Yuzhno-Kurilsk

{{unreferenced section|date=June 2019}}

The history of Yuzhno-Kurilsk is connected with the history of the Kuril Islands as a whole. In Russia, the Kuril Islands first became known after an expedition by Russian explorer Ivan Moskvitin and his companions, after which another explorer Kolobov in 1646 talked of the Ainus—the indigenous inhabitants of the Kuriles. According to some Japanese sources, Kunashir became known to Russians later than the other islands of the Kuril chain.

After that, the Kuriles, Sakhalin, and Hokkaido were explored and settled both by the Russians and Japanese. By the end of the 18th century, first settlements of Russian exiles and volunteers appeared on the Kuriles. Also, along with Ainu settlements, the islands had a Japanese trading post and fortified settlements with military garrisons. In 1769, Lieutenant Ivan Chyorny was informed that the Japanese on Kunashir had founded a settlement with a fortress and a permanent garrison.

Weakened by the Crimean War, in 1855 Russia signed the Treaty of Shimoda and ceded a part of the South Kuril Islands to Japan, including the island of Kunashir. The Japanese predecessor of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, the village of Furukamappu ({{Nihongo||古釜布|Furukamappu}}), was located in the northeastern corner of the eponymous bay. Furukamappu, with the neighboring villages of Okinokotan and Isoyanbetsu had fifty houses. There was a post office with the telegraph and shops. When the island was administered by Japan (1855–1945), other settlements were founded as well.

Kunashir came back under the Russian rule on September 1, 1945, as a result of the Kuril landing operation. A Platoon of the Machine Gun Battalion of the 113th Infantry Brigade of the 87th Infantry Corps of the 2nd Far Eastern Front landed near Furukamappu. On the shore there was a Japanese battalion commander waiting for them with a white flag in hands. The Japanese garrison surrendered without a fight. On February 2, 1946, the island was included in the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin) Oblast of the USSR, and the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk was founded. The first Yuzhno-Kurilsk City Council and all the services of civil authority were formed from members of the 113th Infantry Brigade. Captain Babukhadiya, an artillery division battery commander, became the first chairman of the regional executive committee.

After World War II, active construction was launched using Soviet military forces. Japanese prisoners of war who were kept on Kunashir in a separate camp were also used for the construction. Japanese prisoners of war were given the same rations as Soviet soldiers. The Japanese wore their uniform with their own insignia, were divided into platoons and companies with their commanders in the lead. They moved around in formation, abided by strict discipline and order according to the statutes of the Japanese army (if it posed no harm to the Soviet side).

According to the decision of the Soviet Government, in the summer of 1947 all the Japanese people were repatriated from the Kuril Islands to Hokkaido, Japan. By that time Kunashir was settled by many immigrants and seasonal workers from various regions of the Soviet Union. Fisheries based on Kunashir and Shikotan began to increase their production output and revenues.

After the 1953 tsunami, many Yuzhno-Kurilsk public facilities had to be rebuilt {{convert|30|m|sp=us}} above the previous level. After the 1994 earthquake in the open sea to the east of the island of Hokkaido, the buildings sustained extensive damage and were rebuilt at a new location.

After a period of uncertainty and decline in the 1990s, largely caused by the fears that the island was going to be ceded to Japan, Yuzhno-Kurilsk gradually began to revive. A Federal Program for the Development of the Kuril Islands involves a significant investment to build a new airport, roads and other facilities on the island.

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Yuzhno-Kurilsk serves as the administrative center of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District and is subordinated to it.Law #25-ZO As a municipal division, the urban-type settlement of Yuzhno-Kurilsk and nine rural localities of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District are incorporated as Yuzhno-Kurilsky Urban Okrug.Law #524

Yuzhno-Kurilsk has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with strong influences from the North Pacific Ocean and Sea of Okhotsk. However, precipitation is much heavier than in most humid-continental climates, owing to the presence of strong onshore winds from the Pacific Ocean. However, these also make the whole Kuril Islands archipelago extremely cloudy, especially in summer, when fog from the cold Oyashio Current produces near-saturation humidity and extremely high cloudiness. However, Yuzhno-Kurilsk itself is less affected than areas like Simushir in the Kuril Islands to the northeast, because it is somewhat shielded from fog by nearby Japan's Shiretoko and Nemuro Peninsulas and actually receives more sunshine than Wakkanai and only marginally less than Sapporo. In Yuzhno-Kurilsk, with powerful oceanic and marine influences (producing strong seasonal lag), average monthly temperatures are lowest in February, and highest in August, but warmer in September than July, suggesting the year's highest average temperatures occur in late August – exceptionally late in the year, relative to the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. Average monthly precipitation is lowest in February, and highest in September – the latter resulting in part from tropical weather systems, including former typhoons approaching from over or near Japan to the southwest, and bringing high winds and heavy rains.

Maritime influences are also reflected in summer temperatures here being much lower than in comparable latitudes in the interior of Asia; for example, the warmest month at Yuzhno-Kurilsk is {{convert|5|C-change}} cooler than at Vladivostok and {{convert|9|C-change}} cooler than in Harbin. Due to its less cold winters, these differences even out during the course of the year, but Yuzhno-Kurilsk has a {{convert|10|C-change}} colder climate annually than Genoa, Italy, on the exact same latitude.

In winter, Yuzhno-Kurilsk lies in a sharp transition zone between pulses of frigid air from the Siberian High centered over northeastern Russia during winter, and the much milder (but still chilly), wet and stormy Aleutian Low over the North Pacific Ocean to the east and northeast. In summer, clouds, fog and cooling influence from the Sea of Okhotsk and Oyashio Current predominate. Combined over the year, these features produce an exceptionally cold climate for a marine area for this near 44 degrees north-latitude location.

{{Weather box

|location = Yuzhno-Kurilsk (1991–2020, extremes 1947–present)

|single line = yes

|metric first = yes

|Jan record high C = 8.5

|Feb record high C = 9.7

|Mar record high C = 12.7

|Apr record high C = 19.9

|May record high C = 26.1

|Jun record high C = 29.0

|Jul record high C = 30.4

|Aug record high C = 30.5

|Sep record high C = 27.3

|Oct record high C = 22.4

|Nov record high C = 18.2

|Dec record high C = 13.3

|year record high C = 30.5

|Jan high C = -1.5

|Feb high C = -2.2

|Mar high C = 0.7

|Apr high C = 5.1

|May high C = 9.0

|Jun high C = 11.6

|Jul high C = 15.5

|Aug high C = 18.3

|Sep high C = 17.8

|Oct high C = 13.6

|Nov high C = 7.6

|Dec high C = 1.4

|year high C = 8.1

|Jan mean C = -3.9

|Feb mean C = -4.9

|Mar mean C = -2.0

|Apr mean C = 1.9

|May mean C = 5.5

|Jun mean C = 8.9

|Jul mean C = 12.9

|Aug mean C = 15.9

|Sep mean C = 15.4

|Oct mean C = 11.1

|Nov mean C = 4.9

|Dec mean C = -1.0

|year mean C = 5.4

|Jan low C = -6.0

|Feb low C = -7.3

|Mar low C = -4.3

|Apr low C = -0.4

|May low C = 3.2

|Jun low C = 7.1

|Jul low C = 11.2

|Aug low C = 14.2

|Sep low C = 13.4

|Oct low C = 8.5

|Nov low C = 2.2

|Dec low C = -3.2

|year low C = 3.2

|Jan record low C = -16.5

|Feb record low C = -20.3

|Mar record low C = -18.0

|Apr record low C = -9.4

|May record low C = -3.1

|Jun record low C = 0.3

|Jul record low C = 2.8

|Aug record low C = 7.0

|Sep record low C = 4.3

|Oct record low C = -3.5

|Nov record low C = -7.6

|Dec record low C = -13.6

|year record low C = -20.3

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 60

|Feb precipitation mm = 45

|Mar precipitation mm = 69

|Apr precipitation mm = 89

|May precipitation mm = 124

|Jun precipitation mm = 117

|Jul precipitation mm = 134

|Aug precipitation mm = 166

|Sep precipitation mm = 179

|Oct precipitation mm = 131

|Nov precipitation mm = 104

|Dec precipitation mm = 83

|year precipitation mm = 1301

|Jan snow depth cm = 12

|Feb snow depth cm = 19

|Mar snow depth cm = 17

|Apr snow depth cm = 3

|May snow depth cm = 0

|Jun snow depth cm = 0

|Jul snow depth cm = 0

|Aug snow depth cm = 0

|Sep snow depth cm = 0

|Oct snow depth cm = 0

|Nov snow depth cm = 1

|Dec snow depth cm = 6

|year snow depth cm = 19

|Jan humidity = 73

|Feb humidity = 74

|Mar humidity = 77

|Apr humidity = 82

|May humidity = 87

|Jun humidity = 93

|Jul humidity = 95

|Aug humidity = 92

|Sep humidity = 84

|Oct humidity = 75

|Nov humidity = 73

|Dec humidity = 72

|year humidity = 81

|Jan rain days = 4

|Feb rain days = 2

|Mar rain days = 5

|Apr rain days = 15

|May rain days = 22

|Jun rain days = 23

|Jul rain days = 25

|Aug rain days = 23

|Sep rain days = 21

|Oct rain days = 21

|Nov rain days = 19

|Dec rain days = 9

|year rain days = 189

|Jan snow days = 28

|Feb snow days = 25

|Mar snow days = 24

|Apr snow days = 13

|May snow days = 3

|Jun snow days = 0

|Jul snow days = 0

|Aug snow days = 0

|Sep snow days = 0

|Oct snow days = 2

|Nov snow days = 14

|Dec snow days = 26

|year snow days = 135

|Jan sun = 113

|Feb sun = 153

|Mar sun = 172

|Apr sun = 161

|May sun = 166

|Jun sun = 123

|Jul sun = 103

|Aug sun = 117

|Sep sun = 160

|Oct sun = 175

|Nov sun = 124

|Dec sun = 113

|year sun = 1680

|source 1 = Pogoda.ru.net{{cite web

| url = http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate/32165.htm

| title = Weather and Climate – The Climate of Yuzhno-Kurilsk

| access-date = 8 November 2021

| publisher = Weather and Climate (Погода и климат)

| language = ru}}

|source 2 = NOAA (sun, 1961–1990)

{{cite web

| url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1961-1990/TABLES/REG_II/RA/32165.TXT

| title = Juzno Kurilsk (Yuzhno-Kurilsk) Climate Normals 1961–1990

| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

| access-date = 3 November 2021}}

|date=December 2011}}

Aurora Airlines operates flights to and from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 3 times per week, out of Mendeleyevo Airport (ICAO: UHSM), located 20 kilometers outside Yuzhno-Kurilsk.

One or two times every month in summer, there is a ferry service connecting to Korsakov on Sakhalin island.

{{Reflist}}

• {{RussiaAdmMunRef|sak|adm|law}}
• {{RussiaAdmMunRef|sak|mun|list}}

{{Sakhalin Oblast}}

{{Kuril Islands}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Urban-type settlements in Sakhalin Oblast

Category:Kunashir Island