Unusually cold temperatures have caused frost in many regions of Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. The record-breaking cold weather has also disrupted air and rail travel and caused hardship in some rural areas of Russia.
According to RT , the thermometer in Moscow has dropped to -26 degrees Celsius, while the forecast low is -31 degrees Celsius on the night of January 4 and the highest is -12 degrees Celsius on the morning of January 5. The Russian capital has been placed under a severe weather warning until the end of January 6.
Many flights in Moscow were delayed and canceled as temperatures dropped to record lows on January 4. (Photo: RIA Novosti)
Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg temperatures dropped to -27C on January 4, while the northern part of the Leningrad region saw a cold snap down to -36C.
In central Russia, temperatures are forecast to drop to -35 degrees Celsius in the Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Tver and Yaroslavl regions. Meanwhile, the Sverdlovsk region could see temperatures drop to -40 degrees Celsius. The Russian Federal Weather Service said the unusually cold spell would cover up to 70 percent of the country in the coming days and showed no signs of abating before January 10.
As of the evening of January 4, 11 flights had been delayed or canceled at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and five at Vnukovo. Air traffic at Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports was operating normally.
The frost has also caused problems with rail traffic. Six trains have been stopped in the Chelyabinsk region in the Urals. There have also been reports of heating and supplies running low in Chelyabinsk as trains are unable to operate in the region.
According to RT , the ice also caused a Lastochka electric train to get stuck in the Vladimir region, on its way from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod. About 300 passengers were reported to be “trapped in ice” in temperatures of -30 degrees Celsius for nearly three hours.
The frost also caused power outages in many rural areas of Russia. At least 20 settlements in the Moscow region reported power outages due to the frost and increased demand for heating equipment.
The extreme cold in Moscow also causes a phenomenon called “winter rainbow” to appear in the sky over the city. When water vapor freezes in the extreme cold, light refracts off the icicles, creating a spectacular image.
Tra Khanh (Source: russian.rt.com)
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