Orange snow in Siberia
Watch out where the huskies go, and don’t you eat that yellow snow. (lyrics, Frank Zappa)
On January 31st, orange snow fell is several remote areas of Western Siberia. Officials said the unusual orange color was caused by the presence of mud and sand common in the Kazakh steppe but posed no health risk (we still wouldn’t eat it). Ecologists like Alexei Yablokov, of Russia’s Green Party and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences blamed oil refineries and fertilizer factories. Locals said the snow had an oily smell. Some tests revealed high levels of metals, including iron.
Source: dpa German Press Agency via The Raw Story.
Now, you might think this is quite unusual but we’re not so sure. Just last year we reported on the pink and yellow snowfalls in Russia. Oily smells were also reported with these.
Pink snowfight
Yellow snow
Pink & yellow snow pics from Mosnews.com
Related Post:
Moscow: Don’t Eat the Pink (or Yellow) Snow.
HMM…I’ve seen pink snow in the mountains that is caused by algae, but never orange or yellow snow. Might be a good idea to send some environmental specialists over there.
Also avoid eating brown snow.
I kept seeing patches of it when I was skiing near rocks one year. Then I saw a kid suicide bombing down the mountain and meet said rocks. He bleed heavily all over the snow, and got a free sleigh ride to the bottom of the mountain.
Next run down…. everywhere he bleed was brown snow.
I never thought about that one Athol. I will now make a point of eating only the purely driven white variety.
speaking of zappa - did you ever hear the story of him being interviewed in the early days by the reporter with a wooden leg? The uptight reporter says to frank - from where I sit, you look like a girl (with that beard?!!). zappa replies - from where i sit, you look like a table!
No I haven’t John but it’s a great one.