The 1978 Cold Anomaly: When All of Russia Froze to -73°F
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- In December 1978, the Soviet Union faced an unprecedented climate catastrophe that brought the nation to its knees. As temperatures plummeted to a shocking -73°F (-58 °C), entire cities lost power, heating systems failed, and millions of people struggled to survive. But behind this arctic nightmare lurked an even greater danger - a near-catastrophic incident at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station that could have changed history forever.
The 1978 Ice Age: When All of Russia Froze to -73°F
Through personal memories and eyewitness accounts, this video reveals the forgotten story of the Soviet Union's deadliest winter. From students fighting for survival in the brutal cold to families huddling in frozen apartments, from desperate attempts to stay warm to neighbors helping each other through the crisis - these are the stories of ordinary people who lived through an extraordinary moment in history.
Discover:
• How an unusual weather pattern turned into a national emergency
• The devastating impact on infrastructure and daily life
• Personal stories of survival and human kindness
• The hidden nuclear crisis that almost led to disaster
• How this event compares to today's changing climate
A chilling reminder of nature's power and humanity's resilience in the face of impossible odds.
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you should be ashamed of yourself for peddling lies on youtube
This Is wrong,the mercury freezing on minus 39C.
@@JimBeam-k9v timestamp said lies in this video please
@@JimBeam-k9v---friend, LINK PLEASE. Thank you.
@@dimbasz--- Friend, Link Please? Thank you.
In January 1977, my area in Virginia USA spent about 2.5 weeks with incredible cold: nighttime lows were -18 to -20F, and daytime HIGHS were only -5F. Normally, we don't even go below 0F for a low temperature. I'd thought that was nearly unbearable outdoors, but we still had heat, electricity, and water indoors. I can't imagine how Russians survived the brutal cold that you described so vividly with no resources unless they had gas stoves for a bit of heat. My heart goes out to the families who lost loved ones during that awful winter. And God bless that wonderful woman who opened her building to the cats and dogs who otherwise would have frozen to death. Thank you for such an informative video!
While I'm not from Russia, but Romania, I think it was similar there also during communism, that there were periods of time during the day, when you did not get heating or hot water. Meaning people were used to this. My grandma and mom, who grew up in the city always tell tales, that you did not get warm water, heating or even electricity several hours a day in winter (in the countryside it's different, as wood is used for heating).
Also, in Russia, it's not uncommon at all for temperatures to drop at -30 °C (-22 °F), so the people there are used to the cold.
I'm not saying it was easy or anything, just that they were used to not being comfortable all the time.
@@bennokava194your neighbor here, Serbia. only real cold winters I experienced here were 2012 and 2017. I don’t remember the last time it went below -5°C…probably in 2022
What is -5F and -20F?
There's a vid here on TH-cam about an old Siberian woman(I think she was) that this guy was doing a documentary on, the had hunchback, and lived by herself forever, and would go collect wood everyday, and lived up in the mountains in a shack. You probably could never find this old vid now, anyways he went back years later after she passed on, and filmed her old shack had fallen apart. So she would dig herself out paths in the snow, and live off of tea, and grasses she saved, it was a bleak existence, and a real wake up call for someone who grew up poor in VA mountains in the US compared to poor in a communist world, was shocking, at least we had trees and animals everywhere to live on
@@texxstalker
-20 degrees Fahrenheit is equal to -28.9 degrees Celsius
-5 degrees Fahrenheit is equal to -20.6 degrees Celsius
I was born in the Spring of 79, in Poland and remember my mum telling me about the winter of her pregnancy being vile. It is still called "the winter of the century". Never thought of how much harder it must have been in Russia though. Love the channel, btw, such a fresh format. Good luck!
I worked on a farm in Poland back then. It was really hard for people, animals and equipment.
It was a world-wide thing that winter, as it was exceptionally cold here in the US as well. I was a kid and we lived in the southern US and I remember it was the first time I had ever seen sub freezing temperatures.
th-cam.com/video/-yqW1qhmgGw/w-d-xo.html
Here are some impressive pictures of how it hit the Baltic sea island Rügen in the former GDR.
The cold snap was so severe that it even reached as far as Germany, the brown coal froze in the GDR and almost the entire power supply collapsed as a result, north and east Germany (in the GDR and West-Germany) was in large regions completely cut off from the outside world. My home in the north-west was only really hit hard in the second cold spell in February 1979, the snowdrifts lasted until May according to my parents. My great uncle was a farmer, he had trouble milking the cows and had to pour all the milk away. Other farmers' cows froze to death in the barns. At least there was something positive for my parents, my brother was conceived during the first cold snap 🤣For us here, these are very unusual events because we are not used to it (temperatures to -30°C), for you it would be a normal winter period in Siberia, I didn't even know it was that bad in the Soviet Union, it must've been absolute horror 😨 Thank you for the exciting video, I learned so much new stuff! 🤯
Thank you so much for sharing your story. That time was truly terrifying. We had to leave out some details about the consequences of that cold spell because of TH-cam-otherwise, they wouldn’t have let us publish it. Hopefully, we’ll never see such freezing temperatures again!
@@Soviet-Born : You know Julie, it is very worrying the level of censorship that goes on over this site now. A level that is not necessary and is utterly, unreasonable. If all you wanted to do was present facts then there was no, logical, reason not to be allowed to post and share that. If they worry about kids getting upset or something, all one needs to do is post a notice saying "mature content" or something like that, then the viewer can choose for themselves, if they want to watch it or not. That is how a Democracy is SUPPOSED, to work, even over Social Media, as well.
In Oberhof, Thuringia, people were trapped in the luxury Panorama hotel during New Years celebrations without power, without heat.
The hotel was a construction for the warm Adria region, but not for regions with (harsh) winters.
@@coffeecake8098 I saw a documentation from MDR last week about that, very recommended (it's in German, though)
@@Soviet-BornNonsense, just nonsense!! I was able to experience the winter of 1978/79 myself in the former GDR. It was hard but not catastrophic and it wasn't the first time we had a hard winter in the GDR. The winter of 1970 in the south of the GDR was hard but not catastrophic. 1985/86 was another winter with challenges. At the time, my brother was helping in a lignite mine to get the coal out of the wagons. And for the then Soviet Union, the weather was nothing unusual. Winters in Moscow with minus 30 to 40 degrees below zero are not uncommon there. The winter of 1986 to 1987 was also difficult, even our Russian off-road vehicles of the URAL and SIL types had certain problems with the snow, but not with the frost of minus 10 to 20 degrees Celsius.
Aw the shelter for the animals truly is epic kindness, I would do the same. Rock On and God Bless!
Same. People can fend for themselves. Animals can't.
@@dextermorgan1... homeless people sustain traumatic freezing injuries or perish from cold weather every single year, in every country it's possible. Being **able** to fend for yourself and having the means to do so are two very different things.
People helping each other is still a crucial element of weather events like this. All warm-blooded life is valid and deserves shelter.
As for the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant, the low temperature caused the steel roof slabs to shrink in length and break off at the ends where they rested on the walls.
if metal shrinkage was that bad what else ? I'm betting no children were conceived during this period
I live in Canada and the lowest temperature I have ever experienced was -40C... I could not imagine what -60 or -70 would be like. Thanks for the video.
Yeah at that point, your face will slowly/quickly freeze off without a ski mask and eye protection lol
It said -70F, in C that is -56.
the wind is a huge factor
This is such an interesting story; thank you for posting.
I’m so glad you liked it!
I was raised in Australia, and find the British weather difficult enough. But the mind boggles to imagine how people can survive a normal Russian winter, let alone this exceptional freeze in 1978.
Russian winters are undoubtedly worse but the Atlantic wind certainly makes Britain feel a lot colder than it actually is. I live in Turin (Northern Italy) right now but I spent my youth living in London. Despite temperatures being slightly lower here, winters feel much warmer than those in London. In fact, the UK doesn't even get such colder weather at all. It's the wind that makes it unbearable and the man in the video also says that. Not only does the wind strip you of your heat in a way that cold weather doesn't, it also makes it so much easier for cold air to slit through poorly insulated homes
Ask the Canadians! And hurry up before Trump does something stupid to them!
@@DODO-vy6sf Yes indeed. My daughter lives in Alberta, and works for the oil industry. I can't really understand what President Trump is trying to achieve. First of all, I thought that his rhetoric about Canada, and Greenland too, was all bluster. In this day and age, you can't just tread upon and talk about usurping an independent country. I am sure that the proud Canadian people, their Parliament, the entire Commonwealth of Nations, and the British Crown, will beg to differ.
You dress for cold weather, in normal winters, the same as you dress for hot. Winter wear is rated to different cold levels, so you wouldn't wear a coat rated to -10C, if the weather said it would be -30C. You need a layer that breaks the wind, also a wicking layers so that if you get too warm, it will pull the moisture away from your body.
@ I imagine so.
I remember back in Sverdlovsk, they announced on the radio in the morning that due to the extremely low temperature, there was no need to go to school. Naturally, I immediately went for a walk outside to ride the slide. We spent 2 hours outside and I had to go home because my mittens got wet and my hands started to freeze. In our area of the city, there were no problems with heating, so such a cold snap was completely unnoticeable to us.
Enjoyed your story! Saving the student's feet and the animals was noble indeed! I remember the very cold winters in the Midwestern USA from the mid 1970s to the late 1980s with pipe-breaking cold and deep snowfalls. One morning in January of 1982, it was minus 29C with very strong winds. It overwhelmed our old gas furnace. We had to put on our winter coats inside. The cats were all gathered around the heat registers. It was rough, but nothing compared to what you had to go through!
So incredibly interesting! Your channel is a real goldmine!
Hey! Thanks for your kind words. We hope to keep you interested!
@@Soviet-Born Thank you for the amazing footage of old documentary newsreels in excellent quality!
In the winter of 1978-1979 snow was so deep that trains were cancelled and airports closed across Denmark, while the Danish Army was mobilised to rescue trapped families. Thank you from Copenhagen, just subscribed
I've been in -40C in northern Canada and that was literally painful.
I very much appreciate your channel. Very objective, no slant either way, ahh such a relief! I believe Soviet Born will grow large!
Happy to see you’re getting so many views :) proud of you!
Thank You or sharing this riveting story. I can't imagine such a disaster. Such dangerous cold!
1977 and 1978 brought Blizzards, Winds and Very cold sub zero temperatures
to Midwestern and Eastern USA dumping well over a meter and more of snow.
We probably hadn't heard of eachother's scary weather!
We were cut off from the outside world back then, so we had no idea about such freezing temperatures in your areas. It’s really interesting to read the comments and learn about it now. Thank you so much for the kind words and for sharing the story. Julie.
Coldest I’ve personally experienced is -46 F, S. Colton, NY, 1981. Fortunately, I lived in a rural home heated by wood stoves. Some of the barn cats we let in the kitchen where it was warmest. I went out in it for about half an hour. I was wearing multiple layers topped by two boiled wool coats. Once away from the shelter of the house, the wind cut through the normally impervious wraps.
Thanks for the interesting story! It’s amazing that a place like that could have such low temperatures.
"Cold! If the thermometer had been an inch longer we'd all have frozen to death."
- Mark Twain
Well, I just Googled Boiled Wool and learned something. Thank you.
-58 for me logging in northern Maine. Painfully cold.
@@csboatworks1362 I call that 3 Adam's Apples weather. Get it?
In Sweden we also had a cold snapp dec 1978 - jan 1979. -48,9C in Hemavan!
Interesting. 1978 winter in Poland was not only very cold, but also exceptionally snowy. Blizzards and strong winds formed huge snowdrifts that paralyzed transport in whole country.
Thank for taking the time to translate and record in English! Thank you, thank you! 🙏🏼
I'm very happy this video was recommended to me, for now I get to watch all of your previous videos too! Really interesting and well-made little documentaries that give an insight that no news channel could ever offer. I look forward to your future videos popping into my inbox! 👍✌️
Thank you so much for your high praise of our video! It really means a lot to us. - Julie
In Southern California in that year, 1978, we had a bad winter too. it was 0 degrees celsius, for several days. Complete panic and a shutdown of major services like Golf Courses took place.
Thanks for sharing your story. The winter of 1978 was brutal everywhere.
I can’t begin to imagine day to day living in those conditions! Heartwarming to hear how people looked out for each other - and Animals💫❤️! The warning of Alcohol is so important - it’s a ‘Myth’ that it warms you - it actually lowers body temperature! Thank you so much, Julie, for your sharing and honesty 🤩💋
Every winter, year after year, we lose many people to alcohol. You’re right-it doesn’t help you warm up; it just dulls sensitivity. And that’s really dangerous. But these are the natural conditions we live in. This is our homeland, and we don’t get to choose it. Thanks for your comment, Julie.
@@Soviet-Born Alcohol reduces the viscosity of blood, making it flow easier and faster, hence the red noses and cheeks. You get the feeling of being warmer because of the accelerated flow. But more blood in the body extremities - the top layers of skin makes it actually cool the body faster working similar to sweating. Add the drunk's courage and you get dead people in the cold. Unfortunately as long as people drink too much we will continue to see these cases.
What an interesting TH-cam channel, people always have a nostalgia of what things would like in the Soviet Union being that it was so closed off.
Great video. Thanks for posting. I had no idea what Russia and Siberia were going through. Appreciate learning about this history. That winter we had snow flurries in Central and South Florida.
-40 in Churchill, Manitoba, with wind coming off of Hudson Bay making it feel like -60. We were trying to load railcars with fertilizer to clear out the warehouse. The gear oil on some of the equipment was like toffee. We would get the truck started and run a duct hose from its exhaust to the engine of our loader we used as a fork lift to warm it enough to start, and then from the truck to the conveyor to warm that up enough to get it started. We had to give up though because the bags of urea (from Veliky Novgorod) were frozen fairly solid and required a lot of effort to break up so the conveyor could move them into the hopper rail cars.
Also experienced -40 on a clear, sunny, windless day, with almost no humidity, where you could hear your breathe freeze.
Was in 88 below,44 and howling wind. You could spit and it would shatter into dust when it hit. Was in boot camp of service in 85. We wore towels in our clothes and slept in groups with racks pushed together. 3 days
INterestingly even parts of the US suffered a colder and wetter than normal winter. It was not as severe as Russia and northern Europe but I recall as a kid we had some big snowstorms and cold days.
In Illinois we got down to -33c, and our church's water pipes froze and burst, and we still had to go to church, adding to the suffering. lol I can't imagine what this would have been like in large apartment buildings without wood heat to keep from freezing. We could have helped each other, even in some small way, but our governments kept us separated.
That Winter especially was a long, cold one. 1977-78 Winter, I remember well, to this very day
We just had -45 degress celcius yesterdayl, it actually warmed a bit up today it is -37 this morning. Blessings from BC, Canada 🇨🇦
Lol I felt the same like wtf.. I remember 2012 in winnipeg we had -51 and I actually went for a 5 min walk tho I felt the brutal Cole on my feet soon .. I live in toronto now but I miss winnipeg winters..
@kerrygurban8306 we never had this kind of weather until a few years ago, -35 was our usual. It has been exceeding every year to colder temperatures.
Where in BC? Even cold here in Vancouver, at negative 8 lol!
Here we think -10° is too much
@@de_niall we are an hour from Grande Prairie, Alberta.
That man got his lemonade!!
I live in Ohio USA ..1978 was the year we had the coldest winter on record and a severe blizzard. Many people were stranded in cars and several died. The Ohio river is 10 meters deep, the river here froze solid.. It was a crazy winter.
Thank you for your story. It’s a real discovery for us that we weren’t the only ones who went through such a tough challenge this winter. You had it really hard too.
Thank you for this incredibly interesting video. I'd never heard of this before.
Super interesting video. The time after Christmas and especially the turn of the year 78/79 was also legendary in Germany. Meteorologists still talk about it today. An extreme air mass boundary moved from the north-east to the south-west. This was accompanied by heavy storms, massive snowfall and snowdrifts and a drop in temperature of 30 Kelvin. Here in Hesse, we had around 40 cm of snow on New Year's morning. In northern Germany it was considerably more, with drifts of 3 meters in height. The nights remained cold for a long time with temperatures ranging from -15°C to below -20°C. This weather situation was repeated again in February 1979. I can still remember it quite well, even though I was only six. It was nothing like the conditions in Russia, but for a country that rarely experiences such conditions, it was a challenge. The damage amounted to many millions of West Marks.
I remember it very well. In the Urals wa had -50 C on the 31 of December!
After years as a professional motorcycle rider, it is extremely easy to get hypothermia. One doesn't notice the extremities freezing because of course, they are entirely numb and literally vwtarting to die.
Wind chill must be noted, rain will do the same thing ... I know on a motorcycle at 50 mph, on any day the movement alone will drop the temperature you feel by a minimum of 6 Celsius... Rain will drop it by 10 Celsius ... So on an average winters day of 8 Celsius, one is riding in -2 Celsius. So take note.
So true mate! I used to ride a bicycle all year round and thought i knew all about dressing for winter but got hypothermia symptoms a few times after getting a motorcycle again.
I grew up in the American embassy in Moscow 1962 to 1964 and again as a college student in the summers of 1971 and 1972. Both times, there was a winter drought that extended into the summer. The wheat crop failed. Bread stores that were usually full of delightful selections were only able to offer a basic loaf of bread. Lines formed for people to get basic food. Farmers had to slaughter cattle because there was nothing to feed them. U.S. president Nixon was able to offer American grain in exchange for peace talks over Vietnam. I have not been able to find information on this here in the United States. I think it would be a good topic for another video. Also, during the seventies, the peat bogs around Moscow caught on fire after drying out. Moscow was covered in a thick smoke that made breathing difficult. I remember not being able to see very far due to the smoke. The army was called out and used explosives that ended the fires.
I remember those fires in Moscow. It felt like they were unstoppable. A lot of people suffered back then. Thanks for sharing your story and for suggesting this topic. We were planning to cover it in the future and hope it will be interesting!
Where I grew up on the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border, we has some wicked winters in the late 1970s-early 80s. Our worst was one winter before, 1977-8. One snowstorm (and ice storms) after another. On February 6-7th the great New England Blizzard of 78 hit. It was a fierce storm, with hurricane-force winds and up to 50 inches (130 centimeters) of snow, with drifts 15+feet (5+meters). Fun for my 8 year old self, at least.
The winter of 78-79 was a bit milder compared to the others. It was extremely wet, however. Most of the storms would start as heavy snow, then change to pounding rain, warm temperatures, and flooding. Several would end with high winds and sudden bitter cold. Frozen slush. Frozen slush everywhere.
In 1982, after a nasty April blizzard, my parénts had enough and moved to Florida.
Lived in Miami for 34 years. No freezing weather since I got here. Most winters fail to drop below 50 degrees (10 Celsius) Its been in the 80s (30C) the last 8 days.
Fine with me!
Thanks for posting. Excellent video!
been in -40 in 1997, its a bit chilly! I do remember snowmobiling in -20 all day and that was cold, but 0 felt fantastic, of course i am in F.
That year, 1978, I was an 18 year old senior in high school here in Ohio. We didn't have it as cold as in Russia but we did have catostrophic snowfall. Some snow drifts were higher than telephone poles Some lives were lost from cars being totally buried under snow with many power outages because of collapsed power lines. The lady in this video appears to be about 10 years younger than myself and told the story wonderfully, and I'm glad she survived.
Vielen Dank für diese sehr interessante und im Westen wohl ziemlich unbekannte Geschichte!
We share true stories, and most of them are usually unknown. Thanks for your comment!
Dude got his lemonade hell yeah! 7:33
Great video
I remember the brutal cold of late 76 and early 77. The 78 snow was unbelievable. Couldn’t get out of the house. Had to jump out the winter.
Fascinating video. Thank you.
Excellent presentation…many thanks
Im 60 i remember that im in ky we had blizzards 78 and 79
Thanks for the knowledge and video. We had 4 foot of snow on the 3 we had. I hear of tragedies that happened all over the world that was never really brought to light.These young people couldn't live how we did! God Bless
Thankyou for this video.
Thankyou for sharing xxx
I am freezing just listening to this! I can't even imagine all of this
Very interesting video. Thank you
I've never been to anywhere truly cold, but last year I went in February to Fafe's mountains to watch a rally stage. Temperatures had to be around 0⁰C, but the wind... I've never experienced anything like it; despite heavy rain frozing in your face, you had to use your umbrella as a wind shield and tuck all your body behind it, because there was no other way to keep that wind from blowing any warmth off you. You don't believe these horror stories from freezes and cold until you experience some tiny bit of "true" cold. Couldn't believe what was to be -30⁰C and wind cutting through anything you could bring up.
Great video, thanks! I always wondered just how cold it can get there!
I remember that winter.
It seems the 1970s had really cold winters. I don't think we're gonna see that kind of cold weather for a long time tho
2009 was hell for me and it was freezing cold in South Florida every single day of the winter. I'll never forget it and still don't understand exactly why it was so cold. Haven't had a winter like it since thank god.
Hello Yulya, I remember the temperature drop here in Czechoslovakia, too. I was a little girl. My lips were burning while staying outside, although covered by a scarf. I am sending many greetings.
Thank you so much for the warm welcome and the interesting comment! I’m really surprised by how harsh the cold was that winter and how many countries it affected. I think this will be a real eye-opener for many.
Fascinating and terrifying. You have another subscriber
Such a well done and very interesting video. Congrats and i wish you all the success with your channel. All the best from terrible weather (i thought) germany ❤
Thank you for this most interesting story. How brave people were back then.
I live in Denver, Colorado and temperatures recently dipped to -20F here and i thought THAT was bad, i got minor frost burns trying to get my old rig going, i finally got it running but my air brakes were frozen on my trailer, I gave up and went home when i noticed what was happening to my hands.
you need your hands
Thank you for sharing these things with others, and Maine USA says to say hello for it. Your land has suffered many things and survived. May peace arrive soon also, that in itself is survival. May important equipment be safe from weather's effects. May brave men and women not be needlessly called into hazardous duty. Weather extremes can be brutal. Having climate change from normal-day living can become fretful. May we find ourselves in a stretch of weather that finally actually likes us! I knew extreme cold before. I live here in Maine where it gets very cold, sub zero and single digits, but the worse I had was when I lived in Milwaukee. The horizontal-blowing granular snow off the lake tried to strip my skin off in -20 degree cold with a -70 wind-chill. Then there was a time when I was hitchhiking just outside of Cheyanne, Wyoming and a sudden unexpected blizzard caught me off guard in only a light jacket while walking down the interstate. I hunkered down and got covered in snow within seconds. I'd stick out my thumb as rare semi trucks slowly rolled by me in the whiteout, shaking heavy snow off me right as they got to me, but several hadn't seen me. It took about 15 long minutes before a trucker pulled over and picked me up. He told me "I thought I saw an arm waving there on the side of the road, but I wasn't sure!" I couldn't answer him with a single syllable for around 10 minutes. All I could do was to shiver. I swear I felt myself trying to freeze solid while I was out there, so much so that I had resigned myself to soon die.
Wow! Fascinating stuff
I like this story a lot. I were have a good stock of vodka 😊
What an interesting story about a horrid affair for those concerned. Thank you for relating this story to us.
Going for a long walk in -50 temperatures for a nice cold bottle of lemonade is pretty hard core. People who can thrive in those conditions are very impressive.
Probably an alcoholic tbh, Who the hell craves lemonade that badly?? In Russia too? Sus LMFAO
I remember living the south of the UK by the sea in 1978 and it was the coldest time I have ever known. We had 2 metre snow drifts and the streets turned to ice so you could not walk down the hills to get to the shops.
Thanks for the interesting story! This year is one many people will remember for a lifetime.
Very interesting video. God bless from Philadelphia, PA, USA.
E-G-E-L-E-S
The people of Russia are beyond amazing. 🥲
Thank you very much for this Video 😊Very educating. I am getting me a hit tea😊
Oooh it's always a good day with a SB video and Julie!
I grew up in Oklahoma, USA and we had a bad ice storm and Siberian cold air came behind the ice. -32F was the coldest it got and oh, it cut through you like knives! We were so thankful we kept power, the city had just buried the electric lines in the neighborhood. That's when I realized I couldn't be Russian or Canadian, frozen teeth is my line in the sand
I'm Canadian and we are experiencing one of our warmest winters in decades, and maybe ever. I'm almost, 60 now, and I cannot remember another winter where it was this warm, this late in the winter. First day of February now, and my computer is telling me it is 0 degrees Celsius out, when it would normally, be -15 or colder.
I can imagine how shocked you were by that weather! When tourists from warm countries visited us, even our mildest weather felt like a challenge to them. I hope you won’t have to go through that again!
We were in the great lakes area of ussa; the snow stayed on the ground until i think it was May 1st. In other words the four foot pack was on the ground from January all the way through May. Did not melt 4 months straight. We dug into the snow to make tunnels as kids. You could see a few inches of the neighbors chain link fence on the very top.
Very interesting. The winter of 1978/79 is well remembered to this day in Czechia as well. It was unusually warm on December 31st (more than +10°C) and then suddenly, within 6 hours, the temperatures dropped by 30 degrees to -20°C. Like days before in East Germany, the wet coal stored in the open air frozed and was essentially unusable. The power supply crisis lasted for weeks. One of the measures, somewhat fondly remembered by many, were the school "coal" holidays that eventually lasted until the end of January 1979.
I was in -30 F with no wind. Little ice crystals floated around. I felt like I was at the bottom of the sea. Took off my gloves and they felt burning and started turning red.
I drove a motorcycle through a desert at 122 F. I was on the edge of losing control of my mind...good times.
I heard about US and N. Korean troops flash freezing in position during the war. A strong cold wind would blow and the men would freeze sitting up, faces forward. I've seen pictures of animals that froze standing up.
I remember it being crazy cold here in the U.S. in 1978. Truly memorable! 🇺🇸
It was similar in Poland, buses were running 24/7 to keep them warm, schools were closed for 2 weeks, rail was inoperable due to frozen switches, rail tracks bent, no food, but people helped each other.
Nobody asked u. This isn't about America so for once could u plz not shoehorn it in.
I live in Canada 🇨🇦
I worked in -30 all day today. Sometimes it’s -40, one year it was -50 and my family only had a wood stove which was very comfortable.
Thank you 🇬🇧
I lived through this growing up in Pittsburgh PA USA. It didn't as cold as in the Soviet Union still it was 2 weeks before we recovered!
May God Bless the Russians! From an American friend in Maine!
Praise Putin ❤
Боже, благослови Америку!
Да здравствует Trump!
WTF they support War and blatten atrocities that even the best propaganda cannot cover up. wtf u talking about. God Bless Russians sure why not
When "freezing cold" is a huge understatement.
Minus 58 and no Snow?. that is really as close to the Snow Globe select or the Ice Age we came close to.
The last part about Winters feeling warmer is so real and it's disappointing to see people who even deny it. My two favourite subjects in school were history and geography so I've spent a lot of time studying atmospheric science and interpreting data purely as a hobby.
Europe has always been mild but we certainly used to see more snow. I remember reading about the Battle of the Bulge, where around Christmas time in 1944, a major battle took place in Belgium. Snowy weather and low temperatures stayed for the entire month long battle. Growing up in neighbouring England, such weather is unheard of in Western Europe today. I myself am quite young but I've talked with elderly people from my hometown in Southern Italy and all of them distinctly remember colder snowier Winters. Even in Summer, they would need jackets during the evening but not anymore.
Not only that but there is also very clear practical data that shows climate change. Kyoto (Japan) has written records of the cherry blossoms blooming every year since the 800s AD. The latest bloom was in 1323 on May 5th. The earliest bloom was in 2023 on March 24th, with charts clearly showing earlier trends every decade from 1900 onward. Not only that but in 150 years of records, Mount Fuji has been snowless for the longest period ever in 2024. Japan is the snowiest country in the world and has many more climate records than most other countries. Kitanomaru Park's records from 1991 to 2020 show a 2 degree Celsius increase from the records of 1876 and 1905. Mind you that this is an area of Tokyo that is pretty much just as surrounded by concrete now as it was back then. Many of the snowy cities of Japan saw a reduction in snowfall from the records of 1981-2010 to the records of 1991-2020. Toyama, for example, saw a reduction of snowfall from 327cm to 262cm. The reason Japan gets snowfall in the first place is because of cold winds from Siberia. In other words, if it's warm in Russia, it's automatically warm in Japan as well. I mentioned Toyama because, other than being a city I really like, I remember seeing videos of great snowfall in 2021 and being intrigued, by how much snowfall the region can get in such a short amount of time. This was, however, a big contrast to the Winter of 2019-2020, which saw 34cm of snow and has been the least snowy Winter in the city since 1953. There is so much scientifical proof to show that climate change and an overall global warming have gone hand in hand with industrialisation and population growth yet the denial is so massive.
If anybody wants the official sources for Toyama and Tokyo, here they are:
www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/view/monthly_s3.php?prec_no=55&block_no=47607&year=&month=&day=&view=p6
www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/view/monthly_s3_en.php?block_no=47662&view=1
Guess which country is directly downwind of China's enormous emissions?? It's Japan. This is not 'proof', my friend. Countries west of those emissions, eg Mongolia, show no real change in temperature. I'm a 'denier' as you unfailing label those who disagree with you: it's worth looking at the real evidence. Anyway - natural emissions are 70x those of human emissions.
It also depends on the region. According to temperature data, my country, the Netherlands, is heating at about 2.5 to 3x the global average rate. We used to be able to ice skate on the lakes in winter when I was young. My parents told me about winters where the sea would freeze.
In the past ten years we have had one week where the lakes were frozen enough to walk on. It has frozen one day so far this winter and only a little bit.
Summer temperatures also increased, we used to rarely get 30 degrees for a few days and 2 or 3 years ago the temperatures reached 40 for the first time ever in some places. People have started installing air conditioning units in their homes.
Scotland had a brutal Winter to in 1978 I remember it vividly.
The same year that New England had it's infamous Blizzard of '78
Thanks for your comment! I didn’t know that happened that year.
1978 was a cold year in new england. We had a famous blizzard, but nothing like this!
This is an amazing story, thank you. It is reported in climate science journals atmospheric nuclear weapons testing was capable of a climatic impuse-response on this scale (measured in decades, not days). Floods and droughts also likely resulted, adding to the reasons testing was ceased. This is aka the 'nuclear winter' phenomenon.
Interesting guess. We’ll never know the real cause of this disaster-just like so many other things. That’s really unfortunate. Thanks for the very interesting comment!
@@Soviet-Born yes I can only speculate, but scientists warned about these risks.
We had record snowfall in Texas in December 1978, probably 6 or 8 feet of snow. We never get that much snow.
This whole discussion definitely made me think of the early War years in the Soviet Union where they had the coldest year that they had had in like a hundred years. I copied this from Google so that everyone could see it.
"During World War II, the coldest year in Russia was 1941-1942; the winter of this period is widely considered the most severe in the 20th century for Europe, with extreme cold temperatures significantly impacting the Eastern Front battles, particularly affecting the unprepared German troops."🎉
Live in New England and I've always heard about "the blizzard of 78" from the previous genration and how bad it was. Realizing now with this video that it was a world wide event that happened that year
Many still remember the “Blizzard of 1978” in Massachusetts, which is all the way in North America. Thousands abandoned their cars on the side of the highways.
2002 timber cruising in Manigotagan, Manitoba my vertex read -52C and while coring a tree my increment borer shattered into a million tiny fragments
I was 2 in central Ohio, we had a horrible blizzard. I was too young to remember that, but I do remember my mom telling me she put up a mattress against our side door to keep the cold out
I’ve saw -52c in LaGlace, Alberta back in the late 1990s. Was on the volunteer fire dept and we got called out. Basically watched the house burn as the pump froze before we got there.
We had massive dumps of snow in my part of Ontario, Canada in the 70's. It was easy to build a snow fort practically anywhere!
When the sun had a SLIGHT change in output we had what was called 'The Little Ice Age' where the River Thames froze over and there were Fairs and Markets held on it. This lasted for about 100 years. Another one of those would sort out Global Yawning.
Wow! Just wow..... You are an excellent storyteller! Thank you so much for adhering to the historical truth!
We know that, unfortunately, one of the tactics of the Soviet leadership to create an attractive image of a "successful state" was to hush up real Soviet problems, and even serious catastrophes that happened in the union. Many first responders who fought against the consequences of catastrophes in the USSR were forced to sign documents on secrecy so that none of their fellow citizens and, God forbid, foreigners, would know about the regular crashes of Soviet trains, planes, and about the frequent major accidents at factories and plants.
You’re absolutely right. So much was kept hidden in the USSR to maintain the image of total prosperity. We’ll never know the names of the real heroes. We’ll do our best to shed light on the unknown but truly important events of that time. Thanks for your comment, Julie!
Those winters of 1977/1978 and 1978/1979 were extraordinarily cold in the United States as well. A great migration to the Sunbelt States began in those years as people and companies left Chicago, Northern Ohio, and Upstate New York. Even places as far south as Atlanta has some days in the single digits.
Hello! Thanks for a very interesting comment. That was an incredibly cold period-I hope it never happens again.
How heartwarming how people helped others and animals. Maybe we need more hardship, as we have become so self centered in the last 20y. Thanks for all the people's stories. Blessings!
Anyone else a bit suspicious of what exactly was in that bottle of "lemonade?" Boy had some serious dedication to get that drink!
Hi! Soviet lemonade was really good quality. Back then, it was the tastiest and the only drink for kids. Thanks for your comment!
me, a south east asian, bundled up with blankets while working because 23 degree celsius is too damn cold. how do people survive out there in negative 50 is just unbelievable.
Humidity. Usually when it’s cold it’s dry. In Ireland we reach 100% humidity in the summers and we also have a lot of wind - so summer days feel as cold as the coldest winter days, while in winter it’s either mild and wet or cold and dry. Which unfortunately means when it’s cold it doesn’t snow most of the time. We haven’t had proper snow since 2021 i think. Very sad.
Last year the highest temperature where i live was 24 degrees celsius. I was dying.