New Year’s Eve in Moscow is usually accompanied by snow on the ground. But this year, high temperatures broke a record of more than a century and left the streets unadorned with white flakes. With the intention of keeping things seasonal, the city has transported tons of artificial snow, informs the Guardian. Posts on social media documented delivery.
The record winter heat occurred on December 18, when temperatures reached 41.72 degrees Fahrenheit in Moscow, the hottest day in December since 1886. The city’s average monthly temperature fluctuates at around 21 degrees Fahrenheit.
According to the warming trend, the New Year’s forecast is more than rain than snow.
The rise in global temperatures caused by climate change is causing permafrost to melt in northern Russia. The thaw has exposed fossil finds that were once locked in frozen ground, creating a gold rush among prospectors who want to get finds like mammoth ivory. The loss of sea ice in the Arctic has also sent hungry polar bears to Russian cities in search of food.
At the Bolsherechensky Zoo, 1,700 miles east of Moscow, unstable heat caused bears get out of hibernation early. Flowers a The apothecary garden of Moscow State University soon flourished; and at the Moscow Zoo, five jerboas (rodents that throw their long hind legs) were placed in a specially equipped refrigerator so they could resume their hibernation in peace.
At a lengthy press conference on December 19, President Vladamir Putin said “no one knows” what is causing climate change, but acknowledged that it is happening and that Russia “must make every effort to ensure that the climate is not changing dramatically. ”
Russia joined the Paris Climate Agreement in September, but has since abandoned its greenhouse gas emissions targets.