Ayan a coastal town on the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russia’s Khabarovsk Krai was hit by a powerful snowstorm on 20 May. The event was notable for its timing in May, a month typically marking the transition from winter to spring in the region. Much of the town and a nearby village were buried in snow with the local population expressing surprise at the timing, severity and uniqueness of the storm.
The particularly intense snowfall led to depths of 54 to 81cm accumulating in the town.
May in Ayan typically sees average high temperatures of 4.3°C and lows of 0.2°C with snowfall possible but far above typical expectations. May is known an a wetter month with an average of 71mm falling on average of 8.8 days.
The Sea of Okhotsk is the southernmost in the Northern Hemisphere to freeze seasonally although research has indicated a decline in ice extent by about 9% per decade from 1979 to 2010. The area is influenced by regional cold air masses, low-pressure systems, and potentially by broader climate patterns.
Further understanding of this anomalous event is required to determine whether a decline in the extent of ice in the Sea of Okhotsk has contributed to the development of changing weather patterns.
