Eastern European Cold Winter 1941-42 (snow, warm, records, temperatures)
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The Russian cold in early 1942 is often credited for halting the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Was curious how cold it was really and found this paper
it appears to be a pattern of frequent blocking / upper-level lows [popularly called in recent press as the Polar Vortex]. A ridge was stuck over the eastern Atlantic, a trough over Russia. Vaguely similar to the Feb 2015 North American winter pattern of stuck western US ridge, trough and frequent "arctic blasts" over the Northeast US. Center of the cold air mass appeared to be at about Estonia. On January 25, 1942 above Kalingrad, 700 hPa temperatures were -37°C.
Appears to among the few times that 850 hPa temperatures over Europe were below -28°C:
it has a table of morning temperatures for Moscow and Leningrad. Leningrad looks cold but not too extreme. Moscow had a week of brutal sub -30°C mornings.
what do the Ec columns refer to? from their included chart, Leningrad had the same low [maybe like 0.3°C warmer] than Helsinki that month. Amherst, MA in Feb 2015 was almost as cold; average min -18.9°C which is why I keep bringing it up. Average max was much warmer; -3.9°C.
By average min, Feb 2015 was the cold month on record for Amherst; official station records go back to 1893. There's unofficial data for 50 years prior but it's harder to access.
I was little in january 1987 but that was my first winter in Lyon and I seem to remember a lot of snow when going to school. The few following winters were kinda disappointing in comparison.
Dont know where to put this but it just came up in my feed. Cool history and image. Had to check map. Looks like Antwerp is a big city in Belgium and the Schelde is a river near there.
Imagine having weather stations everywhere back in 1590. How awesome would it be to look at daily and monthly data from then.
The weather affected both sides that year. The Germans more so because they were unprepared for it. There were instances of German vehicles getting stuck in the mud and freezing fast during the night. They were often abandoned in place for long periods of time. German weapons used Petroleum based lubricants, Soviets used organic oils for their weapons. The recoil absorbers for German guns would become so thick that if not kept warm it would destroy itself when fired. Shells would freeze in the breeches of the German tanks guns.
Russians soldati suffered but not nearly as much as the German Landser. Russians knew how to prevent frostbite, they knew how to eat for the weather. The German doctors were wondering why they were feeding their soldiers but they were slowly starving to death anyway. German rations didn't have enough calories where Russians ate all the fats they could get. They'd also eat just about anything they found. Literally.
Russians knew how to build bunkers and hidey holes in the sheltered forests that could protect from the worst weather conditions where Germans tended to gravitate to more familiar villages and homes. Not to say the Russians preferred a hole in the woods because a house in a village was something worth fighting for to them too.
At the battles around Moscow the weather had taken a toll on the Germans moreso than the Soviets. Had the Sovs not been so downright incompetent to begin with it would have never gotten as far as it did though. Poor planning by the Germans, the cussedness of you average Russian soldier and weather are largely what saved Moscow.
Last edited by Nino Bellov; 12-16-2017 at 09:28 AM..
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