MOSCOW — In some places, say New York, the panic over snow often begins as soon as there is a forecast for it. In Russia, where it is a bit more familiar, there is typically no fear, unless the snow on the ground happens to be blue, as it was in Chelyabinsk this week, or orange, as it was earlier this month in Saratov on the Volga River.
In Chelyabinsk, a city on the eastern side of Ural Mountains and known as the gateway to Siberia, the authorities were trying to reassure residents that there was no cause for alarm from the blue snow. However, some people who walked through it complained of sore throats and said they had also detected a sweet taste in their mouths.
It is perhaps understandable that people in Chelyabinsk, which was hit by a meteor in 2013, are a bit apprehensive about strange stuff falling from the sky. The meteor arrived with blinding light, and the accompanying shock wave blew out windows.
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In 2008, three northern regions of Russia experienced yellow snow, also apparently caused by sand, dust and other particles carried by wind from the Mediterranean. At the time, some residents of Arkhangelsk had worried that the yellow particles had come from a new space center, the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, which was under construction in a restricted area nearby.
Alexandra Odynova contributed reporting.
