The United States meets a true Russian winter that has already begun in some Russian regions in autumn. This time, a snow storm visited the USA ahead of all schedules and forecasts; more precipitations are expected. The weather hit the Great Lakes the most: annual precipitations fell in that region. The state of emergency was declared in the territory of 10 state districts. Last time, such a severe winter was in the 90s of the previous century. The community services work in emergency mode, still they are not able to liquidate all the snowfall consequences. The economic problems arisen from these weather conditions are also grave; in such periods the prices for energy and fuel soar. What is more, the consumer costs decrease and the buyers' activity falls making up considerable financial losses due to the abnormal cold. According to the data of the official statistics, almost 70 pct of $16.8 trillion make up the consumer costs that usually drop because of a bad weather. Let us recall the similar situation in 2010 when the USA was covered by a “snow Armageddon”, and Washington had 142.5cm of snow that caused huge losses for the retailers. However, even the expected worsening of the weather cannot influence the energy prices. Experts are sure that the problems of heating season are no risk for the country's government and no reason for the rise of oil and gas prices. The first shock caused by the cold triggered the growth of prices to 4-5 month high, but it passed quickly; and market returned to the ordinary prices. The region's experts say that the prices will remain low given the fact that the prices for natural gas are bound tightly with the oil prices that tumble down along with the prices for heating oil and unleaded gasoline. Besides, there is an opinion that even a colder weather in the region is already valued in the market prices in the short term, at least.
