"A rare snowstorm that dusted two mountaintops on the island of Hawaii gave tourists and residents a white Christmas. While snow on the mountains is common, such snow is unusual. In a separate development, Hawaiian firefighters rescued more than 60 hikers, including some who were stranded for days when heavy rain made streams too swollen to cross on the island of Kauai."
A blizzard in Hawaii.
What's next, a tornado in Mississippi?
Waterlogged Northern California gets more rain
But it and another weather system later in the week will not be nearly as powerful as the storm that dumped as much as 8 inches of rain in parts of Northern California last week and up to 6 feet of snow in the high elevations of the Sierra Nevada. In Southern California, a cold front is expected to bring rain and mountain snow Tuesday and Wednesday.
Related:
"The storms triggered fresh fears of mudslides in foothill neighborhoods beneath wildfire-scarred mountain areas that were swamped by debris in strong storms last week. In the Midwest, heavy snow and freezing rain caused headaches for motorists and shut schools in parts of the Dakotas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin on Tuesday. The storm with both rain and snow was unusual for the time of year, said Todd Heitkamp, a weather service meteorologist in Sioux Falls. ‘‘We’ve been in a warm weather pattern, and when you get a pattern like that, any system you see is going to be like a late-fall or early spring storm,’’ he said."
Arctic blast hitting us as I type this.
Operators sought for state’s new marine port in New Bedford
As flood insurance costs fall, residents’ risks rise
At least there are no icebergs:
"Washington crosses the Delaware, minus the ice floes" Associated Press December 26, 2014
TITUSVILLE, N.J. — As opposed to the severe weather — including snow and freezing temperatures — that George Washington and his troops faced in 1776, the Christmas Day reenactment was done under mostly sunny skies, with temperatures in the 50s.
During the original crossing, boats ferried 2,400 soldiers, 200 horses and 18 cannons across the river. Washington’s troops marched 8 miles downriver before battling Hessian mercenaries in the streets of Trenton on the following day.
Thirty Hessians were killed and several hundred surrendered; two Continental soldiers froze to death, but none died in battle.
The victory, followed by another days later in Princeton, bolstered flagging morale both among Washington’s men and the public.
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Good thing they didn't take kayaks because there would have been no one to get them to a hospital (maybe they should have taken a canoe).
"Snow, ice sweep Europe, stranding drivers" Associated Press December 29, 2014
LONDON — Snow and icy weather swept through parts of Europe over the weekend, stranding drivers overnight and leaving thousands of homes without power in Britain.
Snow also covered parts of Switzerland and southwestern Germany on Saturday, and nearly 8 inches of snow fell in higher parts of Germany’s Black Forest.
Many motorists in Britain were forced to abandon their cars or were trapped in vehicles for hours after becoming snowed in. Dozens of people traveling from Sheffield to London spent the night in a church after their bus became stuck.
Parts of northern England saw 4.3 inches of snow. Western Power Distribution said 36,000 customers were without power, and 69,000 more had interruptions to supplies. Staff worked all night to reconnect customers, but thousands in the East Midlands region were still affected.
Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport and Leeds Bradford International closed late as workers cleared snow from the runways. The airports have reopened.
British weather forecasts predict more snow, mainly in the north, though the main threat would be ice on roads.
Related: Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past
Say again?
The snow was welcomed in the French Alps, which have seen hardly any since the start of the ski season. But with up to 2 feet predicted this weekend above 2,000 yards of altitude, one of the busiest vacation weeks of the year looked more promising — if drivers could reach the mountains.
Related: Ski areas hope to benefit from long vacations
Traffic jams snarled many of France’s major highways Saturday, with more than three-quarters of the country under a severe weather watch.
Snow and ice led to a roughly 12-mile traffic jam on the A8 highway near Stuttgart in southern Germany. Parts of Germany’s south and west saw more than 4 inches of snow.
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At bottom, a$ always:
"Nations reach climate accord; All will draw plans to cut emissions, with a 2020 target" by Coral Davenport, New York Times December 15, 2014
LIMA — International negotiators have reached a climate change agreement that would, for the first time in history, commit every nation to reducing its rate of greenhouse gas emissions. But the deal still falls far short of its stated goal of averting the dangerous and costly early impact of global warming.
What global warming? It's been cooling if anything, and the record cold winters are not helping the argument.
The agreement reached early Sunday by delegates from 196 countries establishes a framework for a climate change accord to be signed by world leaders in Paris next year.
It requires every nation to put forward, during the next six months, a detailed domestic policy plan to limit its emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases from burning coal, gas, and oil. Those plans would form the basis of the accord to be signed next December and enacted by 2020.
That basic structure represents a breakthrough in the impasse that has plagued the United Nations’ 20 years of efforts to create a serious global warming deal until now.
They have already underwritten it.
********
Jennifer Morgan, an expert on international climate negotiations with the World Resources Institute, a research organization, said, “A global agreement in Paris is now within reach.”
On its own, the political breakthrough will not achieve the stated goal of the deal: to slow the rate of global emissions enough to prevent the atmosphere from warming more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit over the preindustrial average.
That is the point at which scientists say the planet will tip into dangerous and irreversible effects, such as melting sea ice, rising sea levels, increased flooding and droughts, food and water shortages, and more extreme storms.
Good thing it's not happening.
The freshly struck agreement, the Lima Accord, sends the obligation of devising a plan to cut carbon emissions back to the nations’ capitals — and its success or failure rests on how seriously and ambitiously the parliaments, congresses, and energy, environment and economic ministries of the world take the mandate to create a new policy.
Meaning it was really a NOTHING agreement -- and yet it was the page one, upper-right-corner lead! All those people agreeing? HA!
US negotiators, led by the State Department’s climate change special envoy, Todd D. Stern, have pushed hard for provisions that required all countries to make their proposals public, transparent, and presented with comparable metrics as a way to create outside pressure on countries to produce more ambitious plans.
Is it rescinding the exemption for the US military?
“The Lima Accord delivers what we need to go forward,” Stern said.
“It’s the bare minimum of what we need, but we can work with it to get the pressure on,” said Alden Meyer, president of the group Union of Concerned Scientists.
The agenda advances by increments yet again.
Meyer and other scientists said they expected outside nongovernmental groups, research organizations, and universities to perform independent analyses of countries’ carbon-cutting plans in order to assess how all the plans stack up in comparison.
Delegates here widely acknowledged that the catalyst for the deal was a joint announcement last month in Beijing by President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China that the world’s two largest greenhouse gas polluters would limit their emissions.
That move appeared to break the 20-year impasse in climate talks — particularly a longstanding insistence by developing nations that they not be required to make emissions cuts while they still had populations in poverty.
“The success of this has laid a good foundation for success of Paris,” said Xie Zhenhua, China’s vice minister of National Development and Reform Commission. “Next year all of us, all countries, will continue to demonstrate our ambition, flexibility, and confidence,” he said.
The environment minister of India, the world’s third-largest carbon polluter, praised the deal.
“We have a true consensus,” said the minister, Prakash Javadekar. India has resisted calls to commit to net reductions of its soaring carbon pollution, insisting that it should not be required to cut its use of cheap coal-fired power while millions of impoverished Indians live without electricity.
But India has signaled that it does intend to submit a plan to at least slow its rate of emissions. And Javadekar appeared to signal his support of the process of working toward a deal in Paris, saying he hopes to continue to engage with other countries during the year.
Related: OPEC Meeting
Yeah, oil and gas are not going out of business anytime soon despite the bluster.
As for coal, federal mine safety officials credit changes they have made and are ‘‘seeing a cultural change in the mining industry.’’
Yeah, they are doing a great job.
While all countries will be required under the Lima Accord to submit plans to reduce emissions, the nature of the plans can be different according to the size of their economies. Rich countries, like the United States, are expected to put forward plans detailing how they would put their emissions on a downward trajectory after 2020.
Large but developing economies, like China, are more likely to put forward plans that name a future year in which their emissions peak. Poorer economies are expected to put forward plans indicating that their pollution will continue to increase — but at a lower rate.
While the Lima Accord lays the groundwork for a possible Paris deal, unresolved questions and huge divisions among countries lie ahead. The biggest one is money.
OMG! That is not the narrative of this article up to now!
And you $ee my pun point now?
Countries vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as low-lying island states and African nations, are already demanding that the Paris deal include not just details on mitigating emissions, but also commitments that rich countries will spend billions of dollars to help them adapt to and recover from the ravages of climate change.
Like what? Why aren't those islands already underwater?
Developing nations are also demanding help for the transition from using cheap, heavily polluting coal and oil to low-carbon sources of energy, such as wind and solar power. During the next year, world leaders will be gearing up for a clash between rich and poor nations about money to achieve the goals.
That never works out for the poor!
Also ahead is the question of how governments can continue to further reduce carbon pollution without severely curbing economic growth....
I know! They NEED a CARBON TAX!
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"Study recommends state ‘carbon tax’ to fight climate change" by Jay Fitzgerald, Globe Correspondent December 19, 2014
A new state-sponsored report concludes that slapping a multibillion-dollar “carbon tax” on all fossil fuels used in the state — including oil and natural gas to heat homes and gasoline to power cars — would be an effective way of cutting carbon pollutants blamed for accelerating climate change.
Prepared by private consultants on behalf of the state Department of Energy Resources, the report emphasizes that any new carbon tax or fee imposed on fossil fuels should be offset by tax cuts or some rebate to consumers in order to make the new carbon charge “revenue neutral.”
How about not doing it at all because it's -- as u$ual -- all for the banks anyway.
But the message of the report was clear: Deliberately hiking the price of petroleum products, via a new tax, would force many residential consumers and businesses to reduce their consumption of gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels at home and at work....
We got the me$$age, and down goes the economy again.
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Tell it to the owls and the turtles -- or the Japanese.
"Greenpeace took the wrong tactic in Peru stunt" December 18, 2014
GREENPEACE WENT too far when activists from the group defaced an ancient Peruvian landmark known as the Nazca lines earlier this month, and, for the sake of the environmental causes that the group supports, it must now cooperate fully with the investigation into the vandalism. By showing such reckless disregard for Peru’s culture and history, Greenpeace lent legitimacy to one of the worst accusations that environmentalists face — that they’re insensitive to developing countries.
The Nazca lines are mysterious relics, a series of gigantic images called geoglyphs up to 900 feet long that can be seen from above. They are believed to be more than 1,000 years old, and are listed as a United Nations world heritage site. But the images are fragile, and some have been partially destroyed.
The hummingbird was one of the most iconic of the images — and one of the best preserved. Not anymore. On Dec. 8, a group of activists, apparently led by a German academic, snuck onto the protected area around the hummingbird and put up a giant sign made out of cloth letters to call attention to renewable energy. The message was aimed at delegates at the recent climate conference in nearby Lima — a group that was, virtually by definition, already paying attention to the environment. Although the activists removed the letters, the remains of the “c” in Greenpeace are now visible from above. According to Peruvian officials, there are no restoration techniques to fix the damage, and it may take centuries to fade on its own.
Amid the uproar in Peru, Greenpeace apologized and initially promised to cooperate, but since then the group has apparently backtracked, and declined to provide the names of the activists involved. That arrogant attitude only reinforces the impression created by their decision to deface the site in the first place.
The controversy in Peru is all the more shameful because one of the main goals of the climate conference was to bring more developing countries on board for carbon reduction efforts. That has always been a delicate task, since poorer countries often bristle at wealthy nations lecturing them about emissions. Unfortunately, by flying in European activists to vandalize a symbol of Peru, Greenpeace just reinforced all the worst caricatures that have caused developing countries to view environmentalists — and their causes — with suspicion.
Kind of like the way I view the newspaper.
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Isn't that an alien airfield? Now they will never come back.
Related: Greenpeace's Director Busted For Lying About The Effects Of Global Warming
Philippines have a welcome shift on climate change action
The typhoon coverage was again dropped rather quickly.
"US Marine charged in Filipino transgender slaying" Associated Press December 16, 2014
MANILA — Philippine government prosecutors charged a US Marine with murder Monday in the killing of a Filipino, saying the suspect acknowledged attacking the victim after he found out she was a transgender woman.
Prosecutor Emilie de los Santos said there was probable cause that Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton killed Jennifer Laude, whose former name was Jeffrey, in the motel room where the victim’s body was found in Olongapo city, northwest of Manila. She had apparently been strangled and drowned in a toilet bowl.
‘‘It’s murder,’’ de los Santos told reporters after filing the charge against the 19-year-old Pemberton. ‘‘It was aggravated by treachery, abuse of superior strength, and cruelty.’’
Among the evidence submitted by de los Santos and other prosecutors were statements by Pemberton’s three Marine colleagues who went bar-hopping with him on Oct. 11 in Olongapo.
Pemberton and some of his colleagues later picked up women at a disco bar and separately checked in at nearby motels, then returned to their ship after midnight.
Witnesses saw Pemberton check in with Laude at a motel room, where he was seen leaving shortly before the discovery of the killing, prosecutors said in their statement.
Marine Lance Corporal Jairn Michael Rose, who went out with Pemberton that night, acknowledged that the suspect later confided back at their ship that he attacked the woman he was with by choking her after discovering that she was transgender when she undressed, according to the prosecutors.
‘‘I think I killed a he/she,’’ Pemberton was quoted as having told Rose.
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Or you can just watch the video report.