RARE SUMMER SNOW HITS NEW ZEALAND + GLOBAL COOLING SET TO INTENSIFY

JANUARY 21, 2021 CAP ALLON

https://electroverse.net/rare-summer-snow-hits-new-zealand-global-cooling-forecast-to-intensify/

An unusually unsettled summer is being experienced in Middle Earth, particularly on New Zealand’s South Island where substantial snow has blanketed the mountains over recent days and weeks.

There’s a fresh accumulation of pow-pow on the peaks around Queenstown this week, after conditions in the Lakes area allowed for flakes to settle.

Frigid polar air left Antarctica on Sunday, and it has lingered over Australasia ever-since. As reported by odt.co.nz, Weatherwatch says temperatures will continue to be down across New Zealand as a storm near Stewart Island slowly tracks eastwards, dredging up the cold. The forecaster elaborated, adding that temps would hold below average for the remainder of the week, with single-digit highs likely through parts of Otago and Southland.

The Remarkables ski area received 10cm (4 inches) of rare summer snow overnight Tuesday (shown below), with another 15cm (6 inches) in the immediate forecast.

Coronet Peak also saw around 10cm ( 4 inches) at its summit.

While the Cardrona Ski Field received similar totals (shown below).

Additional bouts of Antarctic air are forecast to hit New Zealand before the end of January, delivering yet more anomalous summer cold and snow to the nation’s peaks.

Meanwhile, neighboring Australia hasn’t fared much better.

Below-average temperatures have persisted down under over recent days, and more of the same is due next week–as visualized by the latest GFS run shown below (also, I still can’t quite fathom the breadth, severity, and duration of the extreme cold that has gripped –and is forecast to continue to grip– much of our planet over the past 2-or-so-months, particularly across the Northern Hemisphere):

“Global Cooling” — GFS 2m Temp Anomalies for Jan. 29 [tropicaltidbits.com].

HAWAIIAN SUMMITS SEE A DUSTING

Webcam image captured Tuesday morning by the Canada-France-Hawai’i Telescope on Maunakea.

The Hawaiian summits of Maunakea and Mauna Loa received a dusting of snow this week, resulting in the National Weather Service posting a winter weather advisory warning of an additional 1-2 inches.

As reported by westhawaiitoday.com, the Maunakea Access Road is currently closed to the public at the Visitor Information Station due to snow, freezing temperatures, and low visibility. Wintry conditions are forecast to continue throughout the week: “An upper level disturbance will keep clouds and snow showers in the forecast for the Big Island summits of Maunakea and Mauna Loa,” forecasters said Tuesday.

Webcam image at W.M. Keck Observatory showing dusting of snow on Maunakea.

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