Let it snow, let it snow, let it...

OK, so I'm not the only one talking about the snow. It was the top story on "Segodnia 22:00" (the successor program to - although no replacement for - my old favorite "Strana i Mir") tonight, specifically the situation on the Rostov-Moscow highway where traffic is stopped and trucks are backed up for 15 kilometers. Apparently they are going to employ tanks to help clear the road.

And check out this front-page (albeit below the fold) story from today's Moscow Times:

Monday, January 31, 2005. Page 1.
Heaviest Snowfall Ever Hits Moscow By Anatoly Medetsky, Staff Writer

A powerful snowstorm that raged in Moscow on Friday was the heaviest day's snowfall since weather records began, forcing planes to divert away from airports, snarling city traffic and making pedestrians wade through meter-high snowdrifts. [...]

A total of 30 centimeters of snow fell in the city over Thursday through Sunday, Interfax reported, citing the weather bureau. [...]

Roman Vilfand, director of the country's leading meteorological research center, Gidrometcenter, said that such severe snowfalls only take place every 25 or 30 years, Channel One reported Friday.

"It's not up to me to judge if this weather is good or bad, but skiers are happy," Vilfand told NTV television.

The one thing I can't believe is that a 3-day snowfall of 30 centimeters (about 12 inches) is really setting records in Moscow, although I heard on Segodnia that in the past week the amount of snow that's fallen here is actually closer to 70 cm. All I know is that the drifts are piling up, even downtown, even though I hear and see crews working all night to load the snow into dumptrucks and get it out of the city. And it was snowing again today...