Rain and cooler weather are heading for Moscow instead of the Indian summer many residents have been expecting, according to Alexander Shuvalov, head of the Meteo forecasting center. He gave the outlook for the coming days in an interview with the National News Service (NSN).
Shuvalov said earlier forecasts pointing to a quick arrival of Indian summer in the Russian capital were exaggerated. He said cooler weather and rain would arrive the next day, and that it made little sense to forecast beyond a seven day window at this point.
He said the rain would last around four days, after which there would be another burst of warmth, but it would be brief, lasting only two or three days. Because of that, he said, it would not be quite right to call the coming period a full Indian summer. He added that hope for an eventual Indian summer in Moscow still remains.
Rain forecast for the weekend
Shuvalov said Muscovites should expect rain and daytime temperatures of around 15 degrees Celsius in the coming days. He said prolonged rain is forecast for Saturday, September 5, while Sunday and Monday, September 6 and 7, would bring shorter spells of rain.
Indian summer, known in Russian as "babye leto," refers to a stretch of mild, dry weather that can follow an initial autumn cold snap. The term is widely used across Russia to describe this seasonal pattern, though its timing and duration vary from year to year.
No frost yet, forecaster says
Shuvalov said there would be no frost for now. He said daytime temperatures would sit at around 15 degrees, with nighttime readings of 5 to 10 degrees above zero. He said that is one to two degrees below the seasonal norm, which he described as not a very significant drop in temperature, but still a sign of autumn.
Lyudmila Parshina, a leading researcher at Russia's Hydrometeorological Center, had earlier predicted that Indian summer in Moscow would begin on September 8.
