Russia’s southern regions blanketed with Arctic-grade snow cover

Russia’s southern regions have become one of the most snow-covered in the European part of the country because of the early cold snap and heavy snowfall, Yelena Volosyuk, a leading expert of the Fobos weather-monitoring center, told TASS.

"This morning, the south of our country has turned out to be one of the snowiest places in European Russia with the snow cover reaching 15-20 cm in the Krasnodar Region and the south of the Rostov Region. In some places, it is even higher, in particular, the village of Kushchevskaya, according to the local weather bureau, noted 24 cm <…> the snow cover in Rostov-on-Don is 18 cm high. Today, such huge snow piles are only registered in the northern Komi Region (in the Arctic - TASS), meanwhile there is basically no snow in Central Russia," she explained.

Volosyuk added that temperature in the Rostov, Volgograd and Kuban Regions and in the northern part of the Stavropol Region dropped to minus 2-7 degrees Celsius overnight, even plummeting to -14 degrees Celsius in northern Volgograd. "The snowfalls that started on Monday reached their peak in the Rostov Region on Tuesday but have now shifted southward. Last night, the Kuban Region and the foothills of the Caucasus saw the heaviest precipitation, it was largely rain, and sometimes sleet," the expert noted.

She also said that the current temperature in the south is nearly 4 degrees Celsius lower than its mid-November average.

Roads shut, multiple-vehicle collision
The blizzards have affected traffic, leading to an increase in the number of road accidents. According to the head of the main office of the Russian Interior Ministry in the Rostov Region, Oleg Agarkov, a massive collision involving 15 vehicles occurred on the M-4 Don highway last night.

"Over 140 patrol cars have been dispatched to handle traffic, and so has been the entire emergency service crew and highway services <...> now the situation along the federal highway is fine. However, tie-ups still remain towards Volgodonsk and the Stavropol Region, but steps are being taken," he added.

Additionally, 11 serious road accidents have occurred in the Krasnodar Region last night, leaving 6 people dead and 25 injured, the local traffic police department told TASS.

"A number of minor accidents is being verified, but it typically rises in such weather," it added.

Forecasts suggest that heavy precipitation in Russia’s south will soon end, shifting towards the foothills of the Caucasus, although this is just temporary.

"During the second half of the week, on Friday to be precise, the center of low atmospheric pressure over Turkey will start to gain strength, further extending to the waters of the Black Sea. In the entire Black Sea region, in Kuban, Crimea, and Stavropol, precipitation will intensify again. Then it will cover the south of the Rostov and Volgograd Regions," the Fobos expert said.