Synthetic snow in Moscow?

17 December, 2008, 18:19

Origins of the light snow which has been falling in Moscow over the last week may not be natural. According to Alexey Lyahov, head of Moscow’s hydro meteorological centre, it was formed as a result of the activities of i

“It shouldn’t have been snowing, but the city conditions provoke ‘fall-outs’. Near thermal power stations there is more snow, which shows that snow falls unevenly,” Lyahov told RIA Novosti.

One of the reasons for the fall-out is steam from the city’s plants, he said. For the same reason fall-outs in Moscow are, from time to time, more intensive than in the non-industrial regions.

The expert also noticed that the so-called “synthetic” snow which falls in Moscow does not differ from natural snow. “Snow is snow, it is crystallised water”, Lyahov said.

Based on climatic norms, there should be about 10 centimetres of snow in the Moscow region by December 1st.

However this year on November 26th the blanket of snow reached 10-15 centimetres in some areas of Moscow and Moscow suburbs but it melted immediately.

The Head of the Russian hydro meteorological centre Roman Vilfand explained that high pressure systems are currently dominating the Central region of Russia. In this situation fall-out does not usually occur.

However, in certain cases the temperature of bottom air layers is lower than top air layers and water is condensed quicker and drops out as light snow in winter and as drizzle in the summer. This is called temperature inversion.

Vilfand has not excluded that the recent precipitation in Moscow may have been caused by industrial factors – as they provoke moisture condensation.