Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East experienced a record-breaking extreme snowstorm in early January 2026, causing significant disruption to daily life.
The unprecedented snowfall in decades transformed the landscape of cities, roads, and countryside in the region, as reported by New York Post.
Advertisement
The regional capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, was one of the worst-hit areas, with snow falling nonstop for four consecutive days.
This forced local authorities to declare a state of emergency and left residents facing extraordinary challenges in carrying out their daily activities.
The snowfall exceeded previous records, creating snowdrifts as high as multi-story buildings and isolating entire neighborhoods on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Unprecedented Snowfall Record in Russia
Since early January 2026, the Kamchatka Peninsula, specifically Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, has received an unprecedented amount of snowfall.
Between January 1 and 16, 2026, the city recorded 163 millimeters of snow, a figure not seen in over 50 years, as reported by Reuters.
The average snow depth in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was about 170 cm, or about 5.6 feet.
However, in some neighborhoods, the snowfall exceeded 2.5 meters, and in certain areas, the snowfall reached up to five meters, or about 16 feet.
This phenomenon completely buried cars and blocked building entrances, with some reports of snow drifts reaching three to four stories high.
This snowstorm was described as the most severe in Kamchatka in 30 years, with snowfall intensity breaking records for the same period.
In fact, by December 2025, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky had received 370 millimeters of snow, more than three times the monthly average.
Meteorologists explained that this storm was caused by a series of successive cyclones hitting the peninsula, as well as the formation of a low-pressure system in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Crippling Impact and Emergency in Kamchatka
The Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city government officially declared a state of emergency on January 15, 2026, in response to the crisis.
Major roads were blocked, leaving entire neighborhoods stranded, and supplies of essentials like bread, milk, and eggs began to run low in some locations.
Schools were closed and public transportation was suspended, disrupting the daily routines of thousands of residents.
Residents were forced to dig their way out of building entrances, and some even had to escape through ground-floor windows due to the sheer depth of the snow.
Private cars were completely buried under the thick layer of snow, further complicating mobility.
Tragically, this disaster also resulted in loss of life, with reports of two people dying in Russia's Far East after being struck by falling snow from roofs.
To address transportation issues, authorities deployed their fleet of vehicles as an emergency taxi service, using high-clearance off-road trucks to assist isolated residents.
Global Extreme Weather Phenomenon
An official from the Kamchatka Krai Department of Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring stated that this extreme snowstorm is extremely rare, with the last such event occurring in the early 1970s.
Responding to this extreme weather phenomenon, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung cited snow conditions in Russia reaching the height of three to four stories of buildings as part of a global extreme weather phenomenon.
Scientists say the weather is linked to a wave of cold air coming from the Arctic, which simultaneously affects Eastern Russia and Asia, and indirectly, Eastern Europe.
“You’ve got these two simultaneous bursts of cool air coming down from the Arctic due to a waviness in the jet stream,” said climate scientist Theodore Keeping, referring to air currents in the upper atmosphere which define weather patterns.
“The Arctic polar vortex, which is this massive cold air which circulates the Arctic is relatively weak right now, and what that means it drives the jet stream less intensely, and that leads to waves of cool air coming down from the Arctic,” Keeping added.