Black Snow Is Falling from the Skies in Siberia, and It Is Toxic
By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer | February 15, 2019 03:35pm ET
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Black snow recently fell in Siberia, thanks to pollution from the many coal factories in the region.
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A pall of eerie black snow has covered several towns in the Siberian region of Kuzbass, which is home to 2.6 million people and one of the world's largest coal fields.
According to the Guardian and the Siberian Times, the snow is tainted with toxic black coal dust that was released into the air from open coal pits and improperly maintained factories in the region. One coal plant official told the local media that a shield meant to prevent coal powder from escaping out of the factory had malfunctioned — however, toxic black snowfall seems to be a regular phenomena in the area and it isn’t necessarily tied to a single source. [The Frozen North: Stunning Images of Russia from Above]
"It’s harder to find white snow than black snow during the winter,” Vladimir Slivyak, a member of the non-profit environmental action group Ecodefense, told the Guardian. "There is a lot of coal dust in the air all the time. When snow falls, it just becomes visible. You can’t see it the rest of the year, but it is still there."
Kuzbass (short for Kuznetsk Basin) is one of the largest coalfields in the world, spanning more than 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers), according to Britannica.com. A 2015 report from Ecodefense found that the citizens of Kuzbass have an average life expectancy 3 to 4 years shorter than the Russian national average and have nearly twice the risk of contracting tuberculosis and childhood mental disorders.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/64787-dont-eat-siberian-black-snow.html
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