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| Home | News | Photo | Winter in Belarus: Enchanting landscapes, snow-covered cities and entertainment that we have missed so much!

Minsk blanketed in snow

Minsk blanketed in snow
12 Jan 2021

A long-awaited snowy winter arrived in Belarus together with the Orthodox Christmas. Grodno was the first to welcome a snowfall on Christmas Eve. On Christmas the snowfall blanketed almost the whole country. In two days Minsk experienced 42% of the monthly precipitation, with the snow cover of at least 23 centimeters. A weather station in Borisov recorded the snow cover of 30cm!

Snowy weather cheered up enthusiasts of winter sports, outdoor activities and entertainment. Some went sledding and tubing in areas near home or in city parks, others rushed to ski resorts. For example, the Silichi ski resort was abuzz with skiers and had queues for gear even at night.

Of course, snowfalls caused some problems too. Power supply was temporarily disrupted in hundreds of small settlements; traffic got a bit chaotic. Road crews went out in full force with graders, sanders and plows to clear roads while utility and emergency services were busy fixing other problems.

The coming weeks will bring not only a lot of snow, but also severe frosts to Belarus: the temperature is forecast to drop to minus 23-25°C at night and 13-15°C below zero at daytime. The second half of January will be three degrees colder than normal (the norm is minus 3-6°C).

It is noteworthy that 2020 is officially recognized as Belarus’ warmest year in its 140-year climate record! The 2019/2020 winter season is called anomalous, because such a mild winter has never been observed in the history of meteorological observation in Belarus: the average temperature was 1.5°C above zero, which is 5.5°C higher than the climatic norm. It looks like January 2021 will return everything to its unspoiled beginnings. And this is wonderful, as Belarus is a country with a clear division of the seasons: a snowy frosty winter, a blooming spring, a steaming hot and sunny summer and golden leaf fall colors in autumn. Let’s enjoy it together!

The snowiest stories of January 2021 in our photos from across Belarus.

Ski run in the Vesnyanka neighborhood in Minsk
Minsk blanketed in snow
Ski run in the Vesnyanka neighborhood in Minsk
Snow-covered streets of the city
Minsk blanketed in snow
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