Another nervous shock happened to residents of the Russian capital on April 26, 2012. From the south-west with a strong gusty wind brought a sky-blue, greenish-yellow cloud. To top it off the chilling picture of the painting on the roads, cars, windowsills and balconies, a fine dusty substance of green color began to settle. For a long time after the event, the Internet was full of frightened records on the theme "green cloud, moscow" in blogs and social networks. All this was flavored with impressive photos. Indeed, images from the scene look frightening and even mystical, so it's not surprising the people's violent reaction to the green cloud that covered Moscow that day.
Immediately, many explanations for what was happening were invented. Most versions provided for a conspiracy of the authorities to hide from people some kind of man-made disaster. They wrote different things: the chemical plant in Podolsk exploded (the cities of Kaluga and Chekhov were also mentioned); There was a fire and an ejection at the glue production plant; A toxic mixture is sprayed from helicopters. Some even tried to tie a strange green cloud with the coming apocalypse (pessimistic predictions predicted it at the end of 2012). Panic moods then succumbed to a lot of residents of Moscow and the Moscow region. Passions were warmed up also by workers of some educational institutions and kindergartens, having told to children about explosion on Podolsk chemical plant and having dismissed them on houses.
Fortunately, the next day the situation cleared up. EMERCOM of Russia and the Moscow region authorities unanimously denied rumors of harmful man-made emissions. According to the official version, the green cloud above the capital was a suspension of pollen from birches and alders. Trees blossomed at once and pollinated, literally for one night, throwing out of the earrings into the air a huge amount of pollen. According to experts, in taken samples of air the concentration of the substance thrown out by trees significantly exceeded the usual annual volumes (19654 units / m3, when in past years it was fixed 950 units / m3, ie 20 times higher).
Among the sources that confirmed this information were representatives of Rospotrebnadzor, the Ministry for Emergency Situations, the Moscow Department of Nature Management and Environmental Protection, the Moscow State University, the Greenpeace office in Russia and others. Experts agreed that a dense green cloud over the metropolis appeared because of the sharp warming that year. As a result, trees, usually blooming at different times, this time caused such a peculiar natural phenomenon. Light pollen can be raised by wind into the atmosphere to an altitude of 10 km and does not settle on the ground for a long time. This is how the pollen suspension moved from the Moscow birch forests to the capital.
To the joy of Muscovites, harmful chemical emissions in the industrial cities of the Moscow region were not recorded at that time. But pollen also brought problems to many people. After all, in addition to the fear caused by its appearance, it marked a threat to the health of thousands of allergy sufferers and asthmatics. Therefore, both the Ministry of Emergency Measures and doctors advised everyone who is prone to allergic reactions to tree pollen, to take appropriate medications and, if possible, to stay at home for several days until the suspension has settled or rained.
I wonder if we will see the sky in green tones in this and in subsequent years?