Ext User(Bonzo)
22-05-2007, 06:53 PM
Coldest Russian Winter in Generation Kills Homeless, Drunks
By Richard Balmforth
MOSCOW -- Russia shivered in its coldest spell for a generation on
Thursday with temperatures in Moscow plunging overnight to minus 30
Celsius, killing the homeless and drunks, and threatening power
supplies.
Moscow's coldest spell in 26 years brought out the quirkiest in the
Russian character with one animal trainer feeding an elephant a bucket
of vodka to warm it up -- only to watch the drunken beast set about
wrecking the central heating system.
Ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky led other publicity-hungry
politicians by plunging into a bitterly cold pond in early morning
Christian Orthodox ceremonies.
In Moscow, emergency medical services quoted by Interfax news agency
said a further seven people had died overnight from exposure and another
25 people were being treated in hospital.
The agency said a total of 116 people had succumbed to the cold in
Moscow since the end of October.
Many victims are often drunks who perish in outlying areas after passing
out, their bodies sometimes remaining covered by snow for weeks until a
thaw comes.
The cold quickly depleted mobile phone batteries, played havoc with
lifts and even seemed to jam public cash dispensers.
Several enterprising Muscovites turned a quick profit by passing along
ranks of stalled cars, leasing out their jump leads, to frustrated
motorists.
According to one newspaper, a 45-year-old man in Mordovia, east of
Moscow, was treated for frostbite to four fingers for talking too long
on a mobile phone in the freezing temperatures.
With experts predicting temperatures in the Russian capital to fall
possibly to minus 34 Celsius (minus 29 Fahrenheit) on Friday, and even
colder in rural areas around the city, oil output in the country
continued to be affected.
In Noyabrsk in the Arctic part of Western Siberia, Noyabrskneftegaz oil
company suspended drilling operations because of the extreme cold,
Itar-Tass news agency reported.
Russia on Wednesday reduced gas supplies to Europe and trimmed back its
oil output because of the extreme cold.
Moscow's power company Mosenergo has declared a "high risk" situation to
handle a spike in demand with people plugging in their electric heaters
for extra warmth.
Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said the country may draw on its
modest strategic fuel reserves. He gave no details.
LEGENDARY FROSTS
State schools have given parents the option of keeping their children at
home. Police have been told to find places for the homeless to shelter
rather than clear them from doorways, stairwells and metro stations as
they normally do.
"The present cold is unique by its duration, which will either be a
record or be close to a record," Russia's chief meteorologist Roman
Vilfand was quoted as saying on Thursday.
In an interview with Vremya Novostei newspaper, he forecast temperatures
falling to minus 32 or minus 34 Celsius (minus 29 Fahrenheit) in Moscow
on Friday.
This year is the coldest since the winter of 1978-1979, when
temperatures dropped to minus 38 degrees Celsius. The 1940 Moscow record
of minus 42.1 degrees Celsius could be broken, the newsru.com Web site
reported, citing meteorologists.
No one was prepared to say how long the cold would last.
Russians are proud of the legendary frosts that defeated the armies of
Napoleon and Hitler and publicity-conscious male politicians sought to
use the occasion to enhance their image.
Ultranationalist Zhirinovsky led the way jumping into a small lake in a
tradition marking Christian Orthodox Epiphany.
In Strogino, on the city's outskirts, other Orthodox believers, some of
them old people dressed in long shirts, trooped from church down a lake
where they lowered themselves into the bitter waters, immersing their
heads and crossing themselves three times in accordance with tradition.
"I'm not scared of minus 30. I do this every year usually in the north.
It's a lot colder there," businessman Viktor Shuliakovsky told Reuters,
his naked torso steaming in the open air after he emerged from the
water.
(Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge)
Source: REUTERS
Regards
Bonzo
"...and I think future generations are not going to blame us for
anything except for being silly, for letting a few tenths of a degree
panic us"
Dr. Richard Lindzen, Professor of Meteorology MIT and Member of the
National Academy of Sciences
"What most commentators-and many scientists-seem to miss is that the
only thing we can say with certainly about climate is that it changes"
Dr. Richard Lindzen, Professor of Meteorology MIT and Member of the
National Academy of Sciences
[most of the current alarm over climate change is based on] "inherently
untrustworthy climate models, similar to those that cannot accurately
forecast the weather a week from now." Dr. Richard Lindzen, Professor of
Meteorology MIT and Member of the National Academy of Sciences
By Richard Balmforth
MOSCOW -- Russia shivered in its coldest spell for a generation on
Thursday with temperatures in Moscow plunging overnight to minus 30
Celsius, killing the homeless and drunks, and threatening power
supplies.
Moscow's coldest spell in 26 years brought out the quirkiest in the
Russian character with one animal trainer feeding an elephant a bucket
of vodka to warm it up -- only to watch the drunken beast set about
wrecking the central heating system.
Ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky led other publicity-hungry
politicians by plunging into a bitterly cold pond in early morning
Christian Orthodox ceremonies.
In Moscow, emergency medical services quoted by Interfax news agency
said a further seven people had died overnight from exposure and another
25 people were being treated in hospital.
The agency said a total of 116 people had succumbed to the cold in
Moscow since the end of October.
Many victims are often drunks who perish in outlying areas after passing
out, their bodies sometimes remaining covered by snow for weeks until a
thaw comes.
The cold quickly depleted mobile phone batteries, played havoc with
lifts and even seemed to jam public cash dispensers.
Several enterprising Muscovites turned a quick profit by passing along
ranks of stalled cars, leasing out their jump leads, to frustrated
motorists.
According to one newspaper, a 45-year-old man in Mordovia, east of
Moscow, was treated for frostbite to four fingers for talking too long
on a mobile phone in the freezing temperatures.
With experts predicting temperatures in the Russian capital to fall
possibly to minus 34 Celsius (minus 29 Fahrenheit) on Friday, and even
colder in rural areas around the city, oil output in the country
continued to be affected.
In Noyabrsk in the Arctic part of Western Siberia, Noyabrskneftegaz oil
company suspended drilling operations because of the extreme cold,
Itar-Tass news agency reported.
Russia on Wednesday reduced gas supplies to Europe and trimmed back its
oil output because of the extreme cold.
Moscow's power company Mosenergo has declared a "high risk" situation to
handle a spike in demand with people plugging in their electric heaters
for extra warmth.
Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said the country may draw on its
modest strategic fuel reserves. He gave no details.
LEGENDARY FROSTS
State schools have given parents the option of keeping their children at
home. Police have been told to find places for the homeless to shelter
rather than clear them from doorways, stairwells and metro stations as
they normally do.
"The present cold is unique by its duration, which will either be a
record or be close to a record," Russia's chief meteorologist Roman
Vilfand was quoted as saying on Thursday.
In an interview with Vremya Novostei newspaper, he forecast temperatures
falling to minus 32 or minus 34 Celsius (minus 29 Fahrenheit) in Moscow
on Friday.
This year is the coldest since the winter of 1978-1979, when
temperatures dropped to minus 38 degrees Celsius. The 1940 Moscow record
of minus 42.1 degrees Celsius could be broken, the newsru.com Web site
reported, citing meteorologists.
No one was prepared to say how long the cold would last.
Russians are proud of the legendary frosts that defeated the armies of
Napoleon and Hitler and publicity-conscious male politicians sought to
use the occasion to enhance their image.
Ultranationalist Zhirinovsky led the way jumping into a small lake in a
tradition marking Christian Orthodox Epiphany.
In Strogino, on the city's outskirts, other Orthodox believers, some of
them old people dressed in long shirts, trooped from church down a lake
where they lowered themselves into the bitter waters, immersing their
heads and crossing themselves three times in accordance with tradition.
"I'm not scared of minus 30. I do this every year usually in the north.
It's a lot colder there," businessman Viktor Shuliakovsky told Reuters,
his naked torso steaming in the open air after he emerged from the
water.
(Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge)
Source: REUTERS
Regards
Bonzo
"...and I think future generations are not going to blame us for
anything except for being silly, for letting a few tenths of a degree
panic us"
Dr. Richard Lindzen, Professor of Meteorology MIT and Member of the
National Academy of Sciences
"What most commentators-and many scientists-seem to miss is that the
only thing we can say with certainly about climate is that it changes"
Dr. Richard Lindzen, Professor of Meteorology MIT and Member of the
National Academy of Sciences
[most of the current alarm over climate change is based on] "inherently
untrustworthy climate models, similar to those that cannot accurately
forecast the weather a week from now." Dr. Richard Lindzen, Professor of
Meteorology MIT and Member of the National Academy of Sciences