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Temperatures in parts of Siberia plunged to minus 50 degrees Celsius amid a general cold snap that brought blizzards and record snowfall to Moscow, Reuters reported on Monday.
In the Republic of Sakha, located in northeastern Siberia and home to Yakutsk, one of the coldest cities in the world, temperatures fell below minus 50 degrees C, according to weather stations in the region.
An unusually early cold snap in the Sakha brought even colder temperatures to several parts of the Sakha, a vast region slightly smaller than India.
Almost all of Sakha is in the permafrost zone. In the regional capital Yakutsk, which is about 5,000 km east of Moscow, the temperature was around minus 44C to minus 48C.
Temperatures of minus 50C have become increasingly rare in recent times due to climate change, with permafrost showing increasing signs of thawing.
Hundreds of thousands were left without power in Crimea after the snowstorm
In the Russian capital, some of the heaviest snowfall ever seen caused delays to at least 54 flights at its three biggest airports on Monday, with runways covered in thick snow.
The new snow is expected to increase the snow cover by 8-10 cm.
Authorities urged motorists to use public transport instead of their cars.
Russia’s Interfax news agency reports that the amount of snow, which has already reached 20 cm, is more typical for the New Year period than for early December.
Temperatures in Moscow are expected to drop to minus 18 degrees C later in the week.
2023-12-04 07:03:23
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