Record May Cold Sweeps European-Russia, Prompting Major Russian Grain Growing Regions To Declare An Emergency; + "Historic" Solar Storm Delivers Auroras To All 50 U.S. States...
...even Hawaii.
Record May Cold Sweeps European-Russia, Prompting Major Russian Grain Growing Regions To Declare An Emergency
Fierce Arctic air has gripped Eastern Europe and much of Russia of late, tanking temperatures down to as low as -6C (21.2F), to record-low levels for the time of year.
The below data comes courtesy of Russia's national meteorological service (Гидрометцентр России, Gidrometcentr Rossii), and via hmn.ru.
Famed for its rich, deep, black soil, Chernozem (the "Black Earth Belt") has been hit by hard frosts.
In Valuyki, thermometers dipped to -3.4C (25.9F) on May 10, smashing the previous record-low for the month of May of 0.8C set back in 1952.
Records also fell in In Yelets (-1.2C/29.8F), in Voronezh (-1.8C/28.8F), and in Tambov (-2.3C/27.9F) — to name just three others.
Frosts have ravaged the Volga region and all this May, on three separate occasions (to May 12).
In Balashov, a low of -4.4C (24.1F) was recently observed, a reading 2.2C below the old record which had stood since 1950. While in Alexandrov Gai, a rare -3.4C (25.9F) was noted.
In Sorochinsk, located in the Orenburg region, a low of -2.3C (27.9F) was posted, breaking the previous May record of -1.7C (28.9F) set in 1971. The average daily temperature here throughout May has held 11 degrees C below the historical average.
Record lows were also posted on the night of May 10 across the Rostov region, in Chertkovo and Gigant — to name two.
Frosts of -3.3 (26.1F) and -3.8 (25.2F) were suffered in Uryupinsk and Frolovo, respectively. They also reached Lugansk which shivered through -3.1 (26.4F), a mark that busted the locale's previous May extreme of -1.1C (30F) was from 1950.
Extremes May chills also swept the likes of the Yaroslavl region on May 11, as they did both the Kostroma and Orenburg regions.
While in the city of Vladimir, thermometers dipped to -1.8C (28.8F) and so set a new record-low for the month of May, besting the previous record by 0.6C, from 2017.
Mainstream bemoanings of endless Asian heat are untrue, 'blues' and 'purples' are proving the dominant shades:
Looking ahead, the forecast call for more frosts this week, down to -3C (26.6F) in the Kostroma and Ivanovo regions--for example.
The mid- to late-May snows will also persist for many:
Even before this latest round of descending polar air, three of Russia's key grain-growing areas had already declared a state of emergency, citing severe frost damage to crops that is expected to drastically reduce this year's harvest.
Last week, the central regions of Lipetsk, Voronezh and Tambov, located in Russia's fertile 'Black Earth Belt', all imposed emergency measures.
"The frosts that hit in early May led to catastrophic consequences," said Igor Artamonov, the governor of the Lipetsk region. "We must understand that this year's harvest will be much smaller than the previous one."
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