February 2, 2012 – CANADA – Snowfall and snow levels are reaching record levels in Alberta and British Columbia in Western Canada. While many other parts of North America are still struggling to fully open all their lifts and runs for winter2011-12 during an unusually dry winter, the West of Canada has been deluged fairly consistently since last autumn. “This month goes down as one of the snowiest January’s on record. There is unbelievable snow conditions at both Fernie and Kicking Horse with total snowfall at both over 19 feet now. Today alone, Fernie has seen over a foot overnight!!” said an excited Matt Mosteller of Resorts of the Canadian Rockies which runs the two centres. Meanwhile a little to the east and north, over the border in Alberta, with over three months left to go in the ski season, Marmot Basin near Jasper has already received over 12 feet (372 cm) of snowfall which is 93% of its annual average. If the next three months produce even typical amounts of snowfall, Marmot Basin will exceed its all time snowfall record of 529 cm set way back in 1965. Regardless of the numbers, skiers and snowboarders have been absolutely thrilled with snow conditions at Marmot Basin and, to some, it has come as a bit of a surprise, says the resort’s Brian Rode. “There is very little snow on the ground in Edmonton and when some people get to the mountain they are really surprised at how much snow we have. Marmot’s base elevation is very high so the rain that has fallen at lower elevations this winter has been all snow at Marmot,” added Rode. –Fast Track Ski
, according to reports on Wednesday. 3 people have died in the northern part of Japan from avalanches in Akita. The Ground Self-Defense Force of Japan was expected to send troops to the town of Uonuma, where a snow depth of 4.09 meters, or 13.4 feet, has reportedly built up. Fearing roof collapse under the weight of the deep snow, complicated by warming and the potential for rain, the local officials called for the troops to help clear roofs. Niigata is in western Honshu, which winter climate is notorious for its waves of heavy snow off the Sea of Japan during cold outbreaks. Western Honshu is home to some of the highest snowfalls anywhere on earth, even at relatively low elevation, as bitter northwesterly winds out of Siberia and northern China flow across the much warmer Sea of Japan. Uonuma itself is located about 120 miles, or nearly 200 km, northwest of Tokyo which, incidentally, the report also made mention of for its abnormally dry, clear weather this winter. The same weather pattern that delivers heavy snow on the western side of mountainous Honshu normally yields dry, clear weather at Tokyo. -Accuweather
as countries from Italy to Ukraine struggled to cope with temperatures that plunged to record lows in some places. Nine more people died in Poland overnight as temperatures hit minus 32 Celsius (minus 25.6 Fahrenheit) in the southwest, bringing the overall toll to 29 since the deep freeze began last week, national police said. In Ukraine, tens of thousands of people have headed to shelters trying to escape the freeze that the emergencies ministry said has now killed 63 people. Most of them literally froze to death on the street, with only a handful making it to hospital before succumbing to hypothermia, the ministry said. Shivering and hungry, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have sought help in the more than 2,000 temporary shelters set up by the authorities to help the poor survive the fearsome spell of cold weather. The shelters offer warmth and hot food in a country where temperatures fell to minus 33 degrees Celsius in the Carpathians in the west of the country and minus 27 in the capital Kiev. “I am unemployed. I have somewhere to live but nothing to eat. I ate here and it was good — bread with a slice of fat and an onion as well as porridge,” said Olexander Shemnikov, an out-of-work engineer after visiting a shelter in Kiev.
Frigid cold: In Romania, eight people died overnight because of the cold, bringing the overall toll to 22, the health ministry said. Schools remained closed in some parts of the country as temperatures reached minus 31 degrees Celsius. In Bulgaria, where the mercury dipped to lows not seen in a century, at least 10 people have died, according to media. Authorities have not released official figures. With parts of the Danube freezing, authorities moved some vessels to ports further away to protect them from the advancing ice. And in the capital Sofia, some residents found their money frozen as automated teller machines stopped functioning, according to local media. In Latvia, 10 people have died around the capital Riga alone, with no figures available for the rest of the country. In neighboring Lithuania a 55-year-old homeless man found in the ruins of an abandoned house in the port city of Klaipeda became the ninth victim of the chill. In Italy, hundreds of people were trapped overnight on trains as freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls in the centre and north caused widespread chaos on roads, railways and at airports. The cold has so far killed an infant in Sicily and a 76-year-old pensioner in Parma during what forecasters say is the coldest weather in Italy in 27 years. In Austria, an 83-year-old woman was found frozen to death in the woods after apparently slipping on her daily walk and not managing to get up again, becoming the country’s second victim of the cold snap, officials said. In Serbia, the cold has killed seven people and trapped some 11,500 others, mostly in remote mountain villages inaccessible by road. -AFP
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