Fires in Western Russia

[SiberianTiger]

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=11260901

A prominent scientist said hundreds of people could die as smog from peat fires blanketed a sweltering Moscow for a second day on Tuesday.

Moscow region chief Boris Gromov asked Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to allocate 25 billion roubles ($827 million) to fight the fires smoldering in the forests around Moscow.

Alexei Yablokov, an internationally renowned biologist who runs Russia's Green Party, said air pollution caused by the smog's high amount of carbon dioxide could kill hundreds more people than usual in the Moscow region.

"There will be at least 100 additional deaths per day this time round," Yablokov told Reuters, referring to the last such smog cloud in 2002 in which he calculated 600 people had died each week.

[...]

The Moscow government agency overseeing air pollution, Mosekonomonitoring, said the levels of carbon monoxide in the air on Tuesday shot up by 20-30 percent more than normal levels.

Russia's senior public health official suggested on Tuesday employers free their staff while the thick smog and record-breaking heat in the Russian capital surged.

"Employers, if there is a possibility, could allow people to not come to work," Gennady Onishchenko, head of Russia's health protection agency, told Interfax news agency.

The latter is useless, because the smog is simply everywhere you go. I took the following pictures this morning. In addition to the suffocating smog, it's quite hot (Moscow heat breaks all time record) and air isn't moving at all.

Images are clickable.

















Many areas in Western Russia are affected, not only Moscow.

 

[Notebook]

Nasty, whats caused the peat fires?

N.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Nasty, whats caused the peat fires?

N.

Well, generally speaking, us. :facepalm:

 

[Notebook]

An industrial process? I'm no expert, but I thought peat bogs just sat there till you dug it out?

N.

 

[SiberianTiger]

An industrial process? I'm no expert, but I thought peat bogs just sat there till you dug it out?

N.

I meant people who live in countryside or go there for camping, don't usually care that weather is hot and plants become dry and inflammable. Some say that peat bogs may ignite themselves in drought conditions, but I don't believe that careless camp fire making and butt throwing was not involved.

 

[Artlav]

Swamps are burning again, set on fire by god knows who or what.
Last time it happened only rainstorms in september could stop the burn and smoke.

 

[Urwumpe]

Swamps are burning again, set on fire by god knows who or what.

It wasn't me.

 

[Notebook]

I meant people who live in countryside or go there for camping, don't usually care that weather is hot and plants become dry and inflammable. Some say that peat bogs may ignite themselves in drought conditions, but I don't believe that careless camp fire making and butt throwing was not involved.

Ah, I thought it was a semi-legal process, bit like logging in Indonesia. Thats why I couldn't understand it happening so close to Moscow.

Anyway, glad to hear no "butt throwing" was involved, that can be dangerous....

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=1404&highlight=serious+butt+problem

N.

 

[N_Molson]

We get these kind of fires every summer in the South-East of France, where the weather is usually dry and hot (Mediterrannean coast). But since it's near the coast, there is always some wind (wich can be a problem for firemen).

They are caused by careless people (camping fires in the dry forests, BBQ), pyromaniacs, and buisnessmen (who want to clear places where to build).

 

[SiberianTiger]

Anyway, glad to hear no "butt throwing" was involved, that can be dangerous....

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=1404&highlight=serious+butt+problem

N.

I'd throw such a butt into the butt who threw that butt! :dry:

 

[Urwumpe]

I'd throw such a butt into the butt who threw that butt! :dry:

That must have been the claimed Russian attacks on the butt that had been mentioned in the thread.

 

[River Crab]

How is his butt now, anyway?


English Russia has some more pictures. "Weather Apocalypse?" What is this, the day after tomorrow?

Apparently there was a...tornado? In Red Square? It just looked like high winds, but if you say so...

 

[SiberianTiger]

Apparently there was a...tornado? In Red Square? It just looked like high winds, but if you say so...

I watched the video. What an impudent tornado! It shows absolutely no respect to anything! And that's happening in sacred for every Russian place where girls splash in fountains, Matryoshkas with faces of Medvedev, Putin, etc. down the row are sold and brave

 

[Urwumpe]

Looks like a gustnado at the Red square, this is no damage pattern that suggests a weak tornado.

The video in Kolpino seems to be no real tornado, since the visible vortex from cloud to ground is missing. It seems to be also rather either a gustnado or a tornado that didn't yet form, but was in the making.

 

[SiberianTiger]

The video in Kolpino seems to be no real tornado, since the visible vortex from cloud to ground is missing. It seems to be also rather either a gustnado or a tornado that didn't yet form, but was in the making.

Still, it managed to lift a parked car in the air (see in the video @ 1:10) and crush it.

Speaking of the forest fires again, here's an image of North-Western Russia released by NASA 2010/07/28 at 09:25 UTC:

Smoke plumes are visible, fires are highlighted with red dots.

Some professional images from Moscow:

 

[Urwumpe]

Still, it managed to lift a parked car in the air (see in the video @ 1:10) and crush it.

Yes, but just one, the damage radius was VERY limited. man people underestimate dust devils, just like many people call tornadoes whirlwinds, with the thinking that they are less dangerous than the US tornadoes.

Even the turbulence of a gust is strong enough to throw cars around... but in this video, the change of wind direction is a good hint that there was a strong upwind. There is just no connection between cloud and ground whirl, which means it is no official tornado yet, but still counts as strong "dust devil", even if the phenomenas are the same.

The guy with the camera had still been pretty lucky, if this would have been a real and stronger tornado, the window would not have protected him.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Whirlwinds or gusts, but the situation is toughening. Eyewitnesses and firemen report developing of crown fires in woods eastwards of Moscow, and in surroundings of Voronezh. This is a life threatening situation.

 

[Urwumpe]

Whirlwinds or gusts, but the situation is toughening. Eyewitnesses and firemen report developing of crown fires in woods eastwards of Moscow, and in surroundings of Voronezh. This is a life threatening situation.

Shouldn't it be worse if the fires are south? Or do you fear getting encircled?

How is the situation for the nuclear power plants, BTW? The heat should not spare them as well.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Shouldn't it be worse if the fires are south? Or do you fear getting encircled?

How is the situation for the nuclear power plants, BTW? The heat should not spare them as well.

I'm not feeling endangered, my concern is about countryside population. I don't think any large industrial installation are at risk, too.

 

[Urwumpe]

I'm not feeling endangered, my concern is about countryside population. I don't think any large industrial installation are at risk, too.

No, I rather mean the available water for cooling the reactors. if the rivers get too hot, the reactors need to run at reduced power here.