2017 Hottest Year on Record in Russia

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 28, 2017)

The passing year was Russia’s hottest in recorded history on the back of increasingly warm winters.

“The average temperature [in 2017] was the warmest of all these years,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited Roman Vilfand, the head of Russia’s meteorological center, as saying on Thursday.

He forecast above-average temperatures in January, particularly in European Russia, with a cold spell in the Far East Chukotka autonomous district.

Meanwhile, the Fobos meteorological center forecasts cloudy weather with a chance of wet snow on New Year’s Eve in Moscow. The temperature is expected to be around 0 degrees Celsius, which is around 6-8 degrees higher than normal at this time of the year.

“Nothing pleasant,” its spokesperson told the RBC business portal.