Wednesday, January 07, 2009

A mild day in Norilsk

We watch the weather on Meteo, the weather channel on Digital +. Along with the weather for Spain, they also show weather for the rest of the world. We take great comfort in the fact that most days, the temperature here is about ten degrees higher than it is in the UK. To be honest we gloat about it.

One of the cities that Meteo shows weather for is Norilsk, the northernmost city in Siberia and the second largest city above the Arctic Circle.

I don't suppose the city would exist if it weren't for the huge nickel deposits in the area. The nickel ore is smelted at Norilsk, a process that produces severe pollution in the form of acid rain. The cities claim to fame is that it manages to produce 1% of all total emissions of sulphur dioxide in the world's atmosphere.

We spotted Norilsk on Meteo because of the harsh weather that the city suffers. The average temperature is approximately −10 degrees Celsius and temperatures as low as −58 degrees have been recorded there. The city is covered with snow for about 250-270 days a year, with snow storms for about 110-130 days. The polar night lasts from December through mid-January, so that Norilsk inhabitants do not see the sun at all for about six weeks.

Today the temperature in Norilsk is a mild -21.8 degrees C which makes the high of 6.4 degrees in Orihuela seem almost tropical.

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