A new wave of Siberian cold struck Russia this week, plunging temperatures to record lows in the far eastern part of the country and sweeping as far as Moscow, officials said Thursday. In neighbouring Georgia meanwhile one person died and two dozen were injured in the second city Kutaisi as heavy snowfalls collapsed buildings, cut power supplies and stopped a train in its tracks.
"There are no warmer temperatures in sight," said Dmitry Kiktyov, deputy head of Russia's Hydrological and Metereological Centre, adding the freeze would last at least six more days.
The temperature on Thursday night was forecast to fall to minus 56 degrees Celsius (minus 69 Fahrenheit) in western parts of Magadan region - an area on Russia's Pacific Ocean coast once home to some of the deadliest labour camps in the Soviet Gulag and also the site of major gold mines. The previous lowest temperature in the area was minus 53 C (minus 63 F), the Gazeta.ru news site reported.
A hundred modern-day prisoners were evacuated from the region earlier this week when the heating at their camp broke down as temperatures reached minus 52 C (minus 61.6 F), regions.ru said. In Moscow, the temperature is forecast to fall to minus 25 C (minus 13 F) and reach minus 48 C (minus 54 F) in western Siberia and minus 36 C (minus 33 F) in the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, metereological officials said.
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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_Siberian_Cold_Wave_Hits_Russia_Georgia.html