Recently, the inhabitants of central Russia are not quite pleased with the winter. Long forgotten are the mounds of snow that you can't rake with a shovel, and the impenetrable paths when you leave the house early in the first morning. Now we have more and more snowless or generally rainy Christmas weekends, and it’s not at all possible to count on a significant drop in temperature for Epiphany frosts. But those who were born and raised in our country remember completely different winters: frosty, snowy, with all the fun and half-frozen windows.
The endless struggle between man and nature
Should we hope for real harsh winters in the near future, or has our climate changed so much that we don’t have to wait for them at all, keeping only fond memories in our memory? Scientists have been saying for more than 10 years that the climate is changing, glaciers are melting and, asconsequently, there are no snowy winters. And 2012 with the frozen South of Russia completely refutes these allegations. Today we would like to remember the coldest winter in the past century and talk about what weather forecasters predict for the upcoming temperature.
What lies ahead of us?
I would like to start with forecasts for the upcoming winter, and only then talk about the affairs of the past years. Since September of this year, information has leaked to the media and the Internet that the winter of 2017-2018 awaiting Russia. will be harsh and ruthless. Forecasters assure society of the inevitability of severe frosts and heavy snowstorms, which will recoup all previous years without snow and low temperatures. It is worth noting that almost every year in the last decade, the forecast for winter among specialists remains unchanged. However, each passing winter did not at all correspond to the predictions of weather forecasters. Nature, like a rebellious teenager, tried to contradict scientific minds, proving its superiority and strength. Whether the coming winter will be the coldest in the last century, only time will tell, and we can only be observers and wait for its arrival.
Facts you can't forget
Forecasters are forecasters, and the events that have taken place cannot be disputed by anyone, so now it makes sense to remember the coldest winter in the history of our country and not only. However, looking ahead, it must be said thatthere were not so few such winters, but we will focus on those that were the most severe of all:
- Not so long ago, namely in 2012, the South of Russia froze in the literal sense of the word. It would seem that the Black Sea coast boasts a mild, sparing climate, where winter temperatures do not drop below zero, at least in a significant negative direction. However, the weather decided in its own way and proved once again its power and unpredictability. The Black Sea was frozen, and the ice was about 40 cm thick at a minus 20 °C mark on the thermometer.
- In 2002 Europe had perhaps the coldest winter ever. Main-Danube - a canal located in Germany, froze, and its ice thickness was more than 70 cm. Because of this, almost a hundred ships froze directly into the water and could not budge.
- In mid-February 1979, it began to snow in the Sahara desert. This anomalous phenomenon plunged residents of nearby cities into shock. In Algeria, heavy snowdrifts caused traffic jams.
- In February 1969, the coldest winter in the past 100 years was recorded in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea. The temperature of 40 ° C with a minus sign stayed there for about 26 days. The sea was covered with a thick crust of ice.
- In 1963, England was forced to abandon its most beloved and iconic occupation. It's about the football cup. All the fuss because of the abnormal snowfall, which lasted about two weeks. As a result, in some areas of Britain, the depth of snow cover exceeded 5 meters. By the way, that same cold winter for 100years has affected the whole of Europe.
- The cold summer of 1953 gave way to an equally harsh winter. In February 1954, the area from the Urals to the Atlantic was completely covered in ice, and all because of abnormally low temperatures.
- Another coldest winter in recent years - 1929. The minus temperature with a mark of 20 ° C killed many fruit trees in the South of Russia. Y alta has lost an entire citrus plantation.
Isn't February the end of winter?
From the above facts it is clearly seen that not January is the coldest month of the year for central Russia, but February. It is he who appears in all cases when the elements were too harsh and anomalous. It is worth saying that both Europe and even Africa fell into a temperature and weather collapse also in the period of February. Whether this is a pattern or an accident is difficult to judge, but the fact remains.
The element is unpredictable
In conclusion, I would like to note that in all of the above cases, weather forecasters did not predict the onset of a really cold winter. Frosts below 20 degrees in Russia and in the southern latitudes at the very end of winter are nonsense. One gets the impression that the weather itself decides how and when to shock all life on the planet. However, even in Africa, it can snow any minute.
