Record Early Snow Closes Mount Everest; Heavy Snow Hits Pip Ivan; MJO Surge, La Niña, Winter Cold Trigger; + The Sun’s Hidden Pulse And The Next Cooling Epoch
When the Sun sleeps, the Earth cools.
Record Early Snow Closes Mount Everest
Tourism across the Himalayas has been shut down after Cyclone Monta unleashed unseasonably heavy snow across both the Nepali and Tibetan sides of Mount Everest — the second major Himalayan blizzard this month.
The storm, which swept north from the Bay of Bengal October 28, buried roads, downed power lines, and stranded more than 1,500 trekkers stranded as trails disappeared under deep snowdrifts.
Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed a helicopter crashed in heavy snow near Lobuche, north of Namche Bazaar, while attempting to rescue stranded climbers. The aircraft slid while landing and overturned. The pilot survived and was later rescued.
Authorities have now ordered all climbing and trekking routes closed across the Everest, Annapurna, Manaslu, and Dhaulagiri ranges. While on the Tibetan side, access roads to Base Camp in Tingri County have been sealed since October 28 as ice, drifting snow, and whiteout conditions made travel impossible. Ticket sales for Everest visits have been suspended indefinitely.
Overnight lows are bottoming out at -20C (-4F), with forecasts calling for continued snow through at least October 31.
This level of accumulation typically arrives in late-November/early-December, making it one of the earliest and most intense Himalayan snow events in recent decades — likely record-breaking.
It also follows an early-October blizzard that stranded hundreds of trekkers on the Tibetan slopes near the eastern face of Everest.
This winter is arriving early and with force.
Heavy Snow Hits Pip Ivan
Rescuers in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region have urged hikers to avoid the Carpathians after severe weather struck Mount Pip Ivan on Wednesday, October 29.
