[ad_1]
The phenomenon pushed masses of hot air to the east – 31 ° in Greece, in Athens it went to the beach
Historic snowfalls have blocked the capital of Spain, Madrid, caused by the rare winter storm Philomena. It claimed several lives, buried much of Spain under a layer of snow, and left the country in chaos for more than four days. At the same time, in Greece, hundreds of people went to the beach due to the unusually warm January weather – 31 °!
Why is there more snow in Madrid than in Saint Petersburg and Oslo? According to scientists, the reason for this rare phenomenon is the coincidence of two conditions that are currently more intense in Spain than in northern Europe: rain and cold air.
A vast area of high pressure in the North Atlantic disrupts air circulation around the North Pole. Polar winds generally move counterclockwise, trapping cold air in the arctic regions of the northern hemisphere. From time to time it happens that the force of the winds decreases significantly. Then
the vortex is also distorted in
the southern air descends icy air
The phenomenon is known as a polar vortex.
The high-pressure system, which extends into Siberia, collides with another moisture-filled low-pressure system in the Atlantic Ocean, centered on Storm Philomena. In this way, the two ingredients necessary for snow production occur simultaneously: temperatures below 0 ° and precipitation. No matter how cold it is in the northern regions, there can be no snow without moisture and precipitation.
The Spanish state meteorology agency announced that the snowfall in Madrid during the weekend was the most intense since 1971.
The snow has accumulated
more than 60 cm
in places. A man and a woman drowned near a river in Malaga. Two homeless people died of cold in Madrid and Calatayud.
Two days after the storm, Madrid and central Spain remain paralyzed. Schools, kindergartens, courts and museums are closed and drifts of snow clog sidewalks and roads. As drivers in Spain do not have to change their tires depending on the season, hundreds of cars are still stuck on the road. They don’t have scrapers or brushes, so they cleaned the large amounts of snow off their cars mostly by hand.
Madrilenians ski around the city and make snowmen. Authorities urged people to stay home. It got to the point where the police had to stop a massive snowball fight. About 20,000 km of the road network in central Spain have been affected by the storm. A 36-year-old woman gave birth in an ambulance in Madrid because they couldn’t take her to the hospital. About 100 people were stranded in a shopping center on the outskirts of Madrid.
The Spanish government has sent convoys of police escorts to ensure that the planned 300,000 coronavirus vaccines can be distributed as planned to regional health authorities.
Doctors and medical workers abandoned their cars and walked for hours to get to work. Dr. Álvaro Sánchez told the BBC that he had traveled 17 km in almost two hours to get to work while
two nurses passed
22 km walk to his hospital
The owners of 4×4 jeeps offered to transport doctors.
The cold not only brought heavy snowfall to the Iberian Peninsula and the Northern Balkans, but also caused
torrential rains in
Western Balkans,
Southern Spain and Morocco, causing flooding.
The phenomenon is pushing very warm air masses into eastern Greece. The highest temperatures in January in the last 50 years were recorded there. Over the weekend in Athens, they hit 31st in some places. Many went to the beach and even swam in the sea. Average January temperatures in Greece typically range from 0 to 5 degrees. In the past 50 years, such heat has occurred only twice, in 1987 and 2010, according to the National Observatory of Athens.
Snow storm
also invaded the southern states
Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in the United States on Sunday, then moved to Alabama and Tennessee on Monday, covering them in thick snow, forcing schools and government offices to close. There were power outages in Houston due to snow.
At least eight people died due to snowfall on the west coast of Japan. Many of the victims died while clearing the snow. About 300 people were injured. The majority of accidents occurred during roof and tree snowfall, as well as during snow removal.
Bulgaria’s rivers overflow and release dams
Rivers overflowed and dams in the country began to drain after a sharp rise due to heavy rains in recent days.
The municipality of Trun declared a state of emergency after the level of the Erma River rose 3 m and overflowed its channel. There is a partial outlet of the river in two places near the Murgovitsa neighborhood, where the bridge is flooded. The movement of the cars has stopped. The school is also partially flooded, the basements are full of water, but there is no danger for the children, “explained the mayor of Trun Tsvetislava Tsvetkova. The emergency can last up to 7 days.
In Blagoevgrad Struma has raised its level by 1.5 m, the Bistritsa and Rilska rivers have come.
At the entrance to Kocherinovo a lake was formed by an overflowing canal, a farm was flooded by an overflowing canal.
The Gulf River and the columns of the bridge under construction over the Struma Highway arrived. A pontoon bridge was brought there last week.
The river in the town of Kalotina also overflows, ripping off one of the neighborhoods. Courtyards and houses are flooded. Firefighters and police rescued an elderly and motionless woman from the raging waters.
A partial state of emergency has been declared in Batanovtsi and the villages of Yardzhilovtsi and Montenegro, the Pernik municipality said. A controlled discharge of the “Studena” dam began, which only a year ago had dried up and the city entered a hydrological regime.
They released the water from the Blato river to the countryside so that houses in Novi Iskar would not suffer damage
All rivers in Sofia with rising levels due to heavy rains
The levels of all the rivers in Sofia have risen. Data is monitored 24 hours a day. The most critical situation is found in the Novi Iskar region, where in all settlements there are flooded courtyards and basements of houses, as well as a large area of agricultural land. As of early afternoon yesterday, 60 flood signals and flooded patios and cellars in Trebic, Mirovyane and Zhiten, as well as for fallen branches, were sent to the Sofia Municipality.
Due to the critical situation with the Blato river in Novi Iskar, the mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, came to the scene and postponed the planned presentation of the 2021 budget to Sofia on Monday.
There, with a special permit from Irrigation Systems, the river levee was opened so that the water could be directed to the field so that nearby houses and yards could be saved from flooding.
With the Director of Irrigation Systems, we decided to open the dam so that the water drains into the field and reduces the river level. This is happening in several other places to minimize damage to the settlements, Fandakova explained.
Yesterday 100 m of artificial dikes were built. Fire brigade teams and the municipal emergency department drained patios and basements. Due to a traffic jam under the bridge in Kurilo district, bus lines 23 and 26 were diverted. For security reasons, a family was evacuated from a house in Novi Iskar. Emergency crews also helped two stranded cars.
A controlled release of the municipal dams “Suhodol 2”, “Ivanyane” and “Mramor” began on Monday.
According to Fandakova, the main reason for the situation is the heavy rains and sloping waters that flow into the rivers.
[ad_2]
