I'm opening this thread to post unusual weather occurrences, without suggesting to interprete them as pro or con climate change.
In Germany we just had the (probably) last surge of summer-like temperatures, it got unusually warm and sunny, up to 78F (25.5C) in some places, 75F (24C) at Dortmund, and 61F at night. So today was even above-average for a normal JULY(!) day. That's it now, autumn is coming in with rain, storm and probably 51F maximum on Wednesday...

I took this picture yesterday from one of the highest mountains in my region (2,750 feet, 60 miles southeast of Dortmund) during a hike; it shows the cloud front of the low pressure system approaching and ending the unusually warm temperatures. (The second pic shows the high-elevaton heath on that mountain).

[video:youtube]http://youtu.be/OWXoRSIxyIU[/video]

Appears to be a thorough explanation.

Regarding the outbreak of autumn: There we go, 75F just three days ago, but far away. Today the "Iron ore mountains" (Erzgebirge) in Saxony had the first snow, and the North Sea coast is facing a storm tide.
http://www.wetteronline.de/wetter-videos/2014-10-22-jv?cat=29&sort=date

Look at this difference of a restaurant in Seefeld, Tyrole - only four days between the two pictures!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/h...67ac876eaccde36

Now we are back to "heat records": Saturday will most probably be the second warmest November day in the last 30 years. Mediterranean air and up to 70F (21C) are announced for western parts of Germany. I'm planning to do this year's last 30 miles bike tour...

Outstanding record temperatures for November: My Stevenson screen recorded a maximum of 21.7 C / 71 F today. One official station in the Rhineland reached 75 F, an incredible temperature for November in Germany. Actually, it was an average August day today.

I realized that these record temperatures beat the afternoon temperatures of Tampa and Orlando on Saturday: 71F as opposed to 66F (due to the cold spill). That's really bizarre. I don't know if that ever happened before in a late autumn or winter month, when the average temperatures differ about 30-35 degrees F between Germany and Florida...

Some nice pictures of today's Foehn storm in Southern Bavaria and at Lake Constance, again raising temperatures up to 73F in Munich (while my region has dropped to 50F). The pic of the Foehn collapsing again in Innsbruck is interesting from a meteorological point of view.
http://www.wetteronline.de/fotostrecken/2014-11-04-fh?part=single

Today it was the coldest day since February or longer in my region. After the extremely mild November, it was what meteorologists call an 'ice day', the daily maximum remained at 29F (-1.5C), with a moderate Eastern wind. Absolutely not used to these temperatures any more. Luckily it will be over again tomorrow.

Here in Canada when is -1c we put sunscreen on in the winter time...

I know, except in southwestern B.C., they are even more spoilt with mild winter temperatures than inhabitants of the western German Lander or BeNeLux.

33C (91.4F), 51 percent humidity here in Vientiane, Laos. The weather's beautiful but would be even more perfect with a bit less humidity. Still, it's a bit cold for the locals who are already wearing jackets. The nights are cool which is a great relief. T-shirt weather and cold showers every day of the year for me. Life's good!

I arrived during the rainy season but we've been having nothing but sunshine for the past 2.5 months. Just the way I like it!

Today I readjusted the time of my automatic window roller shutter for the last time to 4:30 p.m., when it is practically dark in my part of Germany now. I'm really happy that in 10 days the sun will slowly begin to be stronger and the days longer again...

Winter has finally come to western parts of Germany, too. Today the temperature remained below freezing the whole day, and we reached a low of 23F (-5C) (coldest so far since last winter). Currently, the temperature has dropped to 5F (-15C) in Augsburg, coldest place today (except the mountains).
In the Netherlands, there is currently a remarkable contrast between coldest and warmest station of -8C (17F) versus +7C (45F) within a range of less than 100 miles.

Official measurements of the national weather service measured a low of -20C (-4F) in a valley station in Western Allgaeu (southern Baden-Wurttemberg on the border to Bavaria) this morning. Several Bavarian stations recorded -18C (0F). In my state, it didn't go below -10C (14F) anywhere. So, more of a winter than last year already.

In London Ontario still mild. Today is -2, and now it's getting colder. Over Christmas it was +11.So much for white Christmas. .hehehe
Santa delivered presents in his speedo..

That's certainly unusual for Ontario. Winter seems to be saying bye-bye again in northwestern Germany after this abrupt cold spill, one more night with some snow, but then temperatures are supposed to be around 5C/40F for the next 7 days again.

New record high temperatures were reached in Bavaria and Austria today. Incredible 19C/66F in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, even 21C/70F (!!!) in Salzburg.
In the west it wasn't that spectacular, but still I measured 14C/57F, which was reached in the middle of the night. All going along with a dangerous storm.
This is a German link about the records:
http://www.wetteronline.de/wetterticker?postId=post_2006334

For the first time this winter (some since 2013 (!)), some skiing areas without artificial snowmaking in the Sauerland mid-range mountains in my region are opening their ski lifts today.
E.g. http://www.wildewiese.de - which has an elevation of up to 2125 feet.
I hope they will be able to keep it open for at least one or two weeks to compensate for last winter's total lack of revenue.

This was probably the best skiing day this winter so far in the mid-range Sauerland, with sunshine and up to 20 inches of natural snow in the higher elevations (plus artificial snow).
Here are some pics, one I took of the mountain range from 30 miles distance not far from my home, the others taken from web cams.

While the northeastern US obviously has too much snow (nobody posting here, why not?), some skiing areas in my region had to close again yesterday. Those below 2,100 feet of altitude without artificial snow production had no chance to keep it open with wet, melting snow, and, what's worse, all models predict mild temperatures for the rest of February. So after the total loss of last winter, some areas will have had just 10 days of operation this winter.

I just saw the present temperatures and forecast for New York City, permament freezing temperatures for several days, probably down to -18C/0F Friday night... It's really impressive how much milder it is here in Germany on the 51st degree of latitude, which would be somewhere in New Foundland in North America... Our lowest night temperature this entire winter in my region was around 20F (-7C).

Record breaking temperatures in North Rhine Westphalia and the Eastern Netherlands: Today I measured the hottest day ever in my garden since beginning of measurement in the 1980s: 36.9 C / 98 F. In some places in the Lower Rhine as well as Maastricht, Netherlands (where Bachus lives) temperatures hit 100 F (38 C).

That sure is hot for that part of the world.

Here in Ontario summer hasn't even started yet.

We've just had almost too much of summer now, although I generally like summer. Four days of at least 32C (90F) in a row, one day 37 (98), and yesterday 36.6 (97) again, with increasing night temperatures (around 27C/80F at midnight). As most people don't have proper air conditioning in the houses, some really suffer at night especially in the upper floors, where it stays around 28-30C.
We've got two portable air conditioners with a hose you have to put outside the window - they really lack efficiency, I only use them from the late evening on until I go to bed, they work ok then. A split air conditioning would be better, but as soon as you've invested in it, the next 5 summers will probably be Middle European again

Just have to add: a new German all-time high was officially recorded yesterday: the national weather institution measured 40.3 C (104.6 F) in the Franconian town of Kitzingen (northern Bavaria). (The former record was 40.2/104.4).

Here you can see the result of the July drought in the southern and eastern parts of Germany. The Elbe river is blocked for larger boats. This is a picture of Dresden from July 21.
The Elbe river (originating in the Riesengebirge on the Czech-Polish border) always has to struggle with low water levels much more than the Rhine, which has three times as much water discharge and doesn't dry out that much as water supply from the Alps is much steadier throughout summer, too.
http://www.focus.de/fotos/fast-ausgetrocknet-blick-auf-dresden-und-die-elbe_id_4829538.html

The last two days of August were unusually hot again in most parts of Germany, reaching 32C/90F in my region and 36-37C/97-99F in some places in the eastern states and Regensburg, Bavaria. Usually, such temperatures aren't reached after August 20 any more, as the angle of the sun has already decreased to about 47 degrees maximum on August 31 in central Germany.
Now, autumn has come like a shock with afternoon temperatures of 16C/61F, the forecast being even further downwards.

Rarely had such an early fall, afternoon temperatures have fallen to 55F/13C here! We'll have to turn on the heating tomorrow, indoor temperature has sunk to 18C/65F. A week ago I was swimming in a lake to cool down...

While the western and northern parts of Germany are experiencing a totally disappointing September with a monthly maximum temperature of only 22C/71F and daily afternoons in the low 60s, southern Bavaria has just hit another crazy all-time-high for mid September of 34C/93F! Over 32C/90F were reached in several stations on Thursday, along with a stormy FOEHN wind. Incredible considering that in my region (350 miles away) the heatings have been constantly turned on since the beginning of September.

Coldest mid October of the past 30 years in north-west Germany:
Today and tomorrow the afternoon temperatures will stay below 5C / 41F! With a dry northeastern continental wind it feels like a nasty day in January. This has occasionally happened in late October, but I can't remember such a cold spell/spill in the first half of October.
Considering September and October together in my region, I haven't ever seen such an absense of summer just from September 1st onwards. The monthly maximum in September was just 22C (72F), while on average it would be around 26 (79F). Often October has delivered several warm days when September was disappointing, but again nothing, maximum in October was 20.5 (69F).

I can't believe it... just took this picture of our garden on Oct 14, in the Gulf Stream-favored west of Germany...

Very nice garden, Rosetree. Looks like you dusted it with icing sugar. What a world of difference: I'm here in hot and humid Bangkok and on Friday I'll fly back to hot and humid Laos.

November is making up for cold October and September now...
Tomorrow we are expecting record temperatures: a daily mean temperature of 16C / 61F, which is nearly August level, and up to 20C / 68F in some spots in the afternoon!
Some days ago, Garmisch already hit 72F with Foehn wind, very close to the German November all-time-high.

"Kriegt der Knecht vom F�hn einen Wahn, schlachtet er den Wetterhahn"

Last week here in Ontario we had record breaking temperatures. It was 24c.

Exactly, I think the servant really got crazy from this weather...

Ontario, at least for Toronto it wouldn't surprise me, it's 8 degrees of latitude (550 miles) further south than my region.
We just had 65F when it was already dark, extremely unnatural subtropical air. Freiburg reached 72 today.

New record temperatures on December 17: 63.5F (17.6C) near the Dutch-German border. The lower 40s would be normal.

This picture shows how crazy the weather has been the past months here in northwest Germany... Daisies and other small flowers blooming mid December.

First relief for skiing resorts

Finally, after an extreme November and December with no trace of winter, it has now arrived in the western parts of Germany, too.
Last night was the coldest this winter, after we hadn't had any frost at all, it got down to 17F (-8.5C).

This small skiing resort, the closest to my city, have switched on their skiing lifts the first time last weekend:
http://www.wildewiese.de/

Snow is melting fast even in the highest resorts in my region. Just one or two weeks of skiing yet this winter.
The following video (from 2008) shows one of the longest slopes in the Sauerland mountains in my region. These action cam videos are nice...
https://youtu.be/bBJtQTO0DM8

Climate is changing everywhere. Don't understand how anyone can deny global warming.

No one is denying that the climate is changing; just about how much of it is caused by us.

The most vocal say it is caused wholly by us, whereas the climate sceptics say that it is a naturally occurring event over 1000s of years, and we have just accelerated it.

The solution for the most vocal is that we should spend all the money on reducing our carbon emissions (Effectively putting all the eggs in one basket) to solve the problem, whereas the climate sceptics say, that we should in addition to reducing our carbon emissions, also be spending money on building defences & planning for what will eventually come no matter what we do.

History has shown that putting all your eggs in one basket is a disaster waiting to happen; hence I�m on the sceptic side, and we should be focusing on reducing emissions and building defences.

Global Warming is a media created term which does not represent the full gamut of climate change.

Bill

But that discussion belongs into this thread:
http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/390490/Global_warming#Post390490

This thread here is a weather thread, your discussion is a climate discussion.
Even three warm winters in a row still belong to the topic "weather" and not "climate" or "climate change".
I'm not denying climate change, but you can only speak of climate if an average of 20-30 years in a row is calculated and compared with the average of an earlier or later period of 20-30 years. This thread named "remarkable weather events" refers to single observations, and it's always a mistake to derive a climate change trend from them.
That's also the main reason there are so many discussions about it: people always tend to be influenced in their thinking only by what they have experienced recently. So ask people in the eastern US: they will tell you that global warming is ridiculous as they've experienced many cold winters in the past years. People in California have no doubt about climate change as they've experienced drought during the past years. Even people in Europe, where most winters were extremely mild over the last 10 years, said climate was getting colder when ONE SINGLE December in 2010 was extremely snowy and cold. None of these things alone are reliable indications of climate change.

Isn't that saying if it wasn't for us we wouldn't be experiencing it now? If we are accelerating it us then yes it is being caused by us.

Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) Snow, which is rarely seen in Taiwan, an Asia-Pacific island crossed by the Tropic of Cancer, wowed people around the island Sunday with the appearance of the white stuff, from the capital Taipei in the north to Pingtung County in the south.

Read on: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201601240014.aspx

It even snowed in the north of Laos and places in Vietnam where it usually never snows.

I read about the unusual cold spill/spell in Southeast Asia... Maybe connected to El Nino...

Today +13 in Ontario. Dogs don't even want to come inside the house.

I checked it, yes, one day of 13C in Toronto, quite a lot for your winter conditions, I guess. Next Saturday you are going to be back to terrible freezing temps acc.to what I saw.

Here, skiing businesses are having a totally frustrating winter again.
At the longest skiing slope in my state it looks like this today, and they are even keeping one skiing conveyer belt open under these conditions in their despair:

These blossoms of a tree in our neighbor's garden came out on February 13 this year! Normally they would come out end of March, beginning of April...

A little OT in this thread: The great hotel buyout in the Sauerland mountains continues...

This is what we found after a winter hike in the mountains 50 miles south of my city today:

All the parking lot of a restaurant we had visited before was full of Dutch cars now. And this wasn't in the main tourist resort of the region. The interior had changed, and there were about 100 Dutch guests sitting inside. My friend and I were the only Germans. As the waitress explained, the new hotel owners are Dutch.

This is what has happened to lots and lots of hotels in this medium-range mountain region of Wesphalia. A logical consequence, as there are just far too little German tourists, whereas the Dutch seem to be thrilled with the hilly scenery.
I like the Dutch, it's just a bit sad that there's hardly a restaurant left in such rural towns in this region where you can have traditional local cakes and food, while you can enjoy Dutch recipes everywhere in the Sauerland mountains But it's the market... If the demand is 95% Dutch, supply adapts to it.

Germans are spoilt by cheep flights and last minute vacation, what once used to be an attractive region for short trips and holidays in the 1950s to 1970s just bores them nowadays. For the Dutch it still seems to be very attractive, as it is another country, a 2 to 4 hour drive and a somewhat unusual scenery for them.

38C But felt like 44C today. Tomorrow'll be a bit cooler (34C) but the temperature will go up to 38C once again on Saturday and Sunday. Luckily the humidity is still low (65%) but it's going up and up and up. It was rather pleasant today but from next month on it'll be like being trapped in a sauna for the rest of the year. But, hey, I'm not complaining. I love sunshine.

Thanks for the info. Keep cool...
Today's maximum, without kind permission of www.wetteronline.de:

Coldest end of April in decades in Germany.

Mid-range mountains from 700m (2300 feet) upwards are covered in snow again!

http://sauerland.camera/webcam/altastenberg/

It was 40C here today which felt like 48C. This has been like this for over a month now. Actually the humidity will keep increasing which is the reason why it feels so much hotter than it is. Not that much different from Taiwan, though. Hey, what can I say, I take sunshine over rain any day!

Can't say any more about this weather on April 27 than: "The only way is up"...

Picture from Westphalia's highest elevation (approx. 800m / 2650 feet), today at noon:

Last week the temperatures in Westphalia rose to 35.1 C (95 F), again a temperature not reached in an average year. However, all in all the summer has been very shaky with only few really warm ans sunny days. The so-called "7 sleeper's" rule hit...