Russia Under Cold Grip.

Temperatures in Russia have taken a dramatic shift, with the weather forecast predicting temperatures to fall as low as -37C, being the coldest it has been in Russia since 1979.
An unexpected energy crisis has also gripped the country, at the same time as the country is experiencing problems with the weather. Schools had to be shut, large businesses were made to pledge to the government to ration their use of electricity from 3pm to 9pm, while they have a choice, and up to 400,000 people in Russia woke up to find that their cars would not start up. Up to 107 Muscovites have died because of the low temperatures since October.



The article also states that to top it off, the people of Russia will also have to deal with a record rise in utility prices. This is indeed bad news for the people of Russia.

If there are any members who are from Russia that read this article, we would like to get an update on this situation.

[edit on 18-1-2006 by Muaddib]

[edit on 18-1-2006 by parrhesia]

Yep, it's greetings from Siberia.
And looking really good...
www.wetterzentrale.de...



It's only -25�C (-13�F) here and propably it drops to -30 for tomorrow morning.
But one stormchaser 200km north from here just reported that there's -39�C where he lives. (same in F)

Can this be attributed to global warming affecting the atlantic stream and slightly lowering the temperatures in Europe? And since Russia is so far away from water the decrease is intensified?

Originally posted by Muaddib

-37C, being the coldest it has been in Russia since 1979.

Not true. It´s the coldest in Moscow since 1979, not Russia. Some place in Russia had minus 61 Celsius the other day...

I'm surprised this hasn't recieved more attention on ATS as I believe some Russian scientists made a bet with some Western Scientists that the climate would shift in this exact way that it is doing right now, I think maybe even you might have posted muadibb I just cannot find the thread right now.

Originally posted by Hellmutt

Not true. It´s the coldest in Moscow since 1979, not Russia. Some place in Russia had minus 61 Celsius the other day...

Actually you are right, I think i was a bit tired when i wrote this article.

The people in Japan have had it really bad too, with 13 feet of snow, something that has never happened in Japan, that we know of.

[edit on 23-1-2006 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Rickey Gerard Perez
Can this be attributed to global warming affecting the atlantic stream and slightly lowering the temperatures in Europe? And since Russia is so far away from water the decrease is intensified?

In a word: no.

The Gulf Stream has no effect on the climate of Russia - only the coastal fringes of NW Europe fall under its influence. A failure of the GS would simply bring these areas - the UK included - under more continental weather conditions.

January in the UK has been as mild as ever with temperatures up to 14c (average around 7c) last week.

Twice as many people has frozen to death in Poland in the past week than in Russia. The cold wave is now moving westwards.

And check out Indy´s thread here: There is a temporary hole in the ozonlayer over the Netherlands! And a weather balloon reported minus 86.8 celsius - "coldest ever observed by a balloon over the Netherlands"...

[edit on 2006/1/23 by Hellmutt]