This storm in the far North Atlantic is the same storm that caused two tornado outbreaks and widespread flooding in the United States. Photo / earth.nullschool.net

December 31, 2015

A powerful winter cyclone (click here) - the same storm that lead to two tornado outbreaks in the United States and disastrous river flooding - has driven the North Pole to the freezing point this week, 50 degrees above average for this time of year.
From Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, a mind-boggling pressure drop was recorded in Iceland: 54 millibars in just 18 hours. This triples the criteria for "bomb" cyclogenesis, which meteorologists use to describe a rapidly intensifying mid-latitude storm. A "bomb" cyclone is defined as dropping one millibar per hour for 24 hours.
NOAA's Ocean Prediction Center said the storm's minimum pressure dropped to 928 millibars around 1 a.m. Eastern time, which likely places it in the top five strongest storms on record in this region.
"According to the center's records, the all-time strongest storm in this area occurred on Dec. 15, 1986, and that had a minimum central pressure of 900 millibars," Mashable's Andrew Freedman reported on Tuesday....
 

If the artic ocean rises in temperature enough it could release what is now frozen methane.

December 1, 2015
The rate of ice growth  (click here) for the first half of November 2015 was quite rapid, but the pace of ice growth slowed during the second half of the month, only to increase again at the end of the month. Throughout the month, sea ice extent remained within two standard deviations of the 1981 to 2010 average....

Growth in sea ice is more attributed to warmer temperatures at work with resultant formations less than solid ice. The variations in November 2015 may be connected to waxing and waning temperature events over the North American and Northern Asia continents. There were extended frigid temperatures in Siberia. The release of frigid temperatures from the Arctic Ocean due to warmer ocean waters explains the decrease in air masses temperatures that descended to lower latitudes.

December 30, 2015
By Roginson Meyer

The sun (click here) has not risen above the North Pole since mid-September. The sea ice — flat, landlike, windswept, and stretching as far as the eye can see—has been bathed in darkness for months.
But later this week, something extraordinary will happen: Air temperatures at the Earth’s most northernly region, in the middle of winter, will rise above freezing for only the second time on record.
On Wednesday, the same storm system that last week spun up deadly tornadoes in the American southeast will burst into the far north, centering over Iceland. It will bring strong winds and pressure as low as is typically seen during hurricanes.
That low pressure will suck air out of the planet’s middle latitudes and send it rushing to the Arctic. And so on Wednesday, the North Pole will likely see temperatures of about 35 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 degrees Celsius. That’s 50 degrees hotter than average: It’s usually 20 degrees Fahrenheit below zero there at this time of year....

Solargraphs or solargraphics or solarigraphics are photographs people had never seen before.

December 23, 2015
Photographer states, "Looking towards Dunball wharf, the wharf is mainly used to deliver sand dredged from the Bristol Channel, Pinhole size 0.5mm.

The photographer states "Solargraphy: (click here) 5 months."

With all the renewed discussion of an arctic methane blast, I though this might be interesting.

Below is the River Parrett on a good day in 2013.

Published on Jul 1, 2013

Paul Hamilton visits the River Parrett, Thorney, Somerset (tel: 01935 824337, SAT NAV: TA12 6AE) for the Angler's Mail Where To Fish section. Fees have now risen to £15 for the year.

I take it the Missouri Governor aleady called out the National Guard.

It isn't as though the floods are a maybe because the storm arrived. We know the Mississippi River is going to flood beyond anyone's imagination. The states down stream need to issue emergency declarations and harness readiness with their National Guard.

December 29, 2015
Missouri River floods at St. Charles riverfront.

By Reuters

Dec 30 (Reuters) - Rain-swollen rivers (click here) rose across Missouri on Wednesday with widespread flooding forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people, closing parts of a major interstate highway and threatening to wash out scores of structures.
At least 13 people have died in Missouri since the weekend, when days of downpours from a massive winter storm system triggered the state's worst flooding in two decades, Governor Jay Nixon said.
Nixon called the flooding "very historic and dangerous" and urged motorists not to drive into movie water. A dozen of the deaths in Missouri were due to people driving into flooded areas, Nixon told CNN on Wednesday.
Several major rivers, including the Mississippi, and tributaries in Missouri and Illinois were poised to crest at record levels, the National Weather Service said, but parts of the region already are inundated....