Free Republic

Europe's first cold spell of the heating season has arrived, pressuring power prices higher as freezing temperatures ushers in increased power demand to heat building structures across the central-west region. German day-ahead power prices jumped to the second-highest level ever, 273.89 euros per megawatt-hour. Day-ahead power prices are also higher in France and Netherlands. The Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), the German Meteorological Service, released a weather note on Tuesday warning of frigid and snowy weather.

Warmer-than-average conditions are most likely across the Southern tier of the U.S. and much of the Eastern U.S. with the greatest likelihood of above-average temperatures in the Southeast. Below-average temperatures are favored for southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest eastward to the northern Plains. The Upper Mississippi Valley and small areas of the Great Lakes have equal chances for below-, near- or above-average temperatures. ..wetter-than-average conditions are most likely in parts of the North, primarily in the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and western Alaska. Drier-than-average conditions are favored in south-central Alaska, southern California, the Southwest, and...

The climate summit was expensive, energy-burning theater. One hundred eighteen private jets flew into the airport, President Joe Biden's motorcade had 24 vehicles, including SUVs and vans, and Greta Thunberg was angry. Demonstrators denounced Israel, which recycles and reuses 90 percent of its wastewater while ignoring the Palestinian pastime of burning tires containing multiple carcinogens.Sustainability, less, new technologies, clean technologies, and more less (yes, more less) were the watchwords. Use less, do with less. The President should have touted America's successes in reducing emissions: From 2005 to 2018, total U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions fell 12% while global energy-related emissions increased...

Yan Daixiang squinted through dense, freezing fog as she struggled to make out her surroundings. Runners were scattered everywhere—off the trail, in ravines, on the other side of the mountain—dotting the hillside in brightly colored athletic gear. It was hard to tell loose clothing and people apart. People trudged in every direction, struggling against freezing wind and rain. Others huddled around bushes or boulders. Some runners passed Yan, heading back down the mountain. They’d tried to reach the race’s third checkpoint at mile 17, but failed. They were retreating now, back to the second checkpoint, to drop out. “It’s way...

The tony, bucolic town of Dublin, Ohio would be one of the last places in America expected to host a convention of white supremacist militiamen. Nestled along the Scioto River, the Columbus suburb’s biggest claim to fame is hosting the PGA’s annual Memorial Golf tournament every summer.But in June 2020, days after the nation was roiled by Black Lives Matter looting and rioting, a man from Wisconsin named Stephen Robeson sponsored a “National Militia Conference” at a Dublin hotel. (Yes, that was the real name of the event.) According to BuzzFeed’s exceptional July 2021 investigative report on the FBI-led plot...

The energy crisis that is rippling through Asia and Europe could unleash electricity shortages and blackouts in the U.S., according to Bloomberg. Ernie Thrasher, CEO of Xcoal Energy & Resources LLC., told energy research firm IHS Markit that U.S. utilities quickly turn to more coal because of soaring natural gas prices. “We’ve actually had discussions with power utilities who are concerned that they simply will have to implement blackouts this winter,” Thrasher warned. He said, “They don’t see where the fuel is coming from to meet demand,” adding that 23% of utilities are switching away from gas this fall/winter to...

Amid a record hot summer in large parts of Northern Hemisphere, beset by devastating fires, floods and hurricanes, Antarctica was mired in a deep, deep freeze. That’s typically the case during the southernmost continent’s winter months, but 2021 was different. The chill was exceptional, even for the coldest location on the planet. The average temperature at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station between April and September, a frigid minus-78 degrees (minus-61 Celsius), was the coldest on record, dating back to 1957. This was 4.5 degrees lower than the most recent 30-year average. ...Scientists stressed the record cold over the South Pole...

With power demand recovering from the pandemic, European utilities are using more coal as natural gas inventories are unusually low for this time of the year due to a cold snap in late winter and early spring. This year, despite the record-high carbon price in Europe, the use of coal for power generation has jumped by up to 15 percent, ... Gas storage is so low now that Europe cannot afford to run extra power generation with the fuel ... Natural gas stockpiles are some 25 percent below the five-year average, and with such a right gas market, utilities run...

Specialist infectious disease doctors warned Tuesday freedom from masks could increase common cold and flu resurgence. “I imagine it’s going to start expanding to all of the other states as well, as the mask mandates are lifted and as people start socializing more and spending more time together,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Helen Chu told the Boston Globe regarding respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a cold-like respiratory illness.

Following its coldest APRIL since 1922, England is now on for its coldest MAY since record-keeping began some 362 years ago–since the Maunder Minimum (1645-1715)! Back in 1659, England was still processing the death of Oliver Cromwell, who, after the execution of King Charles I, had ruled the Commonwealth of England for 5 years. The year 1659 is also the start date of the Central England Temperature (CET) dataset, which has proved an invaluable resource for meteorologists and climate scientists alike. Astonishingly, what the dataset reveals in 2021, in this time of supposed “catastrophic global heating,” is that England is...

‘What’s on course to hit the U.S. starting this weekend looks BIG,” says electroverse.net. “It looks unprecedented.” According to the latest GFS models (above) from May 6 through May 8, periodic pockets of out-of-season cold will bring temperature departures crashing down to some 8C to 16C below the seasonal average. But it’s on Sunday, May 9 that the real problems are forecast to begin…. … From Montana to Virginia, temperatures are scheduled to plunge as much as 20C below the seasonal norm. Then, from May 10 to May 12 (image below), a rare mid-spring freeze sinks south to engulf Texas,...

“INSANE DEPTH OF COLD” TO BLAST BRITAIN An “insane depth of cold” is set to strike the UK over the Easter weekend, warns the Weather Outlook’s Brian Gaze. Freezing temperatures and frosts will arrive in Scotland on Thursday, April 1, with “polar spring” conditions engulfing the majority of the country by Good Friday.

The winter storm that descended on Texas this past week has offered some life-changing lessons. With power outages in my part of Houston lasting for 15 hours (and longer elsewhere), heat was sparse. The roads were iced over, with no salt trucks mobilized, throughout the city and surrounding communities. Although a Cleveland, Ohio, native, I had an initial feeling of almost utter helplessness. Normal societal function had been so quickly eliminated.

AUSTIN, Texas - Get ready for more cold weather here in Central Texas. In fact, the coldest weather is still ahead of us. Another potent shot of extremely cold air could bring the coldest weather in over 30 years for the Austin area by Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. So, let's put the numbers in perspective, starting with Monday afternoon. The current forecast calls for a high of 24 degrees in Austin on Monday. This type of cold is certainly very rare, but not completely unheard of. The coldest high temperature on record for Camp Mabry is 20 degrees on...

Mongolia is in the grip of one of its most extreme winters on record, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), with temperatures forecast to plunge to -50 °C (-58 °F). The severe cold has killed more than 500 camels in the central region, threatening livestock and leaving many herder families vulnerable.The extreme weather, called dzud, threatens the livelihoods and health of thousands of Mongolian herders residing in the country's remote provinces.As a pre-emptive action, the Mongolian Red Cross Society (MRCS) has sent financial assistance and livestock nutrition kits in target areas to help...

President-elect Joe Biden said he had a “little bit of a cold” after coughing and repeatedly clearing his throat during a Monday address to the nation. Fox News reporter Thomas Barrabi revealed Biden spoke to supporters after his speech in a virtual call and touched on his condition.

Rush Limbaugh was saying some months ago that the American Left wants to put a stop to all elections. Could this all be about getting rid of the vote altogether? An analogy: Is the Papacy of Pope Francis so extreme that the Catholics will revert back to a more-nearly BVI or JPII papacy? But will it even matter, at all? The sloppiness of Francis' pronouncements are so extreme, the real goal could have been delegimization of the Papacy as an institution. Both the St. Gallen Mafia and the American Democrats are intellectually sloppy to an extreme. But the greedy oligarch...

President Donald Trump is responsible for contracting the coronavirus, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said late Monday night, adding it was “embarrassing for the nation” that he fell ill. “Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying, ‘masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter,’ I think is responsible for what happens to them,” Biden said of Trump in an NBC town hall in Miami.

As the flu season approaches, a strained public health system may have a surprising ally—the common cold virus. Rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of common colds, can prevent the flu virus from infecting airways by jumpstarting the body’s antiviral defenses, Yale researchers report Sept. 4 in the journal The Lancet Microbe. The findings help answer a mystery surrounding the 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic: an expected surge in swine flu cases never materialized in Europe during the fall, a period when the common cold becomes widespread...

Snow clearing crews are still battling through Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road even as the calendar reads the second week of July. As of today, July 9, Montana’s infamous mountain pass remains closed. Two factors are responsible: 1) last winter’s above-average snowfall, and 2) persistent cold and terrible wintry conditions throughout the spring/summer of 2020. ... this year will likely break the current record for the road’s latest opening, which stands as July 13 in 2011. ... Serving as evidence of how the so-called climate experts can get it spectacularly wrong, let’s recall the predictions made by Montana’s National Park...