Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia. Russia’s Far East was hit by its heaviest snowfall in 60 years on Tuesday as a winter blast swept across Asia, dusting Shanghai with snow and grounding flights in Japan’s northwest. The cold snap disrupted transport across the region, closing roads in China and leaving parts of Russia’s Far East paralysed.
Arctic air waves linked to regional cold snap
Scientists said the weather was related to waves of cool air coming in from the Arctic, which was simultaneously affecting Eastern Russia and Asia, and a second wave affecting Eastern Europe.
“You’ve got these two simultaneous bursts of cool air coming down from the Arctic due to a waviness in the jet stream,” said climate scientist Theodore Keeping, referring to air currents in the upper atmosphere which define weather patterns.
“The Arctic polar vortex, which is this massive cold air which circulates the Arctic is relatively weak right now, and what that means it drives the jet stream less intensely, and that leads to waves of cool air coming down from the Arctic,” said Keeping, an extreme weather researcher for World Weather Attribution at London’s Imperial College Centre for Environmental Policy.
Kamchatka reports deep drifts and blocked access
In Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, snowdrifts several metres high blocked building entrances and buried cars after more than 2 metres of snow fell in some areas in the first half of January, following 3.7 metres in December, according to weather monitoring stations.
Some vehicles were almost completely submerged, and four-wheel drives struggled for traction or were immobilised entirely as residents dug narrow paths through the snow to reach apartment entrances. In the port city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, locals were filmed walking atop snowbanks beside traffic lights, with some jumping from the drifts.
“It’s like a sand dune,” resident and blogger Polina Tuichieva said of the snow in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, about 6,800 km east of Moscow.
Rare snowfall in Shanghai as system moves south
The same system swept south into China, where low temperatures brought rare snowfall to Shanghai, and authorities warned the frigid weather could last at least three days. Shanghai last experienced heavy snowfall in January 2018.
“It was the first time I have seen such heavy snowfall in Shanghai,” 23-year-old student Li Meng said.
How has the cold snap affected transport and daily life where you live?