Russia spring
© Sofia De-Janeiro @Holy_bear697 · Apr 15
Over the last few nights, temperatures in Southwest Russia have hit new record lows for the time of year.

While a slice of Northern and Western Europe basked in warm African air dragged up from the south, much of Eastern and Southern regions of the continent were descend upon by a brutal Arctic air mass from the north - this contrast serving as yet more evidence of the weak and wavy meridional jet stream associated with low solar activity.

For more on that, click here.

Below I've compiled a list of a few of the all-time cold records that tumbled in SW Russia over the Easter weekend (data courtesy of www.hmn.ru):

  • In Bezenchuk, -6.3 degrees was recorded which broke the previous record set in 1978 by a whopping 2.5 degrees.
  • El'ton dipped to -1.7 degrees, enough to beat a 90 year old record.
  • -4.4 degrees was measured in Frolovo, beating the 1945 record.
  • In Dombarovsk, -8.2 smashed the former record of -4.9 set in 1998.
  • And in the village of Yekaterino-Nikolsky, the mercury plummeted to -8.3 degrees breaking the previous record of -6.1 degrees set 63 years ago.
The cold is forecast to push further north and east into central and southern Russia over the coming days.

North Africa and the Middle East are also experiencing anomalously frigid temperatures for the time of year.