyoming and western South Dakota.

As of Thursday morning, up to 6-8 inches accumulated on portions of the Black Hills in South Dakota, and Cut Bank and Lewistown in Montana had their first snowfall of the season. The early snowfall has caused over 30,000 power outages in Calgary, Alberta, and threatened to cause power outages in the Rockies and northern Plains of the United States.

AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said "Many times when we see an outbreak like this, this early in the season, it doesn't last and will go back to normal pretty quickly."

Heavy snow arrived early due to cold air building in from the Arctic. Residents of the affected areas are more likely to see weather like this in late October and early November.

Rapid City, South Dakota, recorded the earliest measurable snowfall on Sept. 10-11. This broke the previous early season snowfall of Sept. 13, 1970.

A trace of snow fell in North Platte, Nebraska, on Sept. 11, setting the earliest snowfall on record

Odile to Renew Risk of Flooding in Arizona, Nevada, California

The latest hurricane in the Pacific, Odile, will bring the potential for drenching downpours and a risk of flash flooding in the Southwest starting on Wednesday.

According to AccuWeather.com Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski, Odile is forecast to strengthen and take a path that roughly parallels the coast of Baja California, Mexico, next week.

The circulation around the system will pump another round of moisture into Arizona and portions of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Southern California.

Cities that could experience flash and urban flooding problems include Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Palm Springs and Riverside, California; and Las Vegas.

There is a chance of some of the downpours reaching the Southern California coast, including San Diego and Los Angeles.

According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Ken Clark, "The most likely days for downpours to reach the Southern California coast are Wednesday and Thursday."

"First the humid air must return to the Southwest, then once it does the way is paved for torrential downpours."

In addition to the threat of flash flooding, mudslides, washouts and dust storms can occur.

Motorists may want to have a more northern, alternate route planned spanning Wednesday through Friday of next week.