Recording Temperature Minus 21 Degrees Celsius, St. Petersburg Breaks 128 Years Record

Illustration of snow covering St. Petersburg, Russia, freezes rivers. (Wikimedia Commons/Francesco Bandarin)

JAKARTA - The extreme weather that hit Russia this year, made St. Petersburg recorded its lowest daily temperature in more than 120 years, after Moscow recorded its hottest in June.

Cold weather in the City of St. Petersburg, Russia, which has entered winter this year, broke the daily record set 128 years ago, when temperatures dropped to around minus 21 degrees Celsius (minus 5.8 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday evening, Leading expert at the Fobos weather center Mikhail Leus wrote on Facebook.

"Today, St. Petersburg set a new daily cold record. The temperature in the Northern Capital dropped to minus 20.9 degrees, which is 0.4 degrees lower than on the same day in 1893," he wrote quoting TASS December 6.

Weather experts say that St. Petersburg has broken cold weather records twice in the 21st century, on July 14, 2015, and January 3, 2002.

On Monday, temperatures will range from minus 16 to minus 18 degrees Celsius (3.2 to minus 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in St. Petersburg and between minus 15 and minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 5 to minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Leningrad region.

"That said, the daily average temperature will be 16 to 17 degrees lower than usual," said Leus.

Illustration of frozen plants in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Wikimedia Commons/Peterburg23)

Previously, citing The Guardian on June 23, Moscow recorded the hottest temperature in the last 120 years, with summer temperatures reaching 34.7 degrees Celsius.

Russia's weather service Roshydromet has blamed climate change for soaring temperatures.

"The increase in the temperature recorded in Moscow for these days is unprecedented in 120 years. This is due to global warming," said Marina Makarova of Roshydromet.

Meanwhile, St Petersburg, which is located 600 km northwest of Moscow, also recorded hot weather in June, where temperatures reached 34C, or the highest since 1998.

As global temperatures increase with climate change, heat waves are predicted to become more frequent and intense, and their effects more widespread.

To note, Russia has set many records in recent years, and in June 2020 it recorded 38C in the city of Verkhoyansk, the highest temperature recorded above the Arctic Circle since measurements began.