Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 has a humid continental climate

Humid continental climate

A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....

 (Köppen climate classification

Köppen climate classification

The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

 Dfb) with warm, somewhat humid summers and long, cold winters.
Typical high temperatures in the warm months of June, July and August are around 23 °C (73.4 °F), but during heat waves, that can occur anytime from May to September, daytime temperature highs often top 30 °C (86 °F) for sometimes one or two weeks. In the winter, temperatures normally drop to approximately -10 °C, though there can be periods of warmth with temperatures rising above 0 °C (32 °F). Summer lasts from mid-May to the beginning of September. Winter lasts from the beginning of November to the end of March.

Monthly averages and records for Moscow

The highest temperature ever recorded was 38.2 °C (100.8 °F) on July 29, 2010, and the lowest ever recorded was -42.2 °C in January 1940. In 2007 three record highs for the month occurred – January + 8.6 °C (47.5 °F), March + 17.5 °C (63.5 °F), and May + 33.2 °C (91.8 °F); in 2008, there were new record highs for December and the entire winter: + 9.6 °C (49.3 °F). On July 23, 2010, the temperature reached 36.7 °C (98.1 °F) and continued to set record highs each following day until it finally reached + 38.2 °C (100.8 °F) on July 29, 2010. In November 2010 a new month record high of +14.5 °C (58.1 °F) occurred (after +12.6 in 1927).
Average annual temperature in Moscow is 5 °C (41 °F), but recently (2007, 2008) it has been higher than 7 °C (44.6 °F). In the first half of the 20th century, there was light night frost in late summer.

Monthly rainfall totals vary minimally throughout the year, although the precipitation

Precipitation (meteorology)

In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

 levels tend to be higher during the summer than during the winter. Due to the significant variation in temperature between the winter and summer months as well as the limited fluctuation in precipitation levels during the summer, Moscow is considered to be within a continental climate

Continental climate

Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...

 zone.

Most of records and averages are given for VVC weather station

VVC weather station

The VVC weather station is the principal weather station in Moscow, Russia. It opened in 1948 on the grounds of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre...

, located in the North-Eastern administrative okrug

Administrative divisions of Moscow

The federal city of Moscow, Russia is divided into ten administrative okrugs, which are in turn subdivided into districts . The city does not have a downtown area; the urban core is scattered across the city. Prominent business areas include Tverskoy, Arbat, and Presnensky Districts to the east...

 of Moscow. The temperature from this station averages 0,5–1 °C lower than in the city center, and 0,5–2 °C higher than night minimums in the suburbs.

Year of	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year	Year of	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high (max t°C)	2007	1989	2007	1950	2007	1901	2010	2010	1890	1915	2010	2008	2010	high avg t°C	2007	1990	2007	2000	1949	1841	2010	1839	1851	1967	1996	2006	2008
Record low (min t°C)	1940	1929	1913	1879	1885	1916	1886	1885	1881	1960	1890	1940	1940	low avg t°C	1893	1929	1917	1929	1918	1904	1904	1884	1993	1976	1908	1839	1888

Type of precipitation

Most precipitation in Moscow falls as rain, but in winter months almost all precipitation falls as snow, forming firm snow cover. The last wet snow precipitation may be in the beginning of May, and it may restart at the end of September.

Type of precipitation	Jan (days)	Feb (days)	Mar (days)	Apr (days)	May (days)	Jun (days)	Jul (days)	Aug (days)	Sep (days)	Oct (days)	Nov (days)	Dec (days)	year (days)
snow	20	16	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	10	18	79
mixed	5	4	6	5	1	0	0	0	1	4	8	7	41
rain	1	1	3	10	12	14	14	14	15	12	6	2	103

Snow cover

Snow cover (averaging 3–5 months per year) is formed at the beginning of November and melts in beginning of April, but in recent years snow cover has lasted shorter than usual. For example, in the winter of 2006–2007 the snow cover didn't form until the end of January, and melted at the beginning of March; in 2007–2008, the snow cover melted at the end of February, and in the 2008–2009 winter, snow cover didn't form until the end of December, which is one month later than usual.

month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
number of days	31	28	28	4	-	-	-	-	-	3	16	28
height (cm)	26	35	29	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	13
max.height (cm)	63	72	78	61	-	-	-	-	-	19	25	45

Speed of wind

The average wind speed is not high. In the city it is near 2 metres per second; in open places and airports it may top 6 metres per second.

Wind Storms and Tornadoes

A few times per season, often in the May–September period during thunderstorms, wind speed may exceed 15–35 metres per second. The last powerful wind storm was in 1998, when wind speed was 30–35 metres per second. 157 persons were injured, 8 died, and 2157 buildings were damaged.

Tornadoes were recorded in 1904 and 1945 in Moscow and in 1970, 1971, the 1984 Yaroslavl tornado

1984 Yaroslavl tornado

The 1984 Yaroslavl tornado was one of only three disastrous tornado outbreaks in modern Russian history...

, 1987, 1994, and 1997 in Moscow Oblast

Moscow Oblast

Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...

 100 km south-east from Moscow (near Zaraysk

Zaraysk

Zaraysk is a town and the administrative center of Zaraysky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated about southeast from Moscow. Population: The town stands on the right bank of the Osyotr River, which is a right confluent of the Oka...

), in 2005 in Dubna

Dubna

Dubna is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It has a status of naukograd , being home to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, an international nuclear physics research centre and one of the largest scientific foundations in the country. It is also home to MKB Raduga, a defence aerospace company...

, and on 3 August 2007 in Krasnogorsk

Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast

Krasnogorsk is a city and the administrative center of Krasnogorsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, adjacent to the northwestern boundary of Moscow, on the Moskva River...

.

In the 3 June 2009 tornado

2009 Krasnozavodsk tornado

The 2009 Krasnozavodsk tornado was an F3 tornado that occurred on Junе 3, 2009, in Krasnozavodsk near Sergiev Posad in the Moscow region at 22.15 MST. It was the first powerful tornado in the Moscow area since 1984, which damaged around 40 buildings, trees and cars, but without fatalities...

, F3 registered near Sergiyev Posad

Sergiyev Posad

Sergiyev Posad is a city and the administrative center of Sergiyevo-Posadsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia. It grew in the 15th century around one of the greatest of Russian monasteries, the Trinity Lavra established by St. Sergius of Radonezh. The town status was granted to it in 1742...

, Moscow oblast

Moscow Oblast

Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...

.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	year
2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.2	2.1	1.9	1.8	2.0	2.4	2.5	2.6	2.3

Number of clear, cloudy and overcast days

On average Moscow has 1731 hours of sunshine in a year. In 2004–2008, near 1800–2000 hours.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	year
Clear (sunshine)	8	9	10	8	11	7	8	10	8	5	3	4	82
Partial sunshine	11	10	13	17	16	20	20	17	16	13	9	10	184
Cloudy (overcast)	12	9	9	5	4	3	4	4	6	12	18	17	98

Daylight, average number of hours/day

Hours	Jan (hours)	Feb (hours)	Mar (hours)	Apr (hours)	May (hours)	Jun (hours)	Jul (hours)	Aug (hours)	Sep (hours)	Oct (hours)	Nov (hours)	Dec (hours)
Day	7.9	9.7	11.9	14.3	16.3	17.4	16.8	14.9	12.7	10.5	8.4	7.2
Night	16.1	14.3	12.1	9.7	7.7	6.6	7.2	9.1	11.3	13.5	15.6	16.8

See also

• VVC weather station
  VVC weather station
  The VVC weather station is the principal weather station in Moscow, Russia. It opened in 1948 on the grounds of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre...
  
  
• Climate of Russia
  Climate of Russia
  The climate of Russia is formed under the influence of several determining factors. The enormous size of the country and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in the dominance of the continental climate, which is prevalent in European and Asian Russia except for the tundra and the...
  
  
• 1904 Moscow tornado
  1904 Moscow tornado
  The June 29, 1904 Moscow tornado was one of only three disastrous tornadoes that occurred in central Russia in recorded history . The 1904 disaster started as a thunderstorm in Tula region...
  
  
• 1984 Yaroslavl tornado
  1984 Yaroslavl tornado
  The 1984 Yaroslavl tornado was one of only three disastrous tornado outbreaks in modern Russian history...
  
  
• 2009 Krasnozavodsk tornado
  2009 Krasnozavodsk tornado
  The 2009 Krasnozavodsk tornado was an F3 tornado that occurred on Junе 3, 2009, in Krasnozavodsk near Sergiev Posad in the Moscow region at 22.15 MST. It was the first powerful tornado in the Moscow area since 1984, which damaged around 40 buildings, trees and cars, but without fatalities...