Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan is considered as the second coldest capital city in the world, after Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia.
At present, a cold spell has engulfed the capital leading to drop in temperatures up to minus 32 °C. This has created havoc among the residents.
Schools in Astana have been shut for almost four days in a row this week due to the plummeting mercury.
As per weathermen, the prevailing cold snap was unexpected. The reason to this abrupt change in weather can be credited to the winds gusting up to 55 km/hr which pushed the temperature to fall from minus 4 °C, to a minimum of minus 14 °C. From this time then, the temperatures have fallen further.
Though minus 4 °C may not sound mild, but it is for the city of Astana. It’s pretty close to the normal maximum November temperature of minus 3 °C.
The temperature is expected to drop further in the coming months.
In January, Astana's average maximum temperature is around minus 12.5 °C. It is far colder than Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, whose average maximum in January is a mild minus of 1 °C.
In spite of the fact of the city’s beautiful landscape, the harsh cold is likely to persist across the region over the next few days.
Image Credit: astanatimes.com