RUSSIA: Unseasonably warm temperatures in Siberia hamper construction of a festive ice city in Novisibirsk.

Unseasonably warm temperatures in Siberia have hampered efforts to build a festive season ice city in the centre of Novosibirsk, the region's largest city. Over the past week, workers have found themselves battling the elements --- warm winds and temperatures that hover around zero Celsius --- in order to erect walls made of ice blocks, as well as elegant sculptures of people, animals and various fanciful items. "Temperatures around zero [Celsius] are not that much of a problem,'' said Sergei Masharov, director of the group building the ice city. "The most important thing is that it doesn't rain, like we had yesterday.'' The relatively warm weather forces them to work by night, when it's coldest. During the day, the ice sculptures that have already been finished, must be covered by plastic to prevent them from melting. "Warm wind creates the same problem; warm wind erodes the sculptures,'' said Sergei Masharov. "The walls were packed tightly, but look at how the wind has already eaten away at the crevices. We have to pack them again.'' Novosibirsk's ice city is an annual event, and it totals about 3,000 square metres. On display are several dozen sculptures that range from one metre in height to 15-metres high. There is also a 4-metre high ice slide for children. But all that is now under threat from the warm weather, and workers struggle to complete the ice city before the official opening on January "Since the temperature hasn't been below freezing, the water doesn't freeze; and we need water to glue the pieces together,'' said Alexei Yuzhakov, an ice sculptor. Usually at this time of year, temperatures are around minus 20 Celsius, if not colder. Last winter, temperatures plunged to minus 50, one of the coldest on record. Building the ice city a year ago was certainly an easy task. Now, it's much more difficult. "There's strong winds coming off the river, and they damage the pieces,'' said Vladimir Kudymov, an ice sculptor. "There was a strong wind. Some things fell over. So, we just made them again.'' Weather forecasters, however, offer some good news for the New Year holidays. Temperatures this weekend are expected to plunge to minus 12 Celsius during the night, and barely make it above minus 5 Celsius during the day. If that forecast comes true, then Siberians can be sure they will enjoy the city of ice for the New Year. MOS/JRC

ITN Source | December 29, 2006

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