Sedimentary period

Snowfalls at the end of January can compensate for the lack of snow in the first half of winter

Before meteorologists had time to record the fifth record in the history of meteorological observations since 1879 for an unusually low amount of January precipitation for Moscow, snow began to fall in the capital. And quite strong. If since the beginning of winter, about 400 thousand cubic meters of snow were removed from the city as a whole, then after the snowstorm on Sunday night, the capital had to be cleared of more than 250 thousand cubic meters of snow.

According to the Department of Housing, Communal Services and Improvement of Moscow, 7.5 thousand units of snow removal equipment took to the streets over the weekend. 1,025 teams numbering about seven thousand people cleared the roadway, sidewalks, stops and approaches to the metro from the snow that had fallen on the heads of utility workers. However, according to city utility workers, they were prepared for such weather vagaries. For example, in 2005, more than half of the total monthly volume of January precipitation fell within the last five days, and a snowstorm literally paralyzed the city’s transport system. This time, the capital's road workers kept snow removal equipment and vehicles with deicing agents at the ready. “Cleaning the main highways of the city, if necessary, will take place around the clock,” the Department of Housing and Communal Services and City Improvement said in a statement on the eve of the snowfall.

Utility workers are confident that the treatment and cleaning of streets actually takes place in accordance with the regulations and recommendations of the city’s operational headquarters. “Snow is first swept away from highways and streets, then so-called shafts are formed, after which they are taken away on dump trucks to snow melting points. After cleaning, roads are treated with deicing agents, and courtyards and sidewalks are treated with crushed stone,” the capital’s mayor’s office clarified. And since, according to weather forecasters, snowfall may continue today, as well as on Tuesday and Wednesday, snow removal will not be stopped.

However, there were congestions on city highways even on Sunday, when there were significantly fewer cars on the streets than usual. Employees of the capital’s traffic police noted a significant “deterioration in road conditions,” which even Moscow drivers, trained by constant traffic jams, apparently had lost the habit of. Thus, “in conditions of low visibility, wet road surfaces and sometimes icy conditions,” traffic on the Moscow Ring Road, Rublevskoye and Volokolamsk highways and Leninsky Prospekt has worsened.

The winter weather did not affect air transport services in the capital. According to the central information desk of the capital's air hub, all airports are operating as usual and there are no delays due to weather conditions yet. “On the airfields, anti-fog devices are turned on, and the surface of the runways and taxiways is constantly cleared of snow and treated with reagents that prevent the formation of a slippery film,” the information desk explained.

Forecasters say heavy rainfall will be replaced by lower temperatures this week. According to the general director of the Hydrometeorological Bureau of Moscow and the Moscow Region, Alexei Lyakhov, the temperature is expected to drop to minus eight degrees during the day and the thermometer to drop by 11 degrees below zero at night. However, light snow is also likely.

Yulia KHOMCHENKO