Temperatures in Siberia dip to minus 50 deg C as record snow blankets Moscow
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A communal worker cleaning snow during heavy snowfall in Moscow on Dec 3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MOSCOW - Temperatures in parts of Siberia plummeted to minus 50 deg C while blizzards blanketed Moscow in record snowfall and disrupted flights, as winter weather swept across Russia.
In the Sakha Republic, located in the north-eastern part of Siberia and home to Yakutsk, one of the world’s coldest cities, temperatures fell below minus 50 deg C, according to the region’s weather stations.
An abnormally early cold snap in Sakha pushed temperatures to even lower than minus 50 deg C in several areas of Sakha, a vast region just a little smaller than India.
Almost all of Sakha is located in the permafrost zone. In the region’s capital, Yakutsk, which lies some 5,000km east of Moscow, the temperature was around minus 44 deg C to minus 48 deg C.
Temperatures of minus 50 deg C have become less common in recent years because of climate change, with permafrost showing increasing signs of thawing.
In the Russian capital, some of the biggest snowfalls ever seen caused delays at some airports on Dec 4, with runways covered in thick snow.
At least 54 flights were delayed and five more were cancelled at the capital’s three largest airports, the RIA news agency reported.
Temperatures in Moscow were forecast to fall to about minus 18 deg C later this week. REUTERS
