Russia's Pacific coast receives warning powerful cyclone coming up.

VLADIVOSTOK, December 30 (Itar-Tass) - An emergency warning about the
passage of a powerful cyclone has been issued to all the territories and
population centers along Russia's Pacific Coast.

Gale, heavy snowfall, blizzards and a sharp fall of air temperatures
are expected in the Primorsky /Maritime/ and Khabarovsk territories, on
the island of Sakhalin, and on the Kurile Islands archipelago that
separates the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean.
The press service of the Far Eastern territorial center of the federal
Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ warned that
the cyclone is expected to produce snow banks and ice condition on
automobile roads in the Primorsky territory, as well as cleavage of snow
to wires at power transmission lines.
On the face of it, air temperatures in the southern parts of the
territory will sink to anomalously low readings - about 7 degrees Celsius
below the usual climatic norm for this period of the year. This will be
the product of a Siberian anticyclone that continues gaining strength.
This kind of weather will reign in the Primorsky territory through to
January 5.
Forecasters say there is a strong possibility of heavy snowfall and
blizzards in the eastern districts of the Khabarovsk territory, in parts
of the Sakhalin region and on the Southern Kurile islands December 31 and
January 1.
Authorities and rescue services in Sakhalin have been warned of high
risks of snow avalanches that may go down hillsides.
EMERCOM experts say an outbreak of emergency situations in not ruled
out in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories and the Sakhalin region.
Also, problems may appear in the functioning of public transport and
ruptures of wires may occur at power transmission lines. The latter may
affect the work of housing services and public utilities.
Emergency situations may break out on ships cruising in littoral areas.
At the time of reporting, however nothing definite was known about any
impact of the cyclone on housing services and public utilities.