The weather at Scott Base Antarctica (Crystal ? Ice ? Chime) is temperate :

Pressure ridges and ripples on the sea ice near Scott Base, taken from T-site (at the base of Crater hill). Click on pictures for larger image.


The year was 2002. One day I decided to head over to Scott Base and take some pictures of the sea ice pressure ridges. (click here) Scott Base is situated at a point where there is particular activity in the sea ice. It is very close to where the land, sea ice, and ice shelf meet. So a good deal of pressure builds up and the sea ice will buckle upward.

The hoizon is in the bottom left corner - Fierce Storm Hits Southern California

Water covers the roadway of I-5 below the Chamber Way exit where visible concrete jersey barriers are left askew in Chehalis, Wash., Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007. Floodwaters were draining from southwestern Washington state Thursday, as rescue and evacuation work ended and lights were coming back on in thousands of homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)


December 7, 2007
Blythe, California
Photographer states :: Tonight's Sunset, AAHHHHH...4

LOS ANGELES (AP) Heavy rain is moving into Southern California and officials fear it could lead to mudslides and flash flooding in areas burned bare by recent wildfires. As many as three inches of rain are expected in the mountains. Police have urged about 2,000 people to evacuate their homes.

Posted: Friday, December 7th, 2007 5:47 AM HST
No hurricane, but bad weather wreaks havoc (click here)
By Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) _ It wasn't quite a hurricane, but the amount of trouble caused by this week's stormy weather added up to a major calamity for many residents.
Rain and blustery winds still plagued the islands yesterday, as road conditions were difficult in several areas.
Twenty-seven of 83 public schools closed Wednesday remained shut yesterday because of the lack of electricity, fallen trees and blocked roadways.
On Oahu, Hawaiian Electric Company reported 830 customers remained without power. That's down from 11,000 Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, the summit area of Haleakala National Park on Maui remained closed for a second day as crews worked to remove rocks, boulders and other roadway debris.
Elsewhere on Maui, all parks and Waiehu Golf Course were closed. The Red Cross shut down an emergency shelter in Kihei, where more than a dozen people spent Wednesday night.
About 30 Hawaii National Guard personnel from throughout the state, who were on Maui for training, canceled their exercise and provided assistance to firefighters and police.
The Big Island summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa remain under a blizzard warning that was extended by the National Weather Service to noon today. Snow accumulation of 6 inches or more was forecast to be likely as the wind chill dipped down into the teens.
(Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved)

December 7, 1007
Merced, California
Photographer states :: Just outside the city limits of Merced, I spotted this twister as dramatic weather passed through the Central Valley of California.

UN Secretary-General convenes world leaders to build momentum for climate change talks in Bali

December 7, 2007
0830z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of north and west hemisphere of Earth. Hard to believe I am looking at Earth. The storm over the Atlantic, offshore eastern USA looks like "Juptier's Great Red Spot. (click here)"


The vortexes near Hawaii have been there before, but, in far smaller size and less numbers. Anyone that follows this blog will recall about six months ago the appearance of two chronic vortexes on the same latitude, one near Hawaii and one east of Florida. They are still there only much larger with high velocity. Hello? This is typical of the dynamics of Earth exposed to Human Induced Global Warming. Any anomaly starts as nearly invisible, then over time manifests into monsters in the troposphere. These vortices are no different and completely typical of the patterns since October 4, 2002.


Hawaii Waves Yesterday


High waves as weather nears
Beaches see swells up to 12 feet Wednesday; rain expected by Friday.
Southland surfers waxed ecstatic over big waves Wednesday, while oceanfront residents protected by a 19-foot sand berm said predictions of coastal flooding amounted to hype.
Lifeguard Capt. Joe Bailey estimated the biggest waves in Seal Beach were "12-footers" around midnight but were just 6-10 feet by midmorning.
"It's going to go down all day long now," he said, estimating that 300 surfers and bodyboarders turned out for the big surf.
Surfer Evan Goldstein said the waves were dangerous but fun.
"Exhilaration and an adrenaline rush, it would be a 10," he told NBC4. "Chance of dying would probably be about a 5, which would be about as high as I've ever seen."
In Redondo Beach, Jude Luhrsen's friends say he vanished for six whole seconds before emerging from the wave rolling toward the shoreline.
Luhrsen wasn't really counting. The swell he caught around noon Wednesday near the Redondo breakwater was big enough and hollow enough to make even a veteran surfer nervous.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared," said Luhrsen, 46, of Torrance.
"The whole beach was making noise during his wave," his friend Paul Valor said. "The whole beach hooted ... He got a real wave. He was in the tube for a six-second ride."
Waves like that weren't made for novices. The powerful swell headed from the northwest finally hit the South Bay's west-facing beaches early Wednesday, churning up waves estimated at 8- to 20-feet

http://www2.presstelegram.com/ci_7646689



Hawaii surf reaches 40 feet on North Shore
By Eloise Aguiar
WAIMEA — Although wave faces reached as high as 40 feet yesterday, very little trouble was reported on the North Shore and west-facing beaches of O'ahu.
Officials said a low tide and preventive action by lifeguards made the difference.
The National Weather Service issued a high-surf warning yesterday afternoon and it will be in effect until at least noon today. The warning is for the north- and west-facing shores of Kaua'i and O'ahu and also for north-facing shores of Ni'ihau, Maui and Moloka'i.
There was also a high-surf advisory for north-facing shores of the Big Island until noon today.
Waves were expected to peak last night at 20 to 30 feet along north shores and 15 to 20 feet along west shores, before diminishing today.
The weather service also issued a high-wind watch, beginning this afternoon and through tomorrow. Winds from the southwest will be 30 mph, with gusts of up to 50 mph.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071204/NEWS12/712040347/1001/NEWS12



American bummer in Bali
The Bush crew is a total drag on the climate conference in Indonesia. But on our shores, a political wave of resistance to global warming is rising.
By Katharine Mieszkowski
Dec. 7, 2007 On the first day of the United Nations climate change conference in Bali, which continues through Dec. 14, the United States had already garnered a dubious achievement award. In a crowded exhibition hall, the green coalition group Climate Action Network staged a mock ceremony and named the United States "fossil of the day." The award, greeted with laughter and loud booing, was designed to shame the White House delegation for undermining the goals of the climate talks.
The conference in Bali will set the stage for a new international treaty to follow the Kyoto Protocol, when that global warming accord expires in 2012. But before coming to Bali, the delegation from the Bush administration had made it clear that the United States will not support mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, and it has stuck to that stance. That position has isolated the U.S., given that Australia, the other major industrialized nation that had refused to sign the Kyoto agreement, has now decided to ratify it. "The U.S. has really been the central focus here because everybody knows the reason there hasn't been more global progress is because the U.S. hasn't acted," said Peter Goldmark, director of the climate and air program for Environmental Defense, via telephone from Bali.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/07/bali_climate_conference/