Big Freeze And Early Snows In Mongolia; Mount Everest; Historic 8 Feet Of Snow Confirmed In The Alps; Valle Nevado, Chile Extends Ski Season Amid Record Snow; + NERC Warns Of Gas Shortages

The COLD TIMES are returning...

Big Freeze And Early Snows In Mongolia

Large swaths of Mongolia are enduring a sharp temperature drop accompanied by unusually early snowfall.

As of Thursday morning, northern provinces like Khuvsgul, Selenge, Bulgan, Orkhon, and Darkhan-Uul, along with western provinces Zavkhan and Khovd, and central provinces Tuv, Arkhangai, and Uvurkhangai, have reported healthy accumulations of September snow, according to the National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring.

Plunging Arctic air has crashed thermometers to below freezing across much of the country.

The sudden freeze has sparked concerns over potential impacts on farming, particularly nomadic herding--a key economic activity in the country. These conditions mark an abrupt end to summer and a skipping of fall straight into winter.

As well-documented (link below), winters in Mongolia are trending colder and snowier.

Well over 2 million animals froze-to-death in early-2024 alone as the East Asian nation battled one of its coldest winters on record--as it did last year, and the year before that--and its snowiest since 1975.

At the start of February, the United Nations warned that the ongoing “dzud” (an extreme winter cold event) had reached a “critical level” with over 90% of Mongolia impacted.

Government data show that these “dzudz” are increasing with 6 occurring during the past 10 winters. Recent research found that between 1940 and 2015 official dzud declarations were made twice a decade; in recent years however, these freezing episodes have increased in both frequency and intensity with them now playing out annually.

For more, click the link below:

It's Snowing In Mallorca; Winter's Freeze Kills 2.1 Million Animals In Mongolia; Antarctica Nears -80F; + Country's Drop Investigations Into Nord Stream Sabotage, Citing "It's Complicated"

Looking ahead, even more snow is in the offing into the weekend, alongside further temperature plunges. The nation's monitoring agency is advising the public, especially herders and farmers, to take additional precautions.

The September snow isn't just limited to Mongolia; Russia to the north and China to the south are also copping it.

As per latest GFS runs, large parts of Russia, especially the east, will see accumulations surpass 60 cm (2 feet) before October:

GFS Total Snowfall (cm) Sept 20 - Oct 6 [tropicaltidbits.com].

Mount Everest

In 2025, a team of academics, generously funded by the Natural Environment Research Council—primarily bankrolled by taxpayers—will trek to Mount Everest in an effort to prove that its snow and ice are "melting faster than previously thought."