Our Daily Planet: Freezing Weather and #AGU10

Each weekday morning, OurAmazingPlanet takes the pulse of the Earth, reporting on natural phenomena and exploration news from around the globe.

Home Sweet Igloo: Cold temperatures caused severe icing across the South and brought a wintry mix to the Midwest. One unlucky homeowner saw his house turn into an igloo after a water main ruptured. [Related: Report Severe Weather on Twitter .]

Oil Sands: Canada isn't doing enough to clean-up after its oil sands development, some say. It's the largest source of crude oil outside of Saudi Arabia.

BP Sued: The Obama administration has filed a civil suit against BP and 8 other companies over the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. [Related: Infographic shows depth of BP well blowout .]

Required Reading: Outside Magazine names its top ten adventure stories of 2010.

Get the Lead Out: Do the right thing for the environment, hunters, and shoot lead-free ammo, urges a New York Times op-ed.

#AGU10: The American Geophysical Union meeting continues in San Francisco. Search for the hashtag #AGU10 on twitter for real-time updates from the conference. And watch OurAmazingPlanet and its sister sites LiveScience and SPACE.com for stories on some of the coolest findings being unveiled there.

Previously on Our Daily Planet: Yellowstone Opens and San Francisco's Fragile Bay

Reach OurAmazingPlanet staff writer Brett Israel at bisrael@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @btisrael.

Brett Israel was a staff writer for Live Science with a focus on environmental issues. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from The University of Georgia, a master’s degree in journalism from New York University, and has studied doctorate-level biochemistry at Emory University.