The Siberian orange snow of 2007 was an anomalous phenomenon that occurred in early February 2007. Beginning on 31 January 2007, an orange-tinted snow fell across an area of in

Omsk Oblast Omsk Oblast (russian: О́мская о́бласть, ''Omskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southwestern Siberia. The oblast has an area of . Its population is 1,977,665 ( 2010 Census) with the majority, 1.12 ...

Siberian Federal District Siberian Federal District (russian: Сиби́рский федера́льный о́круг, ''Sibirsky federalny okrug'') is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its population was 17,178,298 according to the 2010 Census, livi ...

, Russia, approximately from Moscow, as well as into the neighboring

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...

and Tyumen Oblasts. It was unclear what caused the orange snow. Speculation ranged from pollutants to a sandstorm in neighboring

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Description

The orange snow was malodorous, oily to the touch, and reported to contain four times the normal level of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

. Though mostly orange, some of the snow was red or yellow. It affected an area with about 27,000 residents. It was originally speculated that it was caused by

industrial pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

, a rocket launch or even a nuclear accident. It was later determined that the snow was non-toxic; however, people in the region were advised not to use the snow or allow animals to feed upon it. Colored snow is uncommon in Russia but not unheard of, as there have been many cases of black, blue, green and red snowfall.

Possible causes

This orange snow may have been caused by a heavy sandstorm in neighboring

. Tests on the snow revealed numerous sand and clay dust particles, which were blown into Russia in the upper stratosphere. The speculation that the coloration was caused by a

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

launch from

Baikonur Baikonur ( kk, Байқоңыр, ; russian: Байконур, translit=Baykonur), formerly known as Leninsk, is a city of republic significance in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered ...

in Kazakhstan was later dismissed, as the last launch before the event took place on 18 January 2007. Russia's environmental watchdog originally claimed that the colored snowfall was caused by industrial pollution, such as "waste from metallurgical plants." It stated that the snow contained four times the normal quantities of acids,

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...

s, and iron. However, it would be nearly impossible to pinpoint a culprit if pollution were the cause, as there are various industries nearby, such as the city of

Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...

, which is a center of the

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...

in Russia.

References

{{Reflist Siberian Orange Snow, 2007 Siberian Orange Snow, 2007 Anomalous weather Omsk Oblast History of Siberia Snow

Description

Possible causes

See also

References