Strong Winds Keep Snow Off Lake Baikal

Occurred on December 25, 2022 / Lake Baika, Irkutsk Region, Russia

Info from Licensor: "I walked on the pure ice of Lake Baikal. Suddenly, a strong wind blew, we call it "Sarma." Sarma is a strong squally, directed wind, escaping from the narrow valley of the Sarma River, which is a kind of natural wind tunnel, at the exit of which the wind reaches hurricane speed. Sarma's speed reaches 40 m/s, but can reach up to 60 m/s. The wind can blow continuously for several days, and it can be so strong that it uproots trees, overturns ships, rips off roofs from houses and dumps livestock from the shore into the sea. Residents of the village of Sarma have to tie the roofs of their houses to the ground.

We love strong winds as it frees the beautiful ice from the snow. People from all over the world come to Baikal to look at the ice in February-March, and if there is no Sarma for a long time, then the ice is not visible due to the dense layer of snow.

The wind was just beginning, and before that there was a lull and it was snowing. Snow fell on transparent ice, and when the wind began to blow, the snow began to be blown off the ice in beautiful patterns. I made a video of myself walking next to a crack, and a snowstorm is running across the ice.

We managed to run to the car and leave safely, and in the evening we posted the video on Instagram.