Spring is Here, Siberia Already in Flames April 16, 2015

The vision of hell above is part of a developing complex of events in Siberia, consistent with continued anomalous warmth in the region.

With spring barely underway, at least 23 people have been killed thus far in out-of-control wildfires sweeping the Baikal region.

——-

UPDATE:

Moscow Times:

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the federal government would send at least 5 billion rubles ($100 million) to the southern Siberian republic of Khakasia, ravaged by wildfires in recent weeks. “I talked with the governor today. … About 2,400 homes need to be rebuilt. This will require money from the federal budget, about 5 or 6 billion rubles,” Putin said during his annual call-in show, according to the Interfax news agency. Dozens of people have died and about a thousand have sought medical attention because of the fires, linked to small agricultural brushfires that grew out of control amid abnormally dry conditions, according to local authorities.

——–

See NASA’s temp anomaly map for March.

TASS:

MOSCOW, March 2. The outgoing winter, which ended a couple of days ago according to the calendar, has proved the warmest in the history of weather monitoring in Russia conducted since 1891, the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring said on Monday. Over the past winter the average air temperatures in almost all Russian regions were two degrees above the norm as a minimum; on some territories it was even warmer. The past winter proved particularly mild in the Central, Northwest, Siberian and the Far Eastern Federal Districts, where seasonal air temperatures were 4-7 degrees above the norm. The 2014-2015 winter beat a record earlier set by the 1962 winter by 0.5 degrees. The past winter was one of the four warmest winters in Moscow’s history, ranking fourth after almost equally warm winters registered in 1961, 1989 and 2008.

As usual, the media is quick to connect the dots.

USAToday:

Wind-whipped grassland fires set by Russian farmers preparing for spring planting have killed at least 23 people, injured more than 900 and left 5,000 homeless, authorities said Tuesday. The fires swept through nearly 60 villages and destroyed or damaged more than 1,400 homes in the southeastern Siberian region of Khakassia, according to officials cited by Tass, the state-run news agency. Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said 6,000 firefighters, aided by aircraft, had extinguished blazes in 38 villages. Russian President Vladimir Putin personally coordinated the operations, his spokesperson said. Regional Governor Viktor Zimin estimated it would cost $94 million to rebuild. “This fire would not have happened if people were not playing with matches,” Puchkov’s deputy, Alexander Chupriyan, said in a statement. “And it wasn’t children, but adults.”

Perhaps “playing with fire” would be a more appropriate metaphor.