Free Republic

Words like "historic," "unprecedented," and "extreme" are being thrown around like eggs from a short-order cook. It's easy to dismiss these terms as hyperbole but rest assured, this freeze could rival the storied ones from decades ago and bring the first single digits to Houston in over 30 years and for only the fifth time in our history. So just how extreme and rare is the freeze we're facing? Well, meteorologist Joe Bastardi from WeatherBell had this to say on Wednesday: "if this arctic outbreak were a hurricane, Texas would be taking a direct hit from a category 5." Pretty...

Cold temperatures can sap electric car batteries, temporarily reducing their range by more than 40 percent when interior heaters are used, a new study found. The study of five electric vehicles by AAA also found that high temperatures can cut into battery range, but not nearly as much as the cold. The range returns to normal in more comfortable temperatures. […] AAA tested the BMW i3s, Chevrolet Bolt and Nissan Leaf from the 2018 model year, and the 2017 Tesla Model S 75D and Volkswagen e-Golf. All have a range of at least 100 miles per charge. They were tested...

Northeasterners, keep your mittens, boots and show shovel handy. The Farmer’s Almanac that goes on sale this week predicts a snowy winter from Maryland to Maine with five coastal storms to bring winter misery to the region. The publication, now in its 200th year, isn’t afraid to go out on a limb with long-term weather forecasts that rely on a formula founder David Young first used in 1818 that utilizes sunspots, tidal action and other factors shunned by modern scientists. Editors are looking to redeem themselves after missing the mark when heavy snow failed to materialize in the Midwest and...

Iraqi refugees who left Finland voluntarily due to chilly weather conditions have been pictured kissing the ground in joyous scenes upon their return to Baghdad. Thousands of the migrants who left Finland arrived back in the Iraqi capital today and were pictured greeting loved ones and celebrating their return home. They had originally fled to Finland only to become disappointed with life in the frosty Scandinavian country. [...] Although Germany and Sweden have taken in many of the migrants, Finland too saw its number of asylum seekers increase nearly tenfold in 2015 to 32,500 from 3,600 in 2014. Almost two...

Glacier National Park, the top of Logan Pass has been temporarily shut down again, this time because of snow. Glacier announced over the weekend that a section of the Going-to-the-Sun Road between Big Bend on the west side and Jackson Glacier Overlook on the east side is temporarily closed because of winter weather conditions.

I was up in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area (Brainard Lake) today for my afternoon training run about 5 miles west of Ward, Colorado which is about 12 miles WNW of Boulder. As I turned off of Peak to Peak highway (Colorado State HWY 72) onto the road leading upto Brainard Lake I immediately noticed cars coming down that were covered with a few inches of snow. A few miles west towards the trailhead were my training run was to start it was snowing, lightning and thundering. There was about 3 to 4 inches of heavy wet snow everywhere. Here...

From Accuweather.com: There are some definite signs that a major storm will take shape along the Carolina coastline Sunday. From there, it will rapidly strengthen and spin northward up the coast Sunday night and Monday. Fuel for the storm will be a direct confrontation between very cold air charging southward through the Great Lakes and mild air streaming in from off the Atlantic Ocean. The clash of air masses will be the product of an unusually large amplification of the jet stream. This storm could have major impact on shopping and travel late in the weekend and early next week....