Oh, the frost has grown – Newspaper Kommersant No. 1 (7446) of 01/09/2023

Since the end of last week, anomalous frosts have been established in almost the entire European territory of Russia. In Moscow, weather forecasters warned of “the coldest five-day period of the 21st century,” while in Togliatti they recorded -28.5 ° C, which is below the absolute minimum set in 1974 and 1979. In Udmurtia, distance learning was introduced at schools on Monday, in a number of other regions the decision to attend classes is left to the discretion of parents and schools. On Monday, a sharp cooling will come to the regions of the south of Western Siberia. The Hydrometeorological Center associates such anomalies with an anticyclone, which will soon be replaced by “warm air masses from the Atlantic.”

AT Moscow abnormal frosts came on January 6th. The air temperature dropped below -20 °C. Forecasters reported that from January 6 to 10, the city expects the coldest five-day period in the 21st century. An increase in temperature to -7 … -12 ° C in the capital at the Hydrometeorological Center was promised on Wednesday afternoon. And by Friday, they continue there, the temperature background will return to normal: the air will warm up to -1 … -6 ° C during the day. Warming will bring with it a cyclone with “warm air masses from the Atlantic”.

“Residents of the republic, I ask you to dress warmly when you leave the house, be careful on the roads and attentive to each other,” asked the head Bashkiria Radiy Khabirov in social networks. According to the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations, from January 8 to 10, at night and in the morning, in some places the air temperature will drop to -40 … -42 ° C. Mr. Khabirov instructed the heads of municipalities, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities, as well as “all responsible services to organize work taking into account weather conditions.” Warming is expected in the second half of next week.

residents Chelyabinsk region also warned about severe frosts from 8 to 10 January. Down to -40 °C is expected, the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reports. On the afternoon of January 8, the average temperature for the region will drop to -23 ° C, -28 ° C, in the mountains and lowlands to -33 ° C. A frost of -43 °C was recorded in the Taganay National Park last night. Because of this, several intercity bus trips to Zlatoust, Asha, Nyazepetrovsk, as well as to neighboring regions, were canceled on Sunday. The Ministry of Roads and Transport of the Chelyabinsk Region asks motorists to refrain from long trips. Patrols on duty by contractors are organized on the roads. Road services are ready to assist in the delivery of the vehicle to the heating point.

AT Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug temperatures dropped below -40°C, resulting in traffic restrictions and breakdowns in public infrastructure. So, because of the severe frost in the region, winter roads (roads that operate only in winter) Aksarka-Salemal-Panaevsk-Yar-Sale, Korotchaevo-Krasnoselkup and Labytnangi-Muzhi-Azov-Tegi were closed.

In the city of Labytnangi, pipes froze in a number of apartment buildings and the heat supply was turned off. The housing and communal services department of the administration of the city of Labytnangi reported on social networks that outside organizations were involved in heating the houses.

The situation was taken under control by the Deputy Prosecutor General in the Ural Federal District. He instructed the regional prosecutor to find out the causes of the accidents, to assess the actions of the management company and public utilities. According to the Ob-Irtysh hydrometeorological center, on the night of January 9, the temperature will drop to -49 °C. On Tuesday, a slight warming is expected – up to -47 ° C with clearing at night. On Wednesday, Yamal again expects down to -48 °C at night.

In a number of regions, due to abnormal cold weather, educational institutions have been transferred to distance learning.

For example, in Udmurtia administrations of districts and cities announce the transfer of schools and institutions of additional education to online learning on January 9. In Sarapul and Votkinsk, this mode of operation will last until January 11. At the same time, preschool institutions will continue to work as usual. In Udmurtia, until January 11, frosts are expected, in which the average daily air temperature will drop at least 7 ° C below the climatic norm. On January 8, the temperature dropped to -35 °C in the republic, and on January 9 it is expected to drop to -36 °C.

AT Samara region, where a yellow warning level has been declared due to a cold snap, school classes can also be canceled during the frost period. The corresponding decision is made by the director of the educational institution based on the weather forecast, the Ministry of Education of the region informed. School leaders can cancel classes at temperatures below -25 ° C for students from grades 1 to 4, below -27 ° C – from grades 1 to 8, below -30 ° C – from grade 1 to 11th grade. In this case, distance learning is organized in educational institutions. An abnormally low air temperature is recorded in the region at two meteorological stations. So, in the Volzhsky region on January 8, the thermometer dropped to -28.6 ° С. This is a new temperature low for the day. In Tolyatti, -28.5°C was recorded, which is 0.9°C lower than the absolute minimum set in 1974 and 1979.

AT Orenburg region plan to conduct classes as usual – educational institutions will work at any temperature. However, the Orenburg Ministry of Education clarifies that parents can decide for themselves whether to attend school for their child.

AT Nizhny Novgorod region frosts came down to -36 ° С. The Ministry of Education of the region recommended that parents not send schoolchildren in grades 1-9 to study in such weather or accompany their children. “Despite the change in weather conditions associated with severe frosts, the educational process in general educational institutions is carried out as usual,” the ministry notes. “Parents have the right to independently make a decision about attending school with their child and at their own responsibility. In this case, lessons missed by students due to weather conditions will not be counted as absences for an unexcused reason. On Saturday, emergency workers rescued 56 tourists in the Arzamas district of the Nizhny Novgorod region, including 26 children, the ministry said. They traveled in a sightseeing bus on the Moscow-Ulyanovsk route, which stopped at km 86 of the Nizhny Novgorod-Saratov highway due to frozen fuel. The students were placed in hotels in Arzamas and then sent home by two buses.

As the scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia Roman Vilfand explained to Kommersant, this time of year is characterized by the transfer of air masses from west to east. “But now there was a reverse situation, when a well-defined anticyclone was established above the pole, instead of a circumpolar vortex, in which the air moves clockwise,” he says. “Air masses, first in the polar, and then in temperate latitudes, began to move southwest. The air above the Pole, the waters of the Arctic Ocean, the Kara Sea, the Laptevs is very cold. And these air masses first came to the north of Central Siberia, then to the west, the north of the Urals and to European territory.

Another factor, says Mr. Vilfand, “long-wave radiation from the underlying surface”, which leads to cooling and freezing of the surface layer of air, “this effect added three to five degrees to the anomaly.”

According to Roman Vilfand, a sharp cooling will also come to the regions of the south of Western Siberia (Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk regions, Altai Territory) on Monday – “there is now warm weather, but the day after tomorrow (January 9. – “b”) the temperature will drop by 30 degrees.

Correspondent network “Kommersant”; Anna Vasilyeva