DM Monitoring
MINSK: Anthropogenic snow has been observed in Minsk. Its origin has been explained by the National Center for Hydrometeorology, Radioactive Pollution Control, and Environmental Monitoring (Belhydromet) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, BelTA has learned.
Residents in some districts of the Belarusian capital could see localized winter-white landscapes in late November and December. Specialists clarified that this type of snow is of anthropogenic, or industrial, origin and may contain pollutants.
“Anthropogenic, or industrial, snow is a winter phenomenon where emissions of water vapor, typically from an industrial source, lead to localized snowfall. This local snow can be observed in cities and towns depending on the amount of excess water vapor and local meteorological conditions, provided suitable anticyclonic conditions are present and near permanent local sources of water vapor and air pollution,” Belhydromet explained.
This phenomenon is usually associated with cold, stable anticyclonic conditions. “Primarily when ground fog, trapped by an inversion layer, does not dissipate and becomes supersaturated with water vapor. Under these conditions, condensation nuclei, which are the finest suspended particles of industrial pollution like dust, soot, and ash, facilitate the formation of ice crystals and the subsequent precipitation of light snow over a limited area of several square kilometers on the leeward side,” the National Center for Hydrometeorology, Radioactive Pollution Control, and Environmental Monitoring said.
As a distinct local meteorological phenomenon, industrial snow has only been recognized in Europe in recent decades.
