Deep, crisp, even and fake … Moscow’s artificial snow
MOSCOW has dumped artificial snow in Red Square to cheer up holiday crowds as Russia is expected to see its warmest December on record.
Passers-by were stunned to see snowdrifts on Red Square and Tverskaya Street, Moscow’s main road, over the weekend as the City Hall brought in artificial snow to the city centre, which will be shut down for traffic for the next eight days during new year’s and Orthodox Christmas celebrations.
‘The snow was taken from our skating rinks. We normally melt it down but this time we’re reusing it’
Ivan Demidov, director of the Zaryadye Park just next to Red Square, said that they decided to use artificial snow “to bring the spirit of new year to Muscovites” and boasted about hosting “the first permanent snowdrift in Moscow”.
Moscow has been six degrees warmer than the monthly average this December. It started to snow yesterday but temperatures are expected to rise overnight, and it is predicted that New Year’s Eve will break an all-time high of 5C. Moscow’s many parks and forests are snowless and empty, without the usual cross-country skiers riding in the woods or children sledding down iced slopes.
This December, children ride miniscooters and adults cycle, unafraid of icy pavements.
Muscovites typically complain about cold winters and too much snow that often disrupts traffic. This year, they are obsessed with the lack of snow.
Maxim Ivanov, 29, who was walking his dog yesterday morning, says he longs for snow.
“It’s so sad. When everything is so grey, you want something bright,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Reports about artificial snow have struck some Russians as a folly of spoiled rich Muscovites. Residents of other regions have offered help.
Twitter users in Siberia have tweeted pictures of giant snowdrifts with: “Moscow, take away our snow!”
City authorities, however, later insisted that they did not buy the snow.
“The snow was taken from our skating rinks,” Alexei Nemeryuk, the deputy mayor, told the Govorit Moskva radio station. “Machines are cutting ice there, so some snow remains. We normally melt it down but this time we’re reusing it.”