In the European part of Russia, the weather trend has changed dramatically. A cyclone burst into the region, bringing with it very warm air masses from the Atlantic. As early as Tuesday, the country's northwest felt its influence. A snowstorm has risen in St. Petersburg. Visibility in the city deteriorated to 500 meters, and the wind broke traffic lights.
On Wednesday, freezing rains covered the Pskov region. Snow brushes have lost their relevance, the ice scraper has become the main tool of car owners. The number of accidents on the roads has increased. Several accidents occurred at once on the Moscow-Minsk highway on a small section - one after another.
During the week, freezing rains expanded the geography. They took place in Suzdal, Tver, Klin, Domodedovo, Maloyaroslavets and Kaluga. The cars were covered with a thick layer of ice.
In the central regions, the thermometers continued to creep upward and soon crossed the zero mark. Huge stores of snow began to melt. The streets and sidewalks of many cities have literally become rivers. In the capital on Friday, 300 brigades from Mosvodostok went on duty. According to approximate calculations, as a result of thawing, about 25 billion liters of water turned out to be on the streets of Moscow - one tenth of the volume of the Mozhaisk reservoir.
It was warmest in the westernmost point of our country. In Kaliningrad, the temperature rose above plus 17 degrees. Most of the snow melted, and the first snowdrops began to appear in the thawed patches. Residents, meanwhile, went for a walk along the Baltic beaches.
The power of the warming was phenomenal. On February 26, thermometers at the VDNKh meteorological station rose above the plus 6 degrees mark. During the day, the zone of positive temperatures covered everything - from the western borders of the country to the east of the Central Region. Thaws broke even in the Arctic.
The last time a heat wave of comparable strength was observed on the Russian Plain more than 30 years ago. And at the end of the working week in many cities, including the capital, the maximum temperature records were updated.
At the end of the calendar winter, atmospheric processes like spring develop quite rarely. Even in the warm era of the XXI century - only once every 3 years, and what can we say about the past century. For the coming March, this is a positive symptom - in such years, statistics give only 19% for the share of the cold weather scenario.
After a record thaw, there was a slight setback. On the periphery of the cyclone leaving for the Urals and Siberia, cooler air masses began to enter the region, but they will not be able to capture the Russian Plain for a long time - a new vortex is already breaking through to us from the north, bringing another warming.
For example, in Moscow on weekends there is little snow and freezing - in the daytime from zero to minus 2. And from Monday the thermometers will rise above zero again - in the afternoon to plus 1-3, precipitation can turn into rains, in some areas short-term icy phenomena are possible.
In the first spring month in Russia, the highest chances of a cold anomaly are in the far north and northwest of European Russia, in the south of Eastern Siberia and most of the Far East. And in the rest of the territory, the temperature regime is predicted above normal - in the zone of special overheating in the North of Siberia and the southeast of the Russian Plain.
In Moscow, the average monthly temperature is expected to be 1-2 degrees above normal. In the first half of March, the weather will be feverish - two rather powerful periods of Arctic invasions are expected. But in the third decade, the final restructuring of atmospheric processes in a spring way will finally take place.
