Snow Beast: where will the powerful cyclone that covered Kamchatka go?
A storm with gusty winds and heavy snowfall that attacked Kamchatka on Tuesday may hit several more regions, meteorologists told Izvestia. The city was covered with snow, and ice formed on the roads. A storm warning has been issued on the peninsula, school classes are being canceled, organizations are being shut down, and motorists are being asked to refrain from traveling. Further, bad weather may move towards the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, forecasters warn. The cyclone will weaken only by the weekend.
How do residents of Kamchatka cope with bad weather
A powerful cyclone paralyzed Kamchatka on Tuesday, November 11. A storm warning has been issued on the peninsula due to snowstorms, ice, and power outages. An avalanche danger has been declared in the south of the peninsula — rescuers are on high alert.
In the capital of the region, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, strong winds and sleet turned roads into a skating rink. Cars slide, buses get stuck in puddles, trees block the driveways.
In the Leninsky district and the city of Yelizovo, there is no light or Internet, and the wires are sparking. Schools canceled classes, and businesses transferred employees to remote work. In addition, there were massive delays and cancellations at the airport, and two planes from Vladivostok turned around.
Clearing the streets is complicated by cars parked on the roadsides.
"Residents are advised to refrain from trips and walks, especially at the foot of the hills," the Ministry of Emergency Situations warned.
The Government of the Kamchatka Territory has set up an operational headquarters to combat the cyclone. At the meeting, the chairman of the regional government, Yulia Morozova, instructed municipalities to ensure regular and timely informing of residents.
—Uncertainty is always the worst thing for residents, it is worse than any difficulties," she stressed. — I ask the municipalities to step up and explain to people through your press services that it is better to stop traveling today and tomorrow: there are already cases of water strikes, and the situation may worsen at night. It is necessary to regularly inform the population about what work is being done.
The storm warning will be in effect until November 13. During this period, all forces and means have been placed on high alert, and road and utility services are operating around the clock. Meanwhile, local residents are writing online that gusts are knocking people off their feet and ripping out car doors.
People also complain about power and Internet outages. Trees were blown down by strong winds in different parts of the city.
"Public utilities work very poorly on such days. I had to prepare myself. Trees have fallen here and there. React immediately and remove it. There is no dusting on the roads at all," one of the locals wrote on social networks.
On Wednesday, November 12, seawater is forecast to overflow through a sandbar on the western coast of Kamchatka. One of the settlements falls into the zone of possible flooding.
Typical process or anomaly
"Okhotsk Sea" cyclones, like the one that has now struck Kamchatka, are a typical autumn process, Tatyana Pozdnyakova, a leading specialist at the Meteonovosti news agency, told Izvestia.
"Cyclones are formed due to the fact that our waters in the Sea of Okhotsk are still warm in late October and early November, while cold air is invading from the pole," she said. "Therefore, cyclones can be very powerful on temperature contrasts," the forecaster said.
The scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia, Roman Vilfand, also noted the activity of cyclones this year on the Pacific coast of the country and not only in Kamchatka, but also on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
"There have already been many cyclones this year, which created conditions when very heavy precipitation fell,— he stressed. — During this autumn, wind forecasts of 32-37 and even up to 40 m/s were very common. Let me remind you that once the wind was even predicted to reach 48 m/s. And it's not just the Kamchatka cyclone, it's actually the Pacific and West Pacific cyclones.
The storm season has arrived, said Alexander Shuvalov, a forecaster and head of the Meteo forecasting center.
— Such cataclysms occur very often in that region, when all cyclones are moving along the Kuril Ridge and it affects Kamchatka. After that, the bad weather goes further into the Bering Sea," he said.
Where will the cyclone go next
On Thursday, November 13, there will be no precipitation in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and the precipitation zone will move to the north or northeast, Alexander Shuvalov added.
Tatiana Pozdnyakova also believes that such weather on the island will last for about two more days.
"The cyclone will move slowly to the east, and it will enter the Bering Sea," she noted. "The Bering Sea is quite warm, and therefore the cyclone will gradually lose its activity and in almost two days it will turn into a normal one, after which such strong winds in Kamchatka will subside," the expert noted.
Now, according to her, the cyclone's center is located almost over the south of Kamchatka. The windiest place in the region is Cape Lopatka, and the wind speed there now exceeds 35 m/s.
— This is a hurricane-force wind in the full sense of the word. Over the past day, a fairly significant amount of precipitation has fallen there, up to 25 mm," she said.
Roman Vilfand predicts that the cyclone will weaken only by the weekend. According to his forecasts, the wind will be about 30 m/s in Kamchatka over the next three days, and up to 35 m/s in the south.
— There will also be heavy precipitation in the form of snow and rain. With such snow and wind, there will be a severe blizzard and zero visibility on the roads. On this night, from November 11 to November 12, the forecaster expects wet snow that will stick to the wires," the specialist warned.
According to him, the Kuril Islands also have difficult weather conditions. So, from November 11 to November 14, precipitation in the form of sleet and rain is expected there, wind strengthening up to 22 m/s, and in the south of the islands up to 27 m/s. And from November 16, bad weather is expected on Sakhalin.
In December, according to Tatiana Pozdnyakova, the probability of such powerful cyclones decreases, as the temperature of water and air in the area and in the Sea of Okhotsk gradually decreases.
— The cyclone will end soon, and everything will be fine, — Alexander Shuvalov reassured.
At the same time, Roman Vilfand recalled that literally every three or four days new cyclones form.
— There is a very active cyclonic activity. The temperature of the Pacific Ocean is elevated and this contributes to increased energy transfer into the atmosphere this year," he added.
One of the factors of such a weather situation in this region is the elevated temperature of the upper layer of the Pacific Ocean, experts emphasized.
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