Stepnogorsk (; ) is a town in
Akmola Region
Akmola Region (, ; ) is a centrally located regions of Kazakhstan, region of Kazakhstan. It was known as Tselinograd Oblast during Soviet Union, Soviet rule. Its capital is Kökşetau. The national capital, Astana, is enclosed by the region, but ...
,
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
.
History
Stepnogorsk was established in 1959, and has been a town since 1964. It began as a
closed town
A closed city or town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied.
Historically, the construction of closed cities became increasingly common after the beginning of the Cold War, particularly in the Soviet Union. Since t ...
with code names Tselinograd-25 (), Makinsk-2 (). The town is known as a nuclear and biochemical site,
[Report includes interview with a microbiologist who "ran a huge bioweapons production plant in Stepnogorsk"]
/ref> which was known as the Stepnogorsk Scientific and Technical Institute for Microbiology.
Demographics
As of 2023, the town’s urban population was estimated at 48,343.
Climate
Stepnogorsk has a sharply continental, arid climate. Spring is typically dry and windy, with large swings between high daytime temperatures and below-freezing nights. In summer, mostly cloudless and hot conditions prevail, caused by intense warming of the steppe. A stable snow cover usually forms by mid-November and remains for 130–150 days, with an average depth of around 20–22 cm. Temperatures can drop below −25 °C for 10–14 days each January, occasionally lasting up to 20 days during severe winters. The coldest winter on record was 1976–1977 (down to −44.4 °C with high winds), and the strongest winds—28–34 m/s—occurred in winter 1995. Spring sets in during the second half of March and lasts 1.5–2 months, with daily highs typically reaching 0 °C in early April. The hottest recorded summer occurred in August 2002, when temperatures reached +44 °C. An aurora borealis was observed on 14 and 16 March 1989. According to local meteorological data from 2012–2019 (GISMETEO), the average annual temperature is about +4.6 °C.
References
External links
* (in Russian)
Advertising and Information Portal town Stepnogorsk Kazakhstan
(in Russian)
{{coord, 52, 20, 59, N, 71, 53, 24, E, display=title
Cities and towns in Kazakhstan
Populated places in Akmola Region
Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union
Populated places established in 1959
Weapons test sites
1959 establishments in the Soviet Union