By Andrew Freedman, CNN
(CNN) — A drastic weather pattern change is about to induce an acute case of weather whiplash for most of the country. During the next few days, a record-setting Western heat wave will settle in while winterlike cold returns to the East.
The heat wave in the West will dominate weather headlines for at least two weeks starting Thursday, as numerous locations are likely to set all-time heat records for the month of March.
The heat will melt the West’s already well-below-average snowpack, raising concerns for spring and summer water resources and a potentially severe wildfire season. The heat all but assures that Colorado and Utah will have their lowest snowpack on record.
“We’re going to get to April first and we’re going to see some very scary snowpack numbers essentially everywhere” across the West, University of California climate scientist Daniel Swain said this week.
The heat, which is already building in the Southwest, comes courtesy of a strong area of high pressure, or ridge in the upper atmosphere, also known as a heat dome. This weather feature is likely to park over the West without moving much for up to two weeks.
Downstream of the heat dome, the jet stream will dive south out of Canada, transporting cold air into the Midwest and East, along with chances for snowfall into mid-to-late March.
If this feels familiar, it is because this is the same pattern that brought multiple cold outbreaks and major winter storms to the East this winter, though the unusually mild weather this past week likely had residents thinking spring may have sprung.
Cities that saw high temperatures in the 70s and 80s this week are likely to see highs in the 30s and 40s next week.
Washington, DC, saw a high temperature of 84 degrees on Tuesday, but will drop into the 50s this weekend, and fall into the 40s early next week. Temperatures climbed into the 70s in parts of the Northeast on Tuesday, but multiple chances of more snow are back in the forecast there during the next five to seven days.
The cooldown may reach all the way into the Southeast, where parts of Florida could see lows in the 50s this weekend, potentially plunging into the 40s early next week.
While the impending cold snap in the East will feel like major whiplash, the weather shift in the West will be far more significant.
Deadly heat in March
The National Weather Service is warning residents of the Southwest in particular to prepare for unprecedented — and potentially deadly — March temperatures during what will be a long duration heat wave.
Phoenix is likely to see its earliest 100-degree day on record, beating the current record by more than 10 days, according to the NWS.
“Given the unprecedented length and magnitude of this extreme heat wave, heat stress will be increasing each day,” NWS forecasters in Los Angeles said Wednesday. Extreme heat can be deadly, and is the top weather-related killer in the Lower 48 states annually.
This heat wave follows what was already the West’s hottest meteorological winter – December through February – on record, with multiple states setting all-time warmest winter records.
Southern California is predicted to experience temperatures as much as 20 to 30 degrees above average for this time of year during the course of the next two weeks, the NWS warned.
Climate change increases the likelihood, duration, and severity of heat waves, and likely played a role in clinching the title for the West’s hottest winter.
In addition, seasonal timing is shifting as the world warms. Across much of the US, winter is the fastest-warming season, and spring is also coming earlier in many areas with the last freeze happening sooner.
The-CNN-Wire
HENDERSON, Nevada. (KEYT) - UCSB opened up an early nine point lead in the third quarter but they could not hold off UC Riverside and lost 58-53 in the first round of the Big West Championships.
It's the third straight year that UCSB has failed to win a game in this tournament.
The Gauchos had three turnovers in the final two and a half minutes of this game.
UCSB was led in scoring by Olivia Bradley who had 23 points.
Riverside got a game-high 26 points from Hannah Wickstrom.
The Gauchos end the season 20-10.
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The post Gauchos ‘one-and-done’ for the third straight year at Big West Championships appeared first on News Channel 3-12.
By John Liu, CNN
Hong Kong (CNN) — In an era marked by US overseas military actions and trade turbulence, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is counting on a plan to shield his country from the storm: driving innovation to transform China into the world’s leading tech superpower.
Over the next five years, China seeks to upgrade its already powerful industrial sector, strengthen tech “self-sufficiency” and incubate sectors that will help accelerate the country’s tech supremacy, from artificial intelligence and robotics to aerospace and quantum computing.
“For the first time, China wants to lead in a number of technologies. Previously, the focus was always catching up with the West,” said Dan Wang, China director at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.
Details of Xi’s gambit for the future were approved on Thursday by China’s rubber-stamp legislature in Beijing as the week-long annual assembly drew to a close. The policy document, known as the Five-Year Plan, has been hashed out behind closed doors by Xi’s inner circle for months and serves as a North Star for the country’s development into the next half-decade.
“Strive to achieve new breakthroughs in advancing original innovation, tackling key core technologies, and seizing the strategic high ground in science and technology,” Xi told local officials in a meeting discussing the new plan last week.
As China’s economy contends with deep-rooted structural challenges, including a persistent real estate crisis and low consumer confidence, Xi is zeroing in on bolstering its tech sector, betting proactively on emerging technologies to power the country’s growth in the decades ahead. Last week, China set its lowest-ever economic growth target since it began adopting such figures.
“In the face of tumultuous international dynamics and a range of risks and challenges,” the policy document reads, “we must concentrate on doing our own work well… consolidate and expand our strengths, remove bottlenecks and constraints, and shore up weaknesses.”
Although Xi is expected to host US President Donald Trump in Beijing later this month to discuss extending a trade truce and narrowing their differences, experts said relations between the world’s two biggest economies will continue to center on competition in the next five years.
“Collaboration will drop in every aspect from academia to industries. Both sides want to reduce reliance on the other side and thus decoupling is mutual,” Wang of Eurasia Group said, warning that bilateral tensions could flare up again after a period of calm brought by the trade truce.
In an uncertain world, China is positioning itself as a “stabilizing anchor for the global economy,” said Henry Huiyao Wang, president of the Beijing-based research group Center for China and Globalization.
“The China the US is dealing with today is a highly organized country, one that is still driven by strong vitality and growth momentum, and moving forward with clear strategic resolve through successive five-year plans,” said the analyst, who previously served as an adviser to China’s cabinet, the State Council.
The long game
China’s state-led model is helping the country rapidly narrow the gap in research and development spending with the US.
Beijing has committed to a 10% increase in annual budget for science and technology – in line with the pace of growth over the past two years. The plan also set a goal of expanding annual research and development investment by at least 7%.
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Por CNN
Una línea de turbonadas con fuertes lluvias y frecuentes relámpagos avanza por el sureste la madrugada del jueves.
Como consecuencia, se mantienen los avisos por tornado en Alabama y Georgia, donde podrían formarse rápidamente a lo largo de la línea fronteriza mutua. Los vientos destructivos en línea recta siguen siendo la principal amenaza de este sistema.
El Centro de Predicción de Tormentas ha emitido una nueva alerta de tornado para partes del sureste de Alabama, el norte de Florida y el centro-oeste de Georgia hasta las 8:00 a.m., hora de Miami.
Esta área incluye Montgomery, Alabama; Pensacola y Panama City, Florida; y Columbus y Macon, Georgia. Partes del área metropolitana del sur de Atlanta también están en riesgo.
Es posible que se produzcan tornados aislados, ráfagas de viento dañinas de hasta 112 km/h y granizo grande disperso a medida que una poderosa línea de tormentas eléctricas se mueve hacia el este a través de la región esta mañana.
Casi 150.000 clientes se quedaron sin electricidad desde Texas hasta el Atlántico Medio el miércoles después de que severas tormentas eléctricas azotaran la región temprano en la noche.
Los cortes se concentraban en el sur, con casi 50.000 clientes sin electricidad en Louisiana y más de 45.500 en Misisipi, según PowerOutage.com. También se reportan cortes más pequeños, pero igualmente importantes, en Ohio, Maryland, Washington y Texas.
Lake Village, un pequeño pueblo en el noroeste de Indiana, fue uno de los lugares del Medio Oeste más afectados por el tornado.
Mientras los residentes evaluaban los daños causados por la poderosa tormenta el miércoles, muchos se sintieron afortunados de seguir con vida.
Un sobreviviente, Steven Travis, declaró a WBBM, afiliada de CNN, que estaba en casa cuando la tormenta azotó su calle. Desde adentro, vio cómo el techo de su habitación se desprendía y se derrumbaba.
“Me metí en el armario y al salir había escombros por todas partes”, contó. “O sea, el lugar estaba destrozado”.
Travis manifestó que estaba agradecido de haber sobrevivido. No sufrió heridas y pudo dormir en casa de su hija el martes por la noche.
Otros, sin embargo, no tuvieron tanta suerte.
Una mujer que visitó una de las casas derrumbadas en el pueblo el miércoles señaló que su hermana y su cuñado, de unos 80 años, murieron a causa de la tormenta. Un familiar los encontró en el patio trasero de la casa, añadió.
“Esto es devastador”, declaró Christine Kwintera a WLS, afiliada de CNN, y compartió que la pareja había vivido en su casa durante décadas y disfrutaba de una vida tranquila después de la jubilación.
“Eran personas maravillosas, maravillosas”, afirmó la vecina Theresa Figueroa al medio. “Me quedé sin palabras… Ese era su hogar definitivo”.
El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional confirmó una clasificación preliminar de EF3 para el tornado que azotó Aroma Park, Illinois. Los vientos máximos asociados con el tornado fueron de 240 km/h.
La información preliminar sugiere que este tornado comenzó al suroeste de Kankakee, Illinois, y terminó al noreste de Roselawn, Indiana, según el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional.
Por su parte, otro tornado que azotó el martes por la noche y provocó una rara emergencia en Knox, Indiana, recibió una calificación preliminar EF-2.
Los estudios de daños en el condado de Starke revelaron vientos estimados de 185 a 193 km/h, lo suficientemente fuertes como para causar daños estructurales significativos y derribar numerosos árboles a lo largo de la trayectoria del tornado.
La clasificación podría cambiar a med