Heavy downpours and a sharp drop in temperatures will hit Moscow on Friday, September 11, bringing a sudden end to unseasonably warm autumn weather in the Russian capital. Evgeny Tishkovets, a leading specialist at the Phobos weather center, reported on his Telegram channel that a cold atmospheric front will replace the recent warm spell.
The sudden change in weather follows a day of 26-degree heat recorded in Moscow on Thursday, September 10. According to Tishkovets, the incoming cold front is driven by a North Atlantic cyclone moving in from Karelia, a republic in northwestern Russia bordering Finland that frequently sits along northern air corridor routes into central European Russia.
As the cold system moves over the city, temperatures in the metropolis will drop to between plus 15 and 18 degrees Celsius. Tishkovets noted that while the period of warm autumn weather will stumble, conditions will remain relatively warm despite the arrival of the cold front.
Rainfall timing and expected intensity
Alongside lower temperatures, the weather front will bring heavy cloud cover and widespread precipitation to the capital. Rains are scheduled to begin early on Friday morning, September 11, before transitioning into intense downpours between 6:00 am and 9:00 am.
Tishkovets warned that up to 10 liters of rainwater per square meter will fall during the storm. These powerful downpours will continue intermittently across Moscow throughout the day, only beginning to weaken by Friday evening.
Meteorological background and local climate
The Phobos weather center is a major meteorological agency based in Moscow that provides weather forecasting services across Russia. The period of unseasonable warmth known in Russia as babye leto, or Indian summer, is a regular autumn phenomenon in European Russia where warm air briefly returns before northern Atlantic low-pressure systems usher in seasonal chills.
The upcoming downpours follow earlier analysis provided by climatologist Alexander Chernokulsky regarding prolonged rain events in Moscow. Chernokulsky previously explained how many days a year the capital can be marred by extended periods of rainfall, noting that severe downpours can fall continuously in Moscow for up to five days in any given year.
