Outside the window is December, the New Year is on the nose, and April flowers are blooming. What is it? The tale of the twelve months came true, and December switched places with April?
Month of Records
December 2015 was the warmest on record. And the average daily temperature records in Moscow this month were broken as many as 6 times. The average monthly temperature in the last month of the outgoing year set a record.
The table of temperature records in Moscow is shown below.
| Date | Temperature in Moscow in 2015 | Year of previous record for this date | Previous temperature records in Moscow | Climate normal |
| 20.12.2015 | 4, 9 ºС | 2014 | 4, 7 ºС | -6, 5 ºС |
| 21.12.2015 | 5.9 ºC | 1982 | 5, 4 ºС | -6, 6 ºС |
| 22.12.2015 | 7, 9 ºС | 1936 | 4, 4 ºС | -6, 8 ºС |
| 23.12.2015 | 4, 7 ºС | 1982 | 4, 5 ºС | -6, 9 ºС |
| 24.12.2015 | 8, 5 ºС | 1982 | 3, 9 ºС | -7, 1 ºС |
| 25.12.2015 | 4, 1 ºС | 2013 | 4 ºС | -7, 2 ºС |
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Temperature records in Moscow repeated in 2015 |
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| 26.15.2015 | 3, 6 ºС | 2011 | 3, 6 ºС | -7, 4 ºС |
December fever
Calendar says winter! And outside the window is a thaw, a willow is blooming.
Inhabitants of the capital in these New Year's days are deprived of most winter fun, ice rinks are closed, ski slopes too. Do not make snowmen and do not play snowballs when the weather is like this outside. A huge ice mountain has melted, which was opened for skiing on December 18 near the walls of the Kremlin. The slide, which claimed to be the largest in Russia, could not withstand such temperatures and melted in just three days. All that remained of it was a platform covered with a film, and more recently, the hill was decorated with ice boards, expertly decorated. Now climbthis structure is unsafe, as stated by the announcement placed next to the attraction. Ice hours are also melting.
The exhibition of ice sculptures in Victory Park will now open only on December 30th. Until that time, ice masterpieces will have to hide in tents with artificial cooling. And communal services instead of cleaning snow are washing asph alt.
However, to put it mildly, unusual December weather delights visitors to the botanical garden. Magnolias, heather, wild rosemary bloomed there. Plants have confused winter and spring. The prolonged thaw forced the plants to take December as the beginning of the flowering period. Further frosts, of course, will destroy these parts of the plant, but, fortunately, will not destroy them, but now the real spring flowering will be weaker.
The current thaw could bring the bears living in the Moscow Zoo out of hibernation, but the staff assures that the bears are in a deep phase of sleep and are not going to leave their "dens".
However, not only Moscow suffered such an anomaly. The Internet was flooded with photographs from different parts of the northwestern part of Russia of willows blooming in December, swollen on buds on trees. Christmas trees are drowning in puddles, and festive tinsel is washed away by rain. Western Europe and Scandinavia are also seeing record highs this year.
But not everyone is sad. Ski lovers are delighted, because the ski season opened ahead of schedule in Sochi. All the slopes of the ski resorts there are littered with snow. What can not be said, of course, aboutmany resorts in Europe, where the season is in jeopardy. In places in the ski resorts of Switzerland, Austria, France, the mountain slopes are covered not with snow, but with greenery.
Other temperature records in 2015
It's safe to say that 2015 will be proclaimed the warmest year yet. Many temperature records in Moscow have been broken throughout the history of observations, and the previous year 2014, which previously received the title of "hottest", will lose its title.
December 2015 is not the only month to break climate records:
- August was the warmest since 1880 (beginning of meteorological observations)
- In September, the temperature record of 1925 was broken in Moscow. The weather station at VDNKh on September 25 recorded a temperature of +26.3 ºС, which is 3.8 degrees higher than the previous record, which lasted about 90 years. This is the first such long warm period in the second half of September in the new millennium. This month the record was updated three times: on September 18, 24 and 25.
These "record holders" took over from the previous months, which are recognized as the warmest. Spring 2015 broke records for the previous 125 years.
Causes of the anomaly
The head of the Roshydrometeorological center these days said that due to the very rapid movement of air masses formed over the Atlantic, fantastically warm weather set in December.
According to scientists, the last thirty years have become the warmest in the last millennium. Emissions to the atmosphere from cars and industrial plants cause "heat" in our planet. And it's no secret that mankind has playednegative role in this process. In order to prevent further warming on the planet, and to significantly reduce emissions, many countries are joining forces and holding climate conferences designed to strengthen control over the amount of emissions that poison and pollute the atmosphere.
But closer to the New Year, the weather will still please with frost and snow. And there will be more fun skating and skiing, snowball fights. And the giant slide will receive its visitors.
