Burian: is the icy wind from the Siberian steppes
During the winter it can happen that Europe and Italy are hit by powerful waves of frost and snow arriving from the distant Siberian steppes: in technical terms this outbreak is called Burian (or Buran). This term, to be precise, means that icy wind, from the North-East or from the East-North-East which during the winter season blows over the endless Siberian lands and the Kazakh steppes towards the Urals and the Sarmatian plains of Russia European.
The word derives from the Russian language and is often associated with the snowstorms that hit much of the territories of European Russia and Siberia in winter. It can blow with great violence and is accompanied by snowstorms (usually small frozen flakes of powdery snow, the kind that falls with temperatures below -20° -30°) and “snowflake” phenomena (atmospheric phenomenon of driving snow, not caused by meteoric precipitations, but by gusts of wind that lift previously fallen snow from the ground), which lead to drastic reductions in visibility. When it crosses the Ural mountain range, the icy air of Siberian origin invades the Sarmatian plains, and sometimes even reaches the heart of Europe and Italy, causing a considerable drop in thermal values, even of the order of – 10°C -12°C in less than 24 hours.Icy currents from RussiaTHE WEIKOFF BRIDGE
But what triggers these waves of frost?
The “Burian” can only in certain circumstances (but it does not happen every winter) extend from the Siberian steppes to the heart of the Old Continent, bringing frost (the real one) to much of the European territory. This happens especially in those winters in which that particular configuration known to European meteorologists as the “Weikoff Bridge” is formed. This pattern originates only when the high pressure of the Azores rises in the direction of Scandinavia, to join with the westernmost offshoots of the Russian thermal anticyclone, which from the Urals faces towards European Russia and the Baltic Sea.
The union between the two different anticyclonic figures gives rise to a large anticyclonic bridge, with an axis oriented from south-west to north-east, which from the near Atlantic extends to European Russia and the Siberian lowlands (beyond the Urals), favoring the pull and suction of the very cold air masses pre-existing above the Siberian frozen lands. The freezing air, of Siberian origin, flowing along the southernmost edge of the powerful anticyclonic blocking figure, moves from the lowlands of western Siberia towards the plains of European Russia, and then fully invades central-eastern Europe, penetrating through icy winds from the North-East and East-North-East which cause the mercury column to sink to values that are well below the freezing point, especially when the origin of the air mass is Siberian.
THE PROJECTIONS
According to the latest updates, which have just arrived, a decisive change in weather and climate conditions at a European level is expected by mid-January with the possible entry of freezing currents from Russia towards the Mediterranean basin, and therefore also on Italy.
2024-01-04 18:00:00
#Weather #BURIAN #icy #winds #Russia #Europe #consequences #Italy #Lets
