Snowless December in Moscow raises concerns about rising temperatures
MOSCOW:For the past two weeks, temperatures in Moscow have easily topped 4°C and are expected to move as high as 7°C next week - compared to the normal average for December of around minus 6°C.
Moscow registered the warmest December weather in over a century last week, as an unusually snowless month put winter activities on hold and confused plants into blooming.
One weather station in northern Moscow registered a temperature of 5.4 °C, said the
Fobos weather centre. “This is a new record of maximum air temperature for 18 December,” surpassing a previous record of 5.3°C set in 1886, it said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has always been reluctant to acknowledge the link between human activity and global warming. But he acknowledges that the consequences of global warming could be catastrophic for a country.
Putin said that the rate of warming for Russia was 2.5% higher than elsewhere on the planet. Climate change was a particular risk for Russian regions where buildings are built into permafrost.
In the botanic garden of Moscow State University, rhododendrons, snowdrops and crocuses are already beginning to bud. According to the Russian meteorological office, Rosgidromet, Moscow, with its population of 12 million, experienced its hottest year this year since records began a century and a half ago.
“Only the month of July was slightly below normal for the season,” said senior Rosgidromet representative Anatoly Tsygankov, who described December, with its temperatures around 10 degrees higher than average, as “very warm”.
But he remained cautious about the possible explanations for climate change, saying the current warm temperatures could be attributable to cyclones coming in from the Atlantic.