Orange Snow Falling in Russia

the snow falling from the sky was orange. In fact, three regions of southern Siberia — a vast area of industrial towns, pine trees and the odd bear — today reported the same mysterious phenomenon. Not only was the snow not white, it also smelt bad.

Russia's Emergency Ministry planned to fly a chemical laboratory on Thursday to the Omsk region in southern Siberia to analyse oily yellow and orange snow which has covered an area home to 27,000 people.

The snow colored yellow and orange with oily slicks and musty smell was registered not only in Omsk Region but in Tomsk Region as well, a REGNUM correspondent was told today by head of Novosibirsk Center for Pollution Monitoring Viktor Chirkov. According to him, the snow similar to the precipitation in Omsk Region was found in northern areas of Tomsl Region.

Crusading evangelical preacher and age-defying protein pancake salesman Reverend Pat Robertson has warned Russian President Vlad 'The Impaler' Putin that the foul-smelling orange snow falling on the Omsk region of Siberia is God's punishment for poisoning a relatively harmless ex-KGB spook in London last year with a lethal Plutonium-enriched snort of cocaine.

Russia's emergency situations ministry said today it was dispatching experts to a Siberian province to find out why yellow and orange snow has been falling in several villages, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

A Russian laboratory says snow of a near-orange yellow color that fell in the Omsk Region is no more toxic than normal snow. The Omsk Hygiene and Epidemiology Center said an analysis was performed of the unusual precipitation and no unusual toxicity was detected, Itar-Tass reported Friday.

``The yellow and orange markings in the snow are caused by the presence of clay dust and sand, characteristic of the northern regions of neighboring Kazakhstan,'' the ministry later said on its Web site. No health problems have been reported as a result of the snowfall.

Russian authorities stated on Friday that yellow and orange snow that fell in many Siberian villages posed absolutely no health hazards. The cause was not known but officials blamed mud from Kazakhstan and ecologists blaming fertilizer plants.

Yellow, orange and green snow has covered more than 1,500 square kilometres, mainly around the city of Omsk. Experts say the snow has been caused by dust and soils blown in to the atmosphere from neighbouring Kazakhstan and is not toxic.

Russian emergency workers have flown to a Siberian region where smelly, orange-, yellow- and green-colored snow fell earlier this week covering about a 40 square miles, officials said Friday.