The Moscow authorities have dumped artificial snow in the city center for New Year festivities, as this is now the Russian capital’s warmest December since 1886, the BBC reports.
The delivery of snow by dumper truck is causing amusement on social media.
One tweet, from @WildWildMoscow, joked that now “you can buy anything with the Moscow budget – even winter․”
The head of Russia’s weather forecasting agency, Roman Vilfand, says 2019 was Russia’s warmest year on record.
The mild Russian winter is seen as more evidence of global warming – part of a pattern that includes record ice-melting in the polar regions.
A strip of artificial snow now lies on one of Moscow’s main avenues – Tverskaya.
Similar snow “dumps” took place at the weekend at Red Square and some other sites in the city center, which are being closed to traffic for the holiday.
The snow was made by breaking ice at some of Moscow’s skating rinks.
