Weather swings between extremes in Russia

The harsh cold, which occupies most of Russia's territory in recent days and has claimed 90 lives, is going to persist in several regions, the Emergency Situations Ministry warned Monday. According to the ministry's website, the temperature in Southern Siberia will fall below 40 degrees Celsius on Tuesday morning, while stormy winds can be expected in the Far Eastern and westernmost Kaliningrad regions. In North Caucasus, local authorities have closed the principal highway and a tunnel in the mountainous regions due to heavy snowfalls and avalanche warning. Snowfalls and winds caused power disruptions in several areas of Altai region affecting 2,600 people. The emergencies ministry on Monday sent 60 portable ovens to Tuva Republic. In Southern Siberia, local residents were left without heat and water over the weekend as pipes broke due to freezing weather. In many Russian towns in Amur, Maritime, Moscow, Kaluga and other regions, emergency workers also undertook repair works in the 30-degree frost Monday as the aging water pipes in those areas were also torn from inside by ice. According to the Russian weather service Rosgidromet, the cold is to stop torturing the European part of the country Tuesday, when the temperatures will leap by as much as 20 degrees, sometimes to above-zero level, within less than two days. But Siberia is forecast to remain under the influence of the frosty weather. In some parts of Saha-Yakutia republic the temperature will drop to minus 54 degrees.