Winter solstice brings deadly cold wave to northern Europe

December 22, 2012 – MOSCOW – A vicious cold snap across Russia and Eastern Europe has claimed nearly 200 lives, officials figures showed Friday, as forecasters warned it would last until Christmas Eve. In Russia, the cold has killed two people in the past 24 hours, the Ria-Novosti agency reported, citing medical sources, bringing the total number of deaths over the past week to 56. The freeze had also left 371 people in hospital. Thermometers have been stuck below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in Moscow — and below minus 50 degrees (minus 58 F) in some parts of Siberia — for a week. Russian weather forecasters said temperature in the Khabarovsk region in eastern Russia had dropped to minus 43 Celsius, while Krasnoyarsk in Siberia reported minus 47. This “abnormal” frost would last till Monday because of a persistent anticyclone, they added. In Russia’s European region, meanwhile, the mercury is expected to fall to minus 31 degrees Celsius on Christmas Eve before rising rapidly afterwards. Other European countries hit hard by the extreme temperatures were counting the toll as temperatures gradually started to return to normal. Authorities in Ukraine, which has been battling heavy snowfall for weeks, said 83 people had died of cold, with 57 of the victims found on the street. The homeless are traditionally the hardest-hit by the region’s bitter winters. Another 526 cold victims were reportedly receiving hospital treatment in Ukraine. Overnight temperatures in Ukraine reached an average minus 15 degrees Celsius, which is common at this time of year. Ukrainian authorities said 93 villages — mainly on the Crimean peninsula in the south of the country — were still hit by a power outage. In Eastern Europe, police in Poland said Friday that 49 people had died of exposure this month, with most of the victims homeless, as temperatures plunged to minus 10 degrees Celsius. At least six people have died of exposure in Lithuania in the past weeks, police and emergency services said there.  In Latvia, temperatures reached minus 14 Celsius on Friday morning. In the capital Riga, authorities decided to drop public transport fares to encourage drivers to leave their cars at home and prevent crashes and jams. On Christmas Eve temperatures in Latvia are expected to drop to minus 28 Celsius, a record low. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, temperatures hovered around zero on Friday. Czech police said several people had died of exposure in recent weeks, but no overall statistics were available for the country. –TD

49 die in Poland: Polish police said Friday 49 people have died from the cold since the beginning of December as temperatures in Poland plunged to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit). Most of the deaths from the freezing temperatures have been among the homeless, said police who have begun informing them of where they can find hot meals and shelter. Poland’s first cold wave this season in October left 15 people dead and five more died in November. Last winter around 200 people died of hypothermia. –TD

Russia’s coldest winter since 1938: Russia is enduring its harshest winter in over 70 years, with temperatures plunging as low as -50 degrees Celsius. Dozens of people have already died, and almost 150 have been hospitalized. The country has not witnessed such a long cold spell since 1938, meteorologists said, with temperatures 10 to 15 degrees lower than the seasonal norm all over Russia. The Emergency Ministry has issued warnings in 15 regions, which have been put on high alert over possible disruptions of communication and power. Across the country, heat pipelines have broken down due to the cold. In southeastern Russia’s Samara, the cold has broken down many heat pipelines, leaving hundreds of homes without heating, including an orphanage and a rest house. Many schools and kindergartens have been closed for almost a week. The cold spell, along with snowfalls, has disrupted flights all over the country, and led to huge traffic jams. In the southern city of Rostov-on-Don some highways were closed due to snowfalls over the past two days, triggering a traffic collapse. Over the weekend, meteorologists predict temperatures will plunge even lower in the Moscow region, hitting -25. The Russian capital is also expected to be swept with snow, RIA Novosti reported. –Wunderground