Snow!: This winter's first major snowstorm hit the Midwest today. A foot and a half of snow could fall in some places, and runoff could provide much-needed water for the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. In The Weather Channel's new naming system, the storm goes by Draco (not, we think, in honor of the sneaky, oh-so-pale Harry Potter character, but you never know). USATODAY, Weather Underground
Avalanche!: There is definitely such a thing as too much snow. A particularly large dose of the white stuff caused an avalanche in the Cascades backcountry in February, on a ski route called Tunnel Creek, and an increasing number of people die from avalanches each year. This series is worth checking out, if just for the pictures. New York Times
Heatwaves!: If you're feeling a little chilly, these maps of heat-wave projections should warm you up. Just the thought of heatwaves 3.58 degrees Celsius hotter than normal should be enough to bring beads of sweat to your forehead. Sorry, overheated now? Click back to those avalanche pictures. Atlantic Cities
Another one bites the coal dust: After much debate, American Electric Power announced it will retire a major coal-fired power plant in Kentucky named Big Sandy because it would require $1 billion in upgrades under new regulations. Associated Press
Keystone missing key safeguards: TransCanada would only have to increase its budget for Keystone XL by about $10 million -- that's around 0.2 percent of the project's budget -- to add safeguards like proper leak detection sensors. But the company says it's doing enough already to make sure the pipeline is safe. Yeah, yeah and the Titanic was unsinkable. Inside Climate News
Might as well go eat worms: A new Dutch study makes the case for replacing meat with mealworms. They're full of protein; they take less energy to farm; and they're quite crunchy. What's the hesitation? OnEarth
Yield sign: At some point, we might not have a choice about eating bugs. A new study from University of Minnesota and McGill University found that yields of staple crops are no long improving but rather growing quite slowly or declining. If this keeps up, just feeding the world's growing population -- let alone feeding everyone meat -- could become a problem. The Economist
McVegetables: Next year -- i.e. very, very soon -- chain restaurants across the country will have to post calorie counts on their menu, and some are already working to offer more options with less mind-bogglingly high numbers. Maybe this actually is the way to convince America to eat healthier. Maybe. Slate
Pranks or paranoia?: NASA is really, really ready for the world to not end tomorrow, because then everyone who's worried about the apocalypse will stop calling them ... like, what are those guys going to do about it anyway? The world is ending! That's it, finito. Tomorrow OnEarth: world ends. Done. Los Angeles Times
Tips: @OnEarthMag (tag it #greenreads)
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