ICE AGE NOW: Global Cooling Continues Relentlessly - Significant Snowfall Closes Roads In Mexico; Arctic Blast Blankets Fort St. John, BC With RECORD SNOWFALL; Volcanic Aerosols Verify Imminent GLOBAL COOLING; Hundreds Evacuated From The Raging Snowstorm In Kazakhstan; And Lake Huron In Canada Shows Near HISTORIC Ice Cover! [PHOTOS + VIDEOS]

"Report snowfall # Temosachic , # Chihuahua at 9:30 pm"© Via twitter@conagua_clima

March 10, 2016 - EARTH - The following articles constitutes several of the latest reports on heavy snowfall, low temperatures and snow storms as global cooling continues across the Earth.

White Spring? Significant snowfall closes roads in Mexico

Chihuahua, Sonora and Durango reported snowfall and road closures. In some municipalities the snowfall is "significant".

On 8 March 2016, the State Coordination of Civil Protection in Chihuahua reported snowfall in 17 municipalities:

- Uruachi 20 cm (8 inches),
- Ocampo, 18 cm;
- Maguarichi, 15 cm;
- Bocoyna, 12 cm
- Guerrero, 12 cm

The governor, Cesar Duarte, asked the public to exercise caution before the arrival of a new cold front.

Snowfall was reported in Madera, Buenaventura, Matachi, Temosachi, Bachíniva, Farias, Ignacio Zaragoza, Ocampo, Bocoyna, Moris, Uruachi, Guerrero, Carichi, Maguarichi, Guazapares, Guachochi and Chínipas.

#Chihuahua. Cierre total de circulación por #Nevada km 183 Ctra. Fed. Chihuahua-Madera, tramo Cuauhtémoc-La Junta pic.twitter.com/5SfeW2XKtW

— Policía Federal Mx (@PoliciaFedMx) March 8, 2016

Me mandaron esta increíble imagen de la nevada de hoy en Madera ¡Chihuahua no deja de sorprendernos! pic.twitter.com/s8EtCLQSl8

— César Duarte Jáquez (@GoberDuarte) March 8, 2016

WATCH: Snow at 19°N Mid-March Southern Mexico.

- Ice Age Now.

Arctic blast blankets Fort St. John, BC with record snowfall

City crews clear snow at 102nd Street and 105th Avenue in Fort St. John Tuesday morning following Sunday's record snowfall. © Bronwyn Scott

It was a snowy weekend in Fort St. John and there's a new record to prove it.

According to Environment Canada, a total of 17 centimetres of the white stuff blanketed the city over the weekend, with a record 9.8 centimetres falling on Sunday on top of the seven centimetres that fell on Saturday.
Dawson Creek had only a light dusting of snow on Saturday, but saw 6.5 centimetres fall on Sunday.

"It was a good little Arctic front that passed over you guys," said Matt MacDonald, meteorologist with Environment Canada.

"It's been not the snowiest of winters up there, and, as I always caution people, March typically comes in like a lion, and I think it was a perfect example," he said.

The previous snowfall record for March 6 in Fort St. John was 6.6 centimetres in 1966.

El Nino Weakening, Expect La Nina Next year

Warmer temperatures are in the forecast for the rest of the week, with a high temperature of 7 C predicted for Wednesday in Fort St. John. The normal high for this time of year is -1 C, MacDonald said.

"So that's a good seven, eight degrees warmer than normal," he said.

It's typical of what we've seen this winter - "It's been very mild, been one of the mildest winters on record, and that's all owing to good old El Nino," he said.

El Nino, characterized by warmer than usual water temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, peaked at the end of January and is now decreasing in intensity, which is typical for the weather phenomenon.

"It usually reaches its strongest values towards the end of January, and climate models have all been in really good agreement suggesting that we return to neutral conditions by about May," MacDonald said.

In terms of what to expect for spring, the trend of warmer conditions will continue, despite El Nino weakening - "It's still there," MacDonald said.

"The warm air is here to stay ... I think the beginning of summer we can expect closer to normal conditions, so by the time El Nino fizzles out, we could expect normal conditions for the month of May and June."

While we've appreciated a mild, low-snowfall winter in the Peace, we're in store for a colder, snowier fall and winter next year with La Nina, El Nino's opposite, making a comeback for winter 2016-17.

"Instead of the waters in the equatorial Pacific being warmer than normal, they're going to now be colder than normal. Typically, La Nina falls and winters mean colder than normal conditions and snowier than usual," MacDonald explained. - Alaska Highway News.

Volcanic Aerosols Verify Imminent Global Cooling

Several studies show that when abundant aerosols from multiple or volcanic eruptions they create a feedback loop of reflected radiation and cooling commences. This is directly related to a weakened magnetosphere due to the new grand solar minimum.

WATCH:  Unusual clouds globally tell the story.

- Adapt 2030.

Lake Huron in Southern Ontario, Canada shows near historic ice cover

WATCH: Stunning footage of Lake Huron's ice cover.

- Earth Sky.

Hundreds evacuated from raging snowstorm in Kazakhstan

© tvoygorodpskov.ru

In the North-Kazakhstan region about 630 people have become hostages of bad weather, said the news agency Novosti-Kazakhstan.

Employees of emergency services evacuated 700 people and hundreds of cars on the Buran highways .

Rescue work is continuing on the roads of North Kazakhstan, Akmola and Kostanay districts (oblasts), said an official from the Committee for Emergency Situations.

Akmola evacuated 444 people, including 11 children, and towed 174 vehicles, where the snowstorm was raging.  - Ice Age Now.

MASS BIRD DIE-OFF: 7,500 Songbirds Dead After "Flying Into A Gas Flare" From Gas Plant In St. John, Canada - Migrating Birds, Some Possible Endangered Species!

September 20, 2013 - CANADA - About 7,500 songbirds, possibly including some endangered species, were killed while flying over a gas plant in Saint John late last week, officials have confirmed.

It appears the migrating birds flew into the gas flare at Canaport LNG between Friday night and Saturday morning, said Fraser Forsythe, the company's health, safety, security and environmental manager.

A large number of red-eyed vireos were among the estimated 7,500 migrating songbirds killed by the flare at
Canaport LNG. (Courtesy of the Migration Research Foundation)

The birds were drawn to the flame like moths, an extremely unusual event, according to Don McAlpine, the head of zoology at the New Brunswick Museum.

"They would circle in around that and of course with a large flame like that and high temperatures, they wouldn't need to get terribly close to become singed or burned."

The weather conditions were foggy and overcast at the time, which may have contributed to the incident, said McAlpine.

Not much is known about how such birds navigate at night, but officials believe they are attracted to light, particularly red or flashing lights, he said.

The flare tower at the Canaport liquefied natural gas receiving and regasification terminal is about 30 metres tall and the size of the flame varies, depending on weather conditions. It is typically higher amid low-pressure systems.

Flaring is part of the standard operation at the east side plant, located on Red Head Road, and is designed as a safety release system. It is used to maintain normal operating pressure by burning off small amounts of excess natural gas.

An estimated 6,800 birds were killed, while several hundred more were injured and had to be put down. "There were too many birds to count," said McAlpine.

"A crude estimate at this stage suggests about 7,500 birds died," he said. "There's certainly more than 5,000 and probably less than 10,000 birds affected."

McAlpine is still examining several hundred of the dead birds, which are being stored in a freezer, to try to identify their species.

There were a large number of red-eyed vireos, several types of warblers, including parula, black-and-white, magnolias and redstarts, as well as a few thrushes and rose-breasted grosbeaks, he said.

It's possible there may have also been some endangered species, such as the olive-sided flycatcher and Canada warbler, which are on the federal government's species at risk registry, said McAlpine.

"There are some flycatchers involved, but I haven't identified them yet. There's very few. Likewise with the Canada warbler, I haven't seen any yet, but it doesn't mean they're not there."

Many of the birds were badly burned, but some appeared completely unscathed, said McAlpine. He suspects they became disoriented and hit the tower or the ground, but several have been sent to the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island for necropsies to determine if there were any underlying conditions or external factors that may have contributed to the bird deaths.

The affected birds, which are mostly insect-eating, spend their summers in New Brunswick nesting and breeding before heading to Mexico, Central and South America for the winter, he said.

Staff 'reduced to tears'

Canaport LNG employees were devastated when they discovered the dead and injured birds piled up around the base of the plant's flame on Saturday morning, said Forsythe.

"We've got people that are pretty well reduced to tears here," he said.

"It has really struck home to our employees here and they've expressed a lot of remorse to me that this would happen. It's a very unexpected event," Forsythe said, adding it was the first incident of this type at the plant.

Cleanup efforts continued into Tuesday, said Forsythe.

Staff alerted the provincial Department of Environment, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Atlantic Wildlife Institute in Sackville about the incident immediately, he said.

Barry Rothfuss, executive director of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute, said they are still busy dealing with the "carnage."

But they hope to be able to determine the cause and make recommendations to prevent a similar occurrence. "That's going to take some time," he said.

"I don't think it could have been necessarily perceived and accidents like this do happen and so it's a learning experience for all of us," Rothfuss added.

McAlpine said there is not a lot of information about bird mortalities involving flare towers.

"There's been a recognized need recently for further monitoring of this kind of thing," he said.

Still, McAlpine, said it's important to put the incident in perspective, noting an estimated one billion birds in the U.S. are killed every year from human causes.


WATCH: 7,500 songbirds killed at Canaport gas plant in Saint John.

"Although this is certainly a tragic event and it's shocking to see 7,500 dead birds, it’s a drop in the bucket in terms of the number of birds that are killed from human actions every year," said McAlpine.

The leading cause of death is birds flying into tall office buildings, while house cats rank third, he said.

Canaport LNG, owned by Repsol and Irving Oil Ltd., lists bird monitoring as among its environmental and reporting activities on its website.

Migratory birds have been considered in previous environmental impact assessments at the terminal.

In March 2012, Canaport LNG announced plans for a $43-million upgrade to make the facility more efficient and cut down on flaring. - CBC.

DELUGE: Louisiana Declares State Of Emergency Over Flooding As Storm Drenches Region!

January 11, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Thursday, as the National Weather Service issued multiple flood warnings after severe weather drenched the state's southeast region.

Vehicles drive through floodwaters on Canal Boulevard in Thibodaux, La., Jan. 10. Gov. Bobby Jindal
declared a statewide emergency Thursday after storms rolled across Louisiana, dumping huge amounts
of rain and flooding some areas. The declaration lets Louisiana use state money to help local
governments recover from storm damage. Abby Tabor / AP.

In addition to flooding concerns, the National Weather Service confirmed at least three tornadoes touched down in Louisiana Thursday morning: one near New Iberia, another in Breaux Bridge and a third near Plaquemine.

"The state anticipates additional parishes will declare states of emergency and that assistance may be needed to assist the parishes in their response to this continuing threat," the declaration read.

The state's Acadia, Avoyelles, Concordia, East Carroll, Evangeline, Livingston and St. Landry parishes also made emergency declarations, which will help prepare funds and resources for responding to flooding from the storms, WDSU reported.

Widespread street flooding was reported in Ascension, St. James, St. John and Livingston parishes, according to WDSU.

The Louisiana National Guard is on standby and has sent high-water trucks to some areas, according to WDSU.

The region won't be drying out anytime soon. Another storm system is expected to bring heavy rainfall Saturday night through Monday, according to the National Weather Service. - NBC News.

FIRE IN THE SKY: Green Object Reported in the Sky Over Newfoundland?!

Facebook and Twitter social media sites on the northeast Avalon were busy with reports of an unidentified, green object falling in the sky over Conception Bay South Wednesday night.

There have been reports that a bright green object was seen in the sky from Conception bay South,
eastern Newfoundland. This image wasn't taken recently it is for story illustration purposes only.

"It was turquoise in colour and was rounded on the bottom and tapered to a point on top. It looked big, but it was hard to tell how far away it was. It was moving extremely fast toward the ground," said a Facebook status update from the St. John's area. "I've read about a couple of natural phenomena now that could explain it ... something called a green fireball and a meteor - which can apparently be blue, white or green," said another one.  No one has reported an alien abduction yet ... but the reports on Twitter and Facebook weren't isolated to eastern Newfoundland. People from many parts of the northeastern U.S. also posted reports on astronomy internet forums all evening claiming they saw a green light in the sky.

"Almost certainly it was what we call a bolide, which is a very bright, sporadic meteor much brighter than the run of the mill meteor. These things can rival the brightness of the full moon," said Chris Stevenson of the Royal Astronomical Society of Newfoundland and Labrador. "One tip off - despite the fact that green is our favourite alien colour - is that this was reported as blue/green." Stevenson said most meteors are basically large rocks the size of a baseball or maybe as large as a basketball. He said when they hit the Earth's atmosphere at several tens of kilometres per second they burn up very fiercely and very brightly.  He said the sightings Wednesday appear to be concentrated in the northeast U.S., Quebec and Ontario and Newfoundland.  "It's not an airplane, they move more slowing," said Stevenson. He also ruled out extraterrestrials. "Definitely not aliens unless they are hardy little buggers that can survive very ferocious temperatures," said Stevenson. -  CBC.