Wind-weary: cyclone brought snow to St. Petersburg and icy rain to Moscow
Moscow is expected to experience constant temperature fluctuations until the very end of November: the thermometer will creep up and down, meteorologists told Izvestia. At the same time, a new record of heat is possible on Thursday. However, the situation in the whole country is similar: for example, in the east of Chukotka it was -40 degrees, but the temperature has already increased by 20 points at once. It's getting warmer in Siberia, but it's about to get colder - by the same 20 degrees. And in the south of Russia, the period of record heat is coming to an end — until recently it was +22 degrees, but now the temperature may drop to +10. For more information, see the Izvestia article
The heat wave at the end of November
The weather in Moscow and the region will fluctuate between two definitions throughout the last week of November — from warm to very warm, Roman Vilfand, scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia, told Izvestia. The warming that started on Monday is due to the movement of warm air masses from the Atlantic.
— Monday, November 24th, is quite unusual. Over the previous 15 hours, by the afternoon, the pressure had dropped by 15 mmHg. It was from -5 to 0degreesCelsius at night, and from +3 to +5 degrees Celsius during the day," he noted.
On Tuesday, the daytime temperature will drop to 0 degrees, and at night it will stay from -5 to 0 — with such weather fluctuations, icy conditions will increase, Roman Vilfand warned. A slight increase is expected again on Wednesday, November 26. During the day, the air in Moscow will warm up to +4 degrees Celsius, in the Moscow region — up to +5 degreescelsius.
— And the warmest day this week will be Thursday. Even at night, +2...+4degreesCelsius is expected in the capital. It will be from +5 to +7degrees Celsius in Moscow during the day, and up to +9 degreesCelsius in the Moscow region, which is a very high temperature. The air masses will move from the south, from the Mediterranean Sea and from Turkey," the meteorologist predicts.
In addition, heavy rain may cover Moscow on November 27 — monotonous and prolonged, during which the entire sky is covered with clouds. Light precipitation is expected the next day, on Friday. On Saturday it will be cloudy with some clarifications and mostly without precipitation. Temperatures at the end of the week are expected to range from -3degreesCelsius at night and up to +5degrees Celsius during the day.
Temperature rises and falls in Central Russia will persist until the end of November 2025, said Alexander Shuvalov, head of the Meteo forecasting center.
— On Monday, the air warmed up to +5degreesCelsius, then the temperature will drop. Zero degrees and a slight minus are expected in the Moscow region on November 25. On Wednesday, the situation will repeat itself: at night there will be snow, turning into wet, and then ice, and in the afternoon it will rise again to +4 and rain. Thursday will be an even warmer day with rains, outside the window +7℃. And on Friday, it dropped again to slightly negative values," the expert noted.
Icy rains in Moscow and snowfall in St. Petersburg
The icy rain that paralyzed traffic on Moscow's roads on Monday may return on Wednesday, November 26, Alexander Shuvalov predicts.
On the morning of November 24, the capital's roads and sidewalks turned into a skating rink. The authorities called on residents of Moscow to abandon trips by private cars and switch to public transport. According to local Telegram channels and the media, trains were delayed on some sections of the Moscow railway due to icing, wires sparked above the trains.
"I warmed up the car for 20 minutes today, waiting for the ice on the windows to melt," Ivan, a Muscovite, shared on social media.
Rushing from a slight minus to a plus generally leads to the formation of ice, so drivers and pedestrians should be more careful, said Alexander Shuvalov. Icy rains and icy conditions are typical for November, Tatiana Pozdnyakova added.
According to the expert, ice is also expected on November 29 and 30, as temperatures in Moscow and the Moscow region will drop to negative values.
And the Northern capital was hit by heavy snowfall on the night of November 24. Almost five centimeters of snow fell on the morning of November 24 alone, said Alexander Kolesov, the city's chief weather forecaster.
"The synoptic situation will be formed by the rear part of the active southern cyclone, the center of which will be over the Vologda Region in the middle of the day," the Phobos center reported.
Utilities took to the streets at dawn to deal with the effects of the snowstorm. As Sergey wrote from St. Petersburg, "you could only get to work on skis."
St. Petersburg does not fall into the warm sector of the cyclone, so there are no temperature fluctuations and the weather is cooler than in Moscow, Alexander Shuvalov explained.
"With temperatures around zero, the situation on the roads in St. Petersburg will become difficult. Light precipitation in the form of snow and sleet is forecast on Tuesday and Wednesday, the temperature will stay in the range of -2...+2 degrees. Icy conditions are expected on the roads. It will freeze on Thursday, the air temperature during the day is -1..-4. On Friday night there will be a light frost, in the afternoon +1...+4," the Meteonosti agency reported.
And in early December, experts predict that winter weather should not be expected in the center of Russia. Tatiana Pozdnyakova believes that the first week of winter will be warm — the average daily temperature is about zero degrees, which is higher than the climatic norm, and may last until December 5-6.
"It is possible that icy conditions may occur in the first days of December, when warm air from the Atlantic will flow to the already cooled land," she added.
What other surprises does the weather in Russia have in store?
The real winter weather is now observed in the north of the Urals, Siberia and Yakutia — from -38 to -47 degrees, said Roman Vilfand.
— In the east of Chukotka, the weather was very cold — up to -40 degrees. But the temperature increased by 20 degrees. So, in Anadyr during the day from -5 to -4. It's just a heat wave for these places," he said.
Southern Siberia and the Far Eastern Federal District are also experiencing warming.
— This heat will lead to very difficult conditions. Ice, sleet, and a blizzard are expected in the Kemerovo Region on November 24, 25, and 27. There is an icy phenomenon and sleet in the Altai Territory. The situation is similar in the Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk regions, in the south of the Urals, and in the Tyumen Region," the expert said.
Weather fluctuations are also expected in Western Siberia this week, Alexander Shuvalov added. On Thursday, Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk, and Khanty-Mansiysk will experience an average temperature drop of 20 degrees. And then the cold snap will spread to Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo and Krasnoyarsk.
And in the south of Russia, the period of record heat is coming to an end. Starting from Tuesday, November 25, in Kuban and Stavropol, where the temperature was kept up to +22 degrees, it is expected to drop to 10-15 degrees, Alexander Shuvalov said.
The temperature in Crimea has been "unprecedented" until today. On November 23, 2025, the air in Simferopol warmed up to +24 degrees, breaking the record of 1923, Roman Vilfand recalled.
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