The Russian capital survived without direct sunlight for an entire month in what was surely welcome news for sun-averse readers.
The last month of the year is traditionally the darkest throughout Russia, according to the Meteonovosti weather portal. Although Moscow sees on average 18 hours of sunlight in December, this year, the sun failed to shine for an entire month, the portal said.
“Last December was the darkest month in the history of weather observations,” Meteonovosti reported Monday.
Roman Vilfand, the head of Russia’s meteorological center, told the RBC business portal that the sun peaked out of the clouds for a whopping six minutes last month.
“It was an extraordinary situation this year,” he said, citing anomalous warm temperatures — 5.8 degrees higher than average — and cyclones that caused clouds to block out the sun.
The last record was set in December 2000, when Moscow only saw three hours of direct sunlight in the entire month.
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