Moscow weather

If you want to take a trip to Moscow what can you expect in terms of weather? Not just the temperature but what does it feel like, that is, what is the climate in Moscow? Saying it is cold is not enough. Giving it from the perspective of an American, what the weather in Moscow feels like is better.

Why did Moscow become so big if the climate is so hard? Maybe the first settlers and modern day migrations came in the Summer.

Climate of Moscow an American view

As an American in Eastern Europe, I can describe Moscow weather as dramatic. November to March the temperature will rarely get above freezing. I would say it is comparable to Toronto, Canada, but a little bit colder and darker in the winter (if you were to follow the latitude of Moscow it would be up in the Hudson bay somewhere). Remember that Russia is high north so the swings in daylight are pretty dramatic. So the weather in Moscow is dramatic.

Light in Moscow

If you have any problem with depression in the winter, than Moscow weather is not for you. I would say that there are seven nice, even beautiful months in Moscow and five months were it is dark and cold. The springs are much nicer than springs in the USA for example and the summers are also. I know this is a bold statement but after such a hard, dark period of time during the Russian winter, I think at least relatively it feels much nicer than Spring or Summer in say the mid Atlantic states or the south in the USA. As an American, I think Summers in Moscow are nicer. They are more mild and more sun light and have just a different feel.

In December you will average only 18 hours of sunshine the whole month. However, in August Moscow has 238 hours of sunshine. So you can see that this is a huge difference in light.

I think light not cold is the most noticeable aspect of Moscow weather.

Rain in Moscow

The rain in Moscow is like in any northern region, it is most in the summer months and least in the winter months.You have the most in July and ironically the least rain in April. This is because it is influenced by this dry arctic air masses in the winter. If you live in the US you know what I mean this air masses in the winter sometimes hang over the whole northeast. However, the USA is influenced by the gulf stream and makes it wet in the spring and often winter when the arctic air is not over the US.

Moscow summer winds

In the summer you have these very high wind thunderstorms also in Moscow. Which I find fun. It is almost like a mini hurricane season, you have about three or four high wind storms a summer. Again the weather in Moscow is dramatic.

Clouds over Москва – the sky

The buildings or blocks of flat are gray in Moscow. The skies in the winter are often gray. However, where there is a clear day the sky looks more blue, almost otherworldly. I do not see such rich blue skies in the USA. I think in the USA the sky is more ‘sky blue’. In Moscow the sky on a sunny day is deeper almost cosmos blue.

People of Moscow and the climate

First the weather is not that bad, but it really does influence your character. I think people first came to the Moscow are because it was a rich forest with a river. Even today Europe’s biggest city seems to be a city in the middle of a forest if you have ever flown over it. So the first people who came were very healthy hardy people. There were no sloths living among the early Muscovite. They were hunters of northern animals that live in a cold climate. Some people say the weather makes the Russians a bit serious as a people, but also more clever as a culture because you have to use your brain more to survive.

However, the reality is the weather is as bad as people say. However, it will make you more introspective as five months out of the year you are pretty much in your hobbit hole in Moscow because of the weather.