August 17, 2021

Wild Weather and Wildfires


Wild Weather and Wildfires
Snow in Magadan. This picture is from January, not this summer, but still... Wikimedia Commons user Yevgeny Serov

Like the rest of the world, Russia has been experiencing some odd weather this summer.

Despite foreign stereotypes, Russia does have summer weather . . . usually. Even Siberia. But in the Siberian port city of Magadan, it has snowed three times this summer.

Up on the Kolyma Gulf on the Arctic, building summer snowpeople is not unusual. But in Magadan, at the southern end of the Kolyma Region, it is an unexpected way to spend a summer afternoon.

The snow has fallen in Magadan amid unusually hot weather in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere in Russia. Wildfires in Siberia have become the world's worst at the moment. Yakutia, one of the world's coldest inhabited spots in the winter, is unseasonably hot and the hardest hit. The smoke has drifted to Alaska and the North Pole. The Yakutia fire could turn into the biggest fire in world history. With Russia the biggest country in the world by a large margin, this is not so surprising.

Greenpeace estimates that 62,000 square miles of Russia have burned in 2021. President Putin is alarmed. Wildfires accelerate carbon dioxide emissions in a nasty, nightmarish climate change loop: the Siberian fires have released more carbon dioxide than Britain's emissions for the entire year of 2019.

You Might Also Like

Magadan
  • July 01, 2019

Magadan

On July 14, 2019, Magadan will celebrate the 80th anniversary of its founding. Alas, this date, like so much else in the city’s history, is a lie.
Not a Snowball's Chance
  • February 05, 2021

Not a Snowball's Chance

One wouldn’t expect it to be an issue for a snowman to be left out in the cold, but in the village of Zachachye in Arkhangelsk Oblast, four such fellows were found wanting for warmth.
Death of a Snowman
  • January 08, 2021

Death of a Snowman

Hooligans struck a collection of over 200 snowmen in the town of Kaluga, an act of gruesome vandalism.
Mayorless Magadan
  • November 17, 2020

Mayorless Magadan

The position of mayor in the Far East town of Magadan is apparently so undesirable that no one wants the job.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals
[INVALID]
[INVALID]

Some of our Books

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955