http://www.arirang.co.kr
January 23, 2012

It is the first day of the Lunar New Year here in Korea.

If you’re planning to head out or stay outdoors today, make sure you’re ready for bone-chilling weather conditons, because the whole country is under extremely cold temperatures this morning, with most of Korea either under cold wave watches and warnings!

Today is close to to degrees colder than yesterday,.. with Seoul expected to plunge down to negative degrees Celsius, but it’s going to feel colder with the strong winds blowing all across the country.

And all of the continental regions will mostly stay down in the negatives mark all throughout the day, while southwestern cities like Gwangju and Mokpo will receive snow, so drive safely and bundle up!

As for traffic conditions roads will be congested with those returning to Seoul beginning around 10 a.m. this morning.

Drivers may have to spend more than an additional hour. to the time spent going to their hometowns as some 380-thousand cars are expected to hit the road.

Source

http://afr.com
05 Jan 2012

Australia experienced its first cooler than average year for a decade in 2011, defying an established trend to higher temperatures, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Source

http://en.skiinfo.com
January 18, 2012

It’s now a month since snowfall began in the Alps and it has hardly let up since, with the biggest accumulations over that period now approaching 6 metres (20 feet) and reports from some resorts that this is the snowiest January in 30 or even 60 years.

Although snowfall is on going across the region it is Austria that has had the snowiest week and St Anton where snow depths have passed the 5.5m mark.

All the snow is not necessarily good news for those travelling while it is falling and finding roads and rail lines blocked, some resorts cut off and on arrival slopes closed due to high avalanche danger. But in the longer term it bodes well for the rest of the season.

In Italy has seen good snowfalls in the past week bringing up to 1.8m (six feet) of snow in some cases although for most resorts accumulations have been on the area of 30-60cm (1-2 feet). Val Gardena reports 75cm (2.5 feet) however and nearby Arabba 40cm. Cervinia over on the West bordering Zermatt in Switzerland has had another 50cm of snow, as has another Aosta Valley ski area, Monterosa. Cervinia now has the deepest snowbase in Italy with 3 metres (10 feet), Arabba over to the east in the Dolomites has 2.8m (9 feet).

Pyrenees

Conditions remain largely good in the Pyrenees with Spain’s Baqueira Beret reporting the region’s deepest snow with 1.6m. In Andorra VallNord ski areas have up to a healthy 1.4m. On the French side Piau Engaly has 1.5m (five feet).

Scandinavia

There are healthy snow depths at most Scandinanvian resort’s with Norway’s Røldal topping the snow depth table at 275cm (nine feet). Coastal Voss is not far behind with 2.1m (seven feet). Here’s a list of all snow depths in Norway.

Scotland

Scotland is suffering its second thaw of the winter although so far temperatures are only a few degrees above freezing. The Lecht has suffered the most with only a few runs still open and some of them thin in places, but like the other four centres, which also have diminished snowpacks and on-going operational difficulties at times because of the strong winds that have been prominent in the area for six weeks now, remains open. Cold weather is forecast to return at the weekend when conditions should improve, especially if the wind finally drops.

Source

http://www.9news.com
Jan 18, 2012

BECHAR, Algeria – Snow fell Tuesday in the Sahara Desert in western Algeria.

A 24-hour cold spell brought snow and rain to the region.

Strong wind blew the snow across roads and buildings in the province of Bechar.

Meteorologists predicted a return of good weather Wednesday.

People who live in the region said the snow was good for the palm trees because it killed parasites.

Bechar is located in the northern Sahara, about 36 miles south of the Moroccan border.

Source

http://www.cbc.ca
Jan 18, 2012

Cold, blustery weather is blowing into much of Ontario and Quebec, leaving behind frigid temperatures that have shattered records across Alberta.

On Wednesday, dozens of communities across the province were hit with temperatures below –30 C, and 13 of them were hit with record lows. In the town of Hendrickson Creek, Alta., it was a bone-chilling –41.4.

The frigid temperatures prompted Canada Olympic Park to cancel lessons and close the ski area.

“It gets a little bit too cold and for the safety of our guests and our staff we just feel it’s not necessary to open on that [cold] a day,” said Dale Oviatt, who works at Canada Olympic Park.

CBC Edmonton meteorologist Stephanie Barsby said the cold arctic air is sinking from north to south.

“So in fact, northern Alberta will see improvement before southern Alberta will,” Barsby said.

At the Edmonton airport, temperatures dipped to –34.4 Wednesday, but Barsby said things should improve in the days to come. The city was expected to see small temperature gains over the next couple of days and a big jump going into the weekend — but with that comes some snow, Barsby said.

The story was similar across much of the Prairies, with temperatures hovering around –25 or below in many parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

In northern Manitoba, the bitter cold forced Via Rail to delay its train service from Churchill to Winnipeg on Tuesday night, leaving it 16 hours behind schedule Wednesday.

Via Rail spokesman Malcolm Andrews said that nighttime temperatures around –30 — which felt more like –50 with the wind chill — caused the delay. Via Rail’s service to and from Churchill rarely gets delayed by cold weather, he added.

The cold, blustery weather is blowing east into Ontario and Quebec. Ontario residents near the lower Great Lakes were expected to see temperatures in the –4 to –6 range, while in Ottawa and Montreal the forecast called for a frostier –12, CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe reported Wednesday.

“The story today from pretty much coast to coast is winter has arrived,” Wagstaffe said.

By early Wednesday, a fierce freezing rain and wind storm that rolled through Quebec had left more than 80,000 homes and businesses without power. By late Wednesday afternoon Hydro Québec said 10,000 customers remained without power, most of them in Montreal.

Conditions were forecast to be clear for most of Ontario and Quebec, with the chilly temperatures expected to linger for the next couple of days.

“There are some snow squall watches towards Lake Superior, but it’s mainly a mix of sun and cloud. Watch for those snow squalls, though,” said Wagstaffe.

Warm front moves through Maritimes

Farther east, the Maritimes were expected to see showers and enjoy the last of the warm front before temperatures take a 15-degree plunge in the evening.

“We’re still looking at fog across the Maritimes, which is seeing the last of the warm air.… but that cold front is quickly sweeping east,” Wagstaffe said.

On P.E.I., islanders were in store for a wild temperature swing. Highs on Wednesday were forecast to hit 6 C, before plummeting to –12 overnight.

Snow in Vancouver, Victoria

Both Victoria and Vancouver saw snow Wednesday morning, making a messy morning commute for many.

The blustery winter weather prompted officials to close many schools in the province’s capital, and BC Transit had to take detours on several bus routes early Wednesday. Environment Canada forecast a low of –7 for Victoria overnight, with a chance of flurries through the night and early in the morning.

In the Fraser Valley, winds had “eased somewhat” but were expected to remain gusty through Thursday, Environment Canada said.

The Central Coast and the North Coast were still under an “arctic outflow” warning and could see windchill values of –20 and below, the federal weather agency said.

The wintry weather is also taking a toll in the Northwest Territories, leaving serious damage to the Inuvik airport’s roof overnight. The high winds and blowing snow even sent a hot tub drifting down the main street in Inuvik.

Source

http://www.planetski.eu
January 14, 2012

We never thought we would say that but it is what everyone out here in The Alps thinks. We just want some clear skies so we can go skiing. There is snow pretty much everywhere as you can see in the PlanetSKI snow report that comes direct from The Austrian Alps.

Here in The Tirol it is looking pretty good – still not the clear blue skies we want but the forecast is hopefull.

In Obergurgl there was a dusting of snow on Friday morning as the temperature dropped again. The wind came in again though closing many lifts.

Clear blue sky is set to come and we can hopefully enjoy the meters of fresh snow that have fallen since the New Year.

Much of snow has been blown off the piste and they are icy but that actually suited out content editor, James Cove, who is in the Austrian resort.

He was skiing with members of the US women ski team including a potential new star; 16-year old Mikaela Shiffrin who is already being compared to Lindsey Vonn after she took a bronze medal earlier in the season.

She came 3rd last December in Lienz in Austria.

The youngest US skier to make the podium for 30 years or so.

We will bring you a Chairlift Chat vidoe interview with Mikaela Shiffrin later and some video of her skiing as James Cove tried to keep up!

The snow though is good across Austria.

The snow has come at a cost with resorts cut off for a while and a huge effort has gone on in the past few weeks to keep things running.

It was nothing like as bad as some sections of the British press portrayed with scare stories about resorts cuts off and avalanches threatening, but it was a massive snowfall and it did cause huge problems.

Now though we have had some of the best, if not the best conditions, of the winter. Especially here in Austria.

It is the same across The Alps.

PlanetSKI reporter, Jane Peel, has been in Tignes and will be posting a piece soon on the work done to keep things open as she spends a day with the avalanche patrol.

In the meantime she has been skiing in the nearby resort of Sainte Foy.

“It’s been blue skies and sunshine all week. This picture below was taken on the empty, beautifully groomed pistes of Sainte Foy, just a few kilometres down the mountain from Tignes. The snow conditions and lack of crowds made for some excellent fast carving practice for both skiers and boarders,” she said.

The avalanche danger has actually been remarkably small considering the amounts of snow and the high winds.

Overall it is surprisingly stable though of course extreme danger does exist off piste and everyone should check local conditions before heading into the backcountry.

As the temperature warmed up there was a wet snow avalanche in France that went across the piste. See a video of it here.

In Chamonix skiers are on the Vallee Blanche including a group that was with Robbie Fenlon, a mountian guide used by one of our partners at PlanetSKI, BASS Chamonix.

“We skied the Vallee Blanche today Jan 13th.The access arete is well equiped. Although there are some crevasses the route passes easily through the Salle a manger. The exit from the glacier is easy and the the forest track is easily skiable to the carpark in Chamonix.All in all it is the safest i have seen it in many years. Very skiable for our clients,” said Robbie Fenlon.

For a round up of the snow in Europe and North America, where there has finally been some in the USA, read on…….

Source

http://www.haaretz.com
January 13, 2012

Israel was hit by considerable rainfall early Friday morning, with snow fall reported in Mount Hermon as well as in all of the Golan Heights.

According to weather forecasting firm Meteo Tech, Tel Aviv experienced 22 mm of rain in just over an hour, with Safed seeing 40 mm and the Golan Heights reporting 36 mm of rain.

Even more impressive figures arrived from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. In Haifa, where Army Radio said 87 mm of rain were registered.

Another chilly, but beautiful, outcome of the stormy night was snow, reportedly falling fast and thick all over the Golan Heights and Mt. Hermon, where Army Radio said over a meter of snow was reported.

The stormy weather isn’t expected to leave Israel, with forecasters expecting a wet and cold weekend, as storms drift toward the country’s center and south.

Source

http://www.news.com.au
December 18, 2011

RETAILERS preparing for the last-minute Christmas rush are expecting stronger sales than last year but recent chilly weather could see clothing stores miss out on the spree.

The unusually cold start to summer across the country, including Sydney’s coldest start to the season in half a century, is hurting clothing and shoe sales, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said.

But the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut the cash rate by 0.25 percentage points in December should ensure a merrier Christmas than last year for most retailers, Russell Zimmerman, ARA executive director said.

“I think retailers out there are seeing some blue sky, a bit more tinsel on the Christmas tree,” said Mr Zimmerman.

“But clothing retailers are still doing it fairly tough out there.

“The weather has been too cold for them – they need that really good run of hot weather and they haven’t seen it.”

Mr Zimmerman said the ARA had revised its sales predictions for Christmas following the interest rate cut with the expectation that sales will increase 2.35 per cent from last year, to almost $40 billion nationally.

He said retailers were bracing themselves for the last minute rush with an ARA survey of 100 shoppers revealing 50 per cent were planning to finish – and even start – their Christmas shopping this week.

Shoppers hoping to avoid the crowds would be best to shop in the CBD or at local shopping strips, he said, as most people plan to head to suburban shopping centres.

Retailers were preparing for the crush by extending trading hours, increasing staff and preparing gift packs for consumers to grab on the go, he said.

Myer spokeswoman Jo Lynch said the next three weeks of trade were the biggest of the year for the department store.

While times remain tough for retailers, the interest rate cut is expected to boost sales from last year, she said.

She said traditional children’s toys such as Barbie and Lego were strong sellers this year while cook books, fragrances and technology, such as digital cameras, iPods and tablets, were popular for the adults.

Source

www.weatherzone.com.au
December 4, 2011

Thunderstorms are helping Sydney achieve its coolest start to summer in 51 years, according to weatherzone.com.au.

Thunderstorms rolled across the city late this morning and early afternoon, cooling most suburbs below 17 degrees, well below average for this time of year. The storms also brought brief rain and hail to some western and northern suburbs. Picnickers and beach-goers were sent scurrying.

“In the first four days of this summer, Sydney has now failed to reach 23 degrees, making it the coolest start in 44 years,” Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said.

“The city is on target for its coolest start to summer in 51 years with none of the next three days expected to reach 23 degrees,” Dutschke said.

In the summer of 1960, each of the first 10 days were cooler than 22 degrees.

Source

Melbourne shivers through coldest summer in 15 years

www.heraldsun.com.au
December 02, 2011

MOTHER Nature missed her cue as Melbourne yesterday shivered through its coldest start to summer in 15 years.

Jackets and coats were the order of the day as wind and rain swept the city.

The mercury dropped to 9.9C early in the morning before crawling to just 18.7C at 4.25pm.

It was the coolest start to December since 1996, when the temperature reached just 15.8C.

Source

www.theaustralian.com.au

DEPARTMENT store group David Jones is the latest retailer to fall victim to the unseasonably cool summer, blaming the weather, along with rampant discounting, for a 2.7 per cent fall in sales for the second quarter of the financial year.

Chief executive Paul Zahra said sales by volume had remained reasonably steady, but the dollar value per transaction was down as shoppers were reluctant to open their wallets unless merchandise was discounted.

“The transactions are broadly in line with last year; basket size, however, is slightly down . . . that’s been driven by deflation in categories like electrical,” he said.

Sales for the second quarter ended January 29 were $617.6 million, down 2.7 per cent, or 1.1 per cent, when adjusted for an extra week’s trading in the previous financial year.

“The second quarter was challenging, impacted by cooler weather, significant discounting in the sector in the lead-up to Christmas, generally cautious consumer sentiment and the Queensland floods in January,” which had directly affected six DJs stores, Mr Zahra said.

However, DJs still managed to outperform rival department store group Myer, which reported a 7 per cent fall in sales during the second quarter, excluding the benefit of new store openings.

The downturn led Myer, which has lost out to DJs on same-store sales growth for five straight quarters, to slash annual profit guidance from predictions of growth of up to 10 per cent to a forecast decline of as much as 5 per cent.

DJs booked sales of $1.08 billion for the first half of the financial year, down 0.2 per cent, or 0.1 per cent when adjusted for the longer previous trading period.

Sales had been strong in women’s accessories, menswear and home furnishings, with exclusive brands affording the company some protection from the widespread discounting elsewhere in the industry, Mr Zahra said.

DJs is now forecasting net profit growth of about 5 per cent for the first half of the financial year, at the bottom end of previous guidance for growth of between 5 and 10 per cent.

Net profit growth for the full year is also expected to be at the bottom end of the forecast 5-10 per cent range, Mr Zahra said.

“Consumer shopping behaviour continued to be patchy throughout the second quarter and we see no signs that this is changing,” he said.

“All the economic indicators are positive, but people aren’t parting with their cash . . . they are paying their mortgages down, which is a reflection of the impact of the global financial crisis, and people that don’t have debt to pay down are saving their money.”

DJs, which has 36 stores, also unveiled plans to open a new store at Melbourne’s north suburban Highpoint shopping centre in 2013, bringing the company’s new sites in development to five.

Shares in DJs closed 2c higher at $4.64.

Source