We got snow about Jan 23 and then the temps dropped to -20 and dipped as low as -30 in some places. Two years ago when we had a similar cold snap, other European countries were reporting deaths due to cold but Ukraine did not. This time round they seem to have caught on that it is unacceptable to suppress bad news and are reporting deaths of homeless people but not deaths of poor people who have not heat in their homes or flats. More than 100 homeless are reported dead. Also over 900 people have been hospitalized to hypothermia. The country has made a major effort to provide food and shelter for the homeless in this cold weather.
Other Eastern European countries are reporting numbers of deaths and taking steps to provide for the homeless.
We have not has snow here since January however the rest of Europe has had varying amounts, mostly lots from what I read. There is a low pressure area below Italy bringing much snow to the Balkans and to northern Italy. The Balkans are quite mountainous and apparently remote villages are cut off by the snow in Serbia and possibly in other countries around. Not sure about the snow in northern and western Europe. Great Britain has snow and London is reporting -11.
We had expected it to warm up this week but no luck. Yesterday it climbed to -5 but with very strong winds. The winds continue and last night temps dropped to -18. It is 2:00 pm as I write and it is -12 with strong wind outside. Tanya said this morning that there is ice on the Black Sea which no one remembers happening before and a great deal of ice on the Sea of Azov which is shallow and treacherous in winter. Tanya said a ship enroute to Rostov na Donu was damaged or sunk by the ice. I couldn't find anything further on it but will Google it again later.
Not much will improve until that high pressure area moves from Siberia.
