Weird weather

Looks like Russia is getting the mirror image of those polar vortexes we get, where it's colder than usual in part of the U.S. while some other parts of the northern hemisphere are colder than usual. Bitterly cold in Russia now while it's very warm here in the Atlanta area in Georgia. High of 71F here on Dec. 31.

Sorry for the victims in this accident, and for those working on the rescue in the bitter cold.

https://www.apnews.com/d523b342343545a0b92db806c0941cf0

Russia: 4 die in building collapse; searchers race weather
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Dec. 31, 2018

Hundreds of rescue workers raced bitterly cold weather in Russia’s Ural Mountains region Monday as they searched for survivors in the hulking concrete blocks from a partially collapsed apartment building where at least four people died.

The nation’s top investigative agency, the Investigative Committee, said an explosion triggered by a gas leak apparently caused the pre-dawn collapse in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk. The New Year’s Eve accident shocked Russians and marred the mood on the nation’s most beloved holiday.

Authorities said five people were hospitalized with injuries and 35 others remained unaccounted for. Russian officials acknowledged that the odds of finding anyone alive in the debris looked increasingly slim given the extreme weather.

Nearly 1,400 rescue workers searched in temperatures of -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit). The overnight forecast called for temperatures to plunge to -24 degrees Celsius (-17 F) overnight.

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Emergency officials deployed powerful heaters to raise temperatures in the wreckage in case anyone trapped there was at risk of dying of hypothermia.

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