13th December - Today's News: Heavy Snow in Eastern Mediterannean

So that's where our winter's gone ....

In Cyprus, Nicosia has its first glimpse of snow in years, cold weather, strong winds hamper travel in Greece, whilst a brutal snowstorm brings new misery for Syrian refugees and police, IDF called in to help motorists stranded in snow in Jerusalem.  Today in Cyprus, snowbound communities running out of supplies whilst in Israel, tens of thousands without power as severe storm continues.

Storm Ivar leaves thousands without power in Sweden whilst over 40,000 Estonian households in blackout after storm

Back home, it's snow joke: Scotland really is bloomin warm this winter (temperatures in the Highlands have been up to 16c this week)

I'm really not sure what this story is about - but there are likely to be severe gales in the NW of Scotland over the weekend, and generally it's looking unsettled for the next week with deep low pressure persisting over Iceland and a strong west or southwesterly airflow, perhaps with gales at times - but models do not indicate any specific storm heading for Britain, let alone one named Emily.  And it's still too early to say what Christmas will bring. 

At least 3 killed, more than 2,000 displaced in Brazil floods 

 Scottish government approves £800m Lochaber hydro plan

Jupiter's icy moon Europa 'spouts water'

A future source of  gas?  Titan moon's colossal methane seas

And one for the catastrophists: new research shows that historically, volcanic island landslides do not cause massive tsunamis to devastate the entire eastern seaboard of the USA ....