The key facts

  • The lawn mowing took place on November 6 at the height of the snowfall, with wind gusts of 24–25 m/s at Koltsovo airport
  • That same day, trees were falling in the city and traffic lights were going out
  • The Yekaterinburg city administration did not respond to the inquiry about the reasons for the work

Mowing in the snow

In Yekaterinburg on November 6, as a powerful cyclone swept over the city, municipal services set about mowing grass along the roads. A resident of an apartment building captured the moment on video from his balcony: the footage shows workers mowing a lawn amid squally wind and snow. This was reported by URA.RU, whose publication is cited by Gazeta.Ru.

What the weather was like in the city

According to the Ural Hydrometeorological Center, a cold section of an active atmospheric front was passing through the city. Wind gusts at Koltsovo airport reached 24–25 meters per second, the temperature dropped from +5 to 0 degrees within minutes, rain turned into snow pellets and then into a full-blown snowfall. At the height of the storm, a thunderstorm broke out in the city. Forecasters warned of black ice and a drop in temperature to −2 degrees.

What remains unclear

The mowing took place on a day when trees were falling in the city and traffic lights were going out in the center. The URA.RU editorial office sent an official inquiry to the Yekaterinburg city administration asking it to explain what happened, but no response had been received by the time of publication. It is therefore unknown whether this was scheduled work that was not canceled due to the weather, or whether the services were operating according to a pre-approved schedule that had not been adjusted to take into account the emergency weather warning. The video raised questions among residents about how rationally resources are being spent and who makes such decisions in extreme weather conditions.