Record Cold, Deadly Blizzards, and 6 Meter (20 foot) Snow Drifts Batter Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq
Thousands of vehicles have been buried under monster mounds of snow; people are missing, presumed frozen; water and power supplies have been cut-off; and drifts as high as 6 meters have blocked key passes — welcome, Middle East, to the GRAND SOLAR MINIMUM…
Turkey
Residents of Göle, a town in Turkey’s northeastern Ardahan province, suffered record breaking temperatures of minus 40 degrees this week, while heavy snowstorms battered the eastern half of the country.
The freezing temperatures and blizzards also cut off access to many regions, such as an area in Van province’s Çaldıran district where 13 migrants remain missing, presumed dead. The search and rescue efforts have been hampered by insurmountably snow drifts in Van’s Bahçesaray where 41 people were killed last week following two major avalanches.
“We had phone calls from Iran, Germany and (the Turkish city of) Diyarbakır,” said Van Governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez regarding the 13 missing migrants. “These people are believed to have been frozen to death while crossing the border. Even if crews can reach the area, they cannot recover anyone because of storms and blizzards. The visibility is zero now,” Bilmez said.
Göle registered a bone-chilling minus 40 degrees on both Sunday and Monday night — a new all-time record for the entire province, busting the -39.8C (-39.6F) set back on January 21, 1972, according to the Turkish State Meteorological Service.
Other notable lows include Aşkale district’s -35C (29.2F); Kars province’s -31C (-23.8F); and the -26C (-14.8F) measured in central Ardahan. While the highest observed temperatures on Monday were the 0C (32F) in Iğdır; the -4C (24.8F) in Tunceli; and the -10C (14F) in Ardahan.
A large dam supplying water to the much of Turkey’s eastern provinces has been frozen solid due to the extreme temperatures. Public fountains have been transformed into fancy ice sculptures, and enormous icicles have dawned the eaves of buildings and weighed down utility poles.
Eastern regions also struggled with heavy, disruptive snow.
In Ağrı, snow totals reached 34cm (13.4 inches); while ski resort Palandöken reported accumulations of 84cm (33.1 inches) through Monday alone, adding to the monster totals already suffered in the region:
And the snow wasn’t hindered by national borders, of course:
Syria
Heavy powder has brought parts of neighboring Syria to a standstill, particularly in the NW:
With the freezing conditions only heaping more misery on the displaced Syrians in Idlib:
Iran
The situation looks incredibly serious in Iran.
Debilitating snow totals of up to 6 meters (see featured image) have reportedly cut off water and electricity to many regions. The going-on-20 foot accumulations blanketed the Qarah Bolagh district in the NW provinces of Iran, a local official said Monday.
Thousands of vehicles, including multiple snow plows, have been completely buried under the monster mounds of snow, with local officials adding that the severe conditions are also preventing emergency services from reaching those trapped.
Chaos on the roads has led to thousands of people abandoning their vehicles in and around Guilan.
Amazing footage reveals the heavy snow burying traffic on the Saravan highway, in a 1.25 miles (2km) icy jam, according to Provincial Crisis Director General:
Iraq
And, as reported yesterday, residents of central and southern Iraq opened their curtains Tuesday morning (Feb. 11) to an incredibly rare scene — the first “settling” snowfall in over a century:
The Middle East’s anomalous cold will persist for the foreseeable, with latest GFS runs forecasting temps some 12C below the seasonal average lingering through Weds and Thurs (at least):
Further disruptive snow will accompany the cold, with Turkey and Iran set for the worst of it — up to an additional 2 meters (6.5 feet) expected to fall here:
The lower latitudes are refreezing in line with historically low solar activity, cloud-nucleating Cosmic Rays, and a meridional jet stream flow.
NASA has recently revealed this upcoming solar cycle (25) will be “the weakest of the past 200 years,” with the agency correlating previous solar shutdowns to prolonged periods of global cooling here.
Don’t fall for a bogus, warm-mongering political agenda — our future is one of ever-descending COLD.
Prepare accordingly — learn the facts, relocate if need be, and grow your own.
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Grand Solar Minimum + Pole Shift
