GLOBAL WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

DECEMBER 2022

UNITED STATES

A "significant winter storm  dumped heavy snow and made travel dangerous as it makes its way across the west of the country over the weekend, Forecasters warned early Saturday.  “High winds, heavy snow and heavy precipitation will reached the Pacific Northwest today, then impact California,” the National Weather Service said in a bulletin.  More than 5 feet of snow is expected in the Sierra Nevada, resulting in “extremely dangerous travel, especially across mountain passes,” it added.  The U.S. Forest Service activated a backcountry avalanche watch late Friday in the central Sierra including Tahoe and warned of higher avalanche danger Saturday into Sunday.  “A winter storm with gale force winds, high intensity snowfall and feet of new snow accumulation may result in widespread avalanche activity in the mountains,” the Forest Service Sierra Avalanche Center said Friday.  “Triggering avalanches would be easy on steep slopes in exposed and sheltered areas where new snow rests on top of weak snow or where wind-drifted snow exists near ridges,” it added.

Several western states are battling heavy rain, wind and flooding as a powerful storm system sweeps across the region.  This system, called an “atmospheric river”, bore down on portions of northern California, Oregon and Washington on Tuesday. The deluge could also spur mudslides and debris flows, according to the New York Times.  Rainfall could even fall at the startling rate of an inch per hour. Meteorologists said that while atmospheric rivers are commonplace in the US west, this week’s storm stood out for its expected length and strength, per the Times. By early Tuesday, there were reports of flooded roads and felled trees as the system went over the San Francisco area. Some experienced power outages, according to USA Today. At one point early on Wednesday, Axios reported, there were 128,000 customers without power in Oregon. In Olympia, Washington, officials reported a record high tide of 18.4ft. Parts of the city were submerged, CBS reported. “Jellyfish washed over the shoreline and into our streets,” Eric Christensen, Olympia water resources director, was quoted by CBS News as saying: “There was a woman who was kind enough to rescue them and put them back into Budd Inlet.”  More than one dozen homes were flooded in Seattle on Tuesday, the Seattle Times reported, noting that severe coastal flooding was predicted until 1pm local time on Wednesday. Heavy snowfall is expected in the mountains spanning from Washington state to California. In the Sierra Nevada mountain range, some ridge-top winds have already reached 120mph, USA Today said.

Emergency crews in New York were scrambling to rescue marooned residents from what authorities called the “blizzard of the century,” a relentless storm that has left 27 dead in the state and taken at least 60 lives nationwide, according to an NBC News tally.

In New York state, authorities have described ferocious conditions, particularly in Buffalo, with hours-long whiteouts, bodies being discovered in vehicles and under snow banks, and emergency personnel going “car to car” searching for more motorists, alive or dead.  On Monday night, US president Joe Biden issued a federal emergency declaration for the state of New York, authorizing government assistance to bolster state and local recovery efforts. 

A wild winter storm enveloped much of the U.S. on Saturday, bringing blizzards, freezing rain, flooding and intense cold close to record lows. More than a dozen deaths were attributed to the storm. Holiday travel and utilities were disrupted, with around 1.4 million homes and businesses left without power by late afternoon.  Forecasters said the storm, a “bomb cyclone” or “bombogenesis”, was caused by a collision of cold, dry air from the north and warm, moist air from the south.  More than 200 million people were under some form of winter advisory or warning in “one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever”, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.  As the system pushed as far south as Texas, many faced the coldest Christmas Eve for decades. The storm, named Elliott, downed power lines, littered highways with accidents and led to mass flight cancellations. It stretched 2,000 miles from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the Mexico border. Temperatures were drastically below normal from the Rockies to the Appalachians.  Freezing rain coated much of the Pacific north-west, while the north east faced coastal and inland flooding followed by rapid freezing. Heavy rain falling onto a melting snowpack will enhance flooding impacts,” the NWS said. “Moderate to isolated major coastal flooding is forecast due to strong onshore winds. Rapidly falling temperatures on the backside of the storm could cause flooded areas to freeze.”  Frigid temperatures and gusty winds were expected to produce “dangerously cold wind chills across much of the central and eastern US, a potentially life-threatening hazard for travelers that become stranded”.

EUROPE

LISBON, Portugal — Local authorities put Lisbon on high alert on Wednesday evening and urged people in the capital city to stay indoors as heavy rains killed at least one person, washed cars away and flooded several buildings.  Portuguese weather agency IPMA placed Lisbon as well as the neighboring district of Santarem and the southern Algarve region on a “red” weather warning due to intense rainfall and strong winds, which are expected to continue until Friday.  In Lisbon, the Civil Protection authority has reported hundreds of incidents, from flooded streets, train stations, a theatre and even a hospital. Authorities have had to shut roads and tunnels.