Cold July

It's almost mid-summer and we are having both very hot and quite chilly days. For example, July 1 was the coldest one for many years: just +13C.

June was not the warmest either. The best sign of such cold summer is that first honeysuckle berries ripened just now, while usually these first berries appear in the farm markets in early June.

Peking-Paris 2013 rally goes through Siberia

Last weekend we were on a trip to Altay and got lucky to meet the Peking-Paris 2013 Motor Challenge. It was the 12th day of the rally, the contestants had crossed the Mongolia-Russia border and were driving through Altay. We were peacefully cooking shashlyk at a small river near the road when some very exceptional vehicles started to pass by.













Weather was perfect: hot and sunny. However, there's still snow in the mountains and nights are quite chilly. And indeed, a lot of stars.

Snowing in Kemerovo

Sunday, June 2, 2013 in Kemerovo started with snow and -2C:

Photo source

UK Firefighter Goes to Siberia. By Bike.

If you ever wanted to do something meaningful and outstanding, let Kaleb Debbage be your role model. Kaleb is a firefighter in UK. He took a long vacation and his bike and went East. Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Balkans, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, then Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.

At the moment he is in Semey (aka Semipalatinsk) near Russian border, enjoying his time and waiting for his Russian visa to start.

Kaleb writes an exceptionally detailed and entertaining blog with many pictures: http://www.iskaleb.com/

Earthquake Hits Entire Russia

Today is a big, unique day.

At 5.44 UTC something shaked really hard 600km deep under Okhotsk Sea in Kamchatka. This is Russian Far East, one of the most remote regions of Siberia accessible only by helicopters and such funny devices:

(photo by Netwind - a great site, recommended).

This is where it happened (feel free to zoom out)


View Larger Map

Magnitude of the shake was 8.3 (max is around M10) but its depth was about 600 km, which makes it one of the deepest earthquakes ever recorded. Such deep earthquakes happen very rarely, maybe once in a century, that's why we know very little about their nature.

Another unique fact of this quake was the distance where it was felt. Responses were coming from as far as Dubai - that's humble 8999 km! Illinois, California, Indonesia and India felt it!

Indeed, in Russia a lot of people felt it. Siberian seismic stations even issued a report about an earthquake in Sayan mountains, I even mentioned it on Twitter. In Moscow 900 people were evacuated.

Me? I did not feel it, nor any of my friends. Feeling a bit disadvantaged.

You want to ask about weather? Well, feels like autumn or monsoon season. Rains, rains, rains.

One more great event today - lenticular clouds right in my window:

They are considered quite rare and usually form in the mountains.

Well, that's it for today. Weekend is promised to be chilly but dry.

First Forest Fires in Siberia

Snow is almost gone almost everywhere, and it means that the danger of forest fires is back. Every summer vast areas of Siberia and Russia are covered with smoke from huge fires surrounding cities. Entire villages burn to ground if they appear on the way of fire. Usually forests burn because someone has thrown a burning cigarette.

A special project has been started to monitor forest fires on the Internet: http://fires.kosmosnimki.ru. This is a current snapshot of the situation.

As you can see, the worst situation is right near Baykal. A state of emergency has been declared in that region: more than 10,000 hectares of forest burn there with over 70 individual fires. 

May 1 in Novosibirsk

Labor Day on May 1 is now celebrated in a way very similar to the USSR times. Same organized demonstrations with flags and banners like "Workers of plants and fabrics support the party".

Speaking of weather - clouds, windy, some rains :)

Main square in front of the Opera House. Check the Sochi olympic counter.