Narrow escape [image credit: BBC News]
This report features the scary video that the screen shot above was taken from. A local meteorologist said the last similar storm bringing such freezing rain occurred 30 years ago.
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A snowstorm has battered parts of the Russian Far-East, causing power cuts, transport chaos and school closures, reports BBC News.
The storm hit the Primorsky region on Thursday. In the port city of Vladivostok winds brought down frozen trees and ice-laden power lines.
A state of emergency has been declared across the region.
Rescue services and the army are scrambling to deal with the fallout. At least 150,000 homes have been left without electricity.
“The situation with the electricity supply remains very difficult – the destruction is widespread,” the deputy head of the region’s government, Elena Parkhamenko, said.
She said electricity may not be restored to some homes for several days.
The chief of the regional meteorological service, Boris Kubay, said the situation has been “aggravated by a strong gale wind that breaks everything”.
He said a clash between two storms, one carrying hot air and another carrying cold, caused freezing rain on Thursday.
The meteorologist said wires and trees were encrusted in ice up to 1.2cm (0.4in) thick, an occurrence not seen in 30 years.
Full report here.
Could do with some global warming, then.
Is it just me who thought Vladivostok had winter storms every year? WHY is this news?
So it’s not that beastie from the east, nor is it Siberia ( where the cold comes from)
Oh well, makes a change for the bbc nae tae be reportin on Biden Hm Biden Powell … Aye Sidney Powell…….
We have experienced ice storms worse than that — at least in ice volume — in the Central Hudson Valley of New York.
“January 14-15, 2007: Ice Storm
An arctic boundary moved southward across the region Saturday and stalled over the mid Atlantic region Saturday night. With the passage of the boundary, cold air was drawn in at and near the surface on northerly winds. Waves of low pressure moved eastward along the boundary over the long weekend resulting in an ice storm. A weak low passed to our south on Sunday resulting in periods of light freezing rain. However, the primary/deeper low moved from the Ohio Valley eastward across the local area Monday bringing heavier precipitation. The precipitation did start out as a period of sleet late Sunday night into early Monday morning with snow across the southern Adirondacks, however everything eventually changed to freezing rain. Significant ice accumulations occurred with over 100,000 utility customers losing power. Saratoga County was hit particularly hard with up to an inch of ice and accounting for about half the power outages. Ice ammulations from Albany County: pole & berries. To make matters worse, winds increased Monday evening placing additional strain on the already burden trees and power lines leading to additional power outages even after the freezing rain ended. The low deepened and moved off to the northeast across the Canadian Maritimes Monday night and Tuesday drawing arctic air across the region. By Wednesday morning, temperatures fell into the single digits to below zero. ”
source: https://www.weather.gov/aly/MajorWinterStorms
Forget wind and solar power in these conditions.
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Gamecock: winter storms, yes – but…
The meteorologist said wires and trees were encrusted in ice up to 1.2cm (0.4in) thick, an occurrence not seen in 30 years.
Also from the video…
‘A snowstorm has battered parts of the Russian Far-East’
The headline tricked me. It was actually an ice storm. Which they say is rare. Probably too cold for them there. We get them here. Problem is, if it’s hanging right around freezing, we can get ice storms instead of snow.
Ice storms are the worst because they bring down trees and wires. I remember one in Virginia where we were out of power for over seven days! If Vladivostok is only out for a few days they are getting off easy. The beauty of Portugal, no snow or ice on the coast!
Had one in Florida. Two weeks without power in some areas. Trees laden with ice in FL rare, but that was’89 if I remember correctly
As expected, chickenhawk. Vladivostok too cold; Florida too warm. Carolinas just right.