The snow that fell in Moscow on May 9 was the first ever recorded on that day of the year in the capital, the scientific director of Russia’s Hydrometeorological Center has said.
The snow reached a depth of one to five centimeters in various parts of the city on Thursday morning, during preparations for the Victory Day parade on Red Square, Roman Vilfand told Interfax news agency on Friday.
“Temporary snow cover was recorded on May 9 for the first time in the entire period of meteorological observations,” Vilfand said, referring to the 145-year old data set.
It was “such a cold day that its climate corresponded to March 26,” meaning Thursday’s temperature lagged 1.5 months behind the usual climate calendar, the meteorologist noted.
The chief specialist at the weather news agency Meteonovosti, Tatyana Pozdnyakova, said that the average temperature on Thursday in Moscow was 1.7°C (35°F), making it the coldest May 9 since 1972.
After the morning chill, thermometers rose to 6°C by afternoon and the snow melted, she wrote on Telegram on Friday. However, the day’s average was still 10.8°C lower than the norm, Pozdnyakova noted.
Moscow’s cold snap follows the warmest April in 23 years, the Gismeteo website said last week. The average temperature last month stood at 10.9°C, which was 5°C above the norm. On April 2, a record of 23.2°C was recorded, according to Gismeteo.