Forecaster predicts warm second half of winter in Moscow

The second half of winter in Moscow will be warm, leading specialist of the Meteonovosti information agency Tatyana Pozdnyakova told Izvestia on January 10. At the same time, according to her, the lowest temperature in the current month will be observed in the last five days.

She did not rule out that the snow cover may melt this month. This happened in previous years in the first decade of January, but then it was restored.

"We expect that, as we predicted, winter, at least in Central Russia, will be warm, with a positive air temperature anomaly. How big this anomaly will be is difficult to say. December was warmer by two degrees, and probably January will be three or four degrees warmer," Pozdnyakova said.

Speaking about the possibility of an early onset of spring, she explained: statistics shows that with a very warm January in 50% of cases there is a very warm March and in 50% of cases there is a cold March. Therefore, to say that the early spring will come to the capital is an adventurous forecast, the forecaster said.

In addition, the expert suggested that, most likely, the baptismal frosts in Moscow will not take place.

"The lowest temperature in January will be observed exactly in the last five days of the month, maybe it will seize and the first days of February. We have always had it so before that this period was the coldest: the end of January - the beginning of February. But if earlier, for example, the [average daily] temperature [of the air] then was about -10, now it is expected to be about -6. The general trend of lower temperatures in late January and early February will continue," Pozdnyakova concluded.

Earlier, January 10, in the service "Yandex Weather" reported "Izvestia" that the weekend, January 11 and 12, Muscovites expect cloudy weather. Rain with snow is possible on these days.