Unfamiliar weather conditions dominating Moscow have persisted in December. Usually, the snow covers the Russian capital from the beginning of November until the end of April.
Nevertheless, this year, the autumn months passed, and December, the first month of the winter is about to end, and Moscow is still missing its long-awaited snow. Instead of the Siberian freezing winter it used to host, the city has been dominated by a wave of warmth similar to those seen in April.
Last week, the Russian Meteorological Center announced that temperatures have hit record levels during this period of the year. However, it projected the weather to go back to its normal state, and the temperatures to drop below 0 °C, along with snowfalls by the end of the third week of December. However, the third week ended, and the fourth started, but it seems that December is getting warmer.
In the latest forecasts in Moscow, Director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia Roman Wilfand said temperatures on December 23 and 24 will be exceptionally warm, and higher by around 12-13 degrees from the average temperatures previously recorded during this time of the year. He expected the temperatures to hit 8 degrees.
Wilfand said these conditions dominate all the European parts of Russia, describing the temperatures as "supernatural" and closer to those recorded during the first week of April, when the average daytime temperature is 5°C to 6 °C.
The reason behind these unfamiliar recurrent changes affecting all seasons accompanied by natural disasters in many regions around the world over the past years is the climate shift caused by the climate change phenomenon.
