Climate of Russia is well known as the tough and cold one. Even frozen bears falling asleep in forests of Siberia and bones of mammuth still in a fresh state is there. But telling the truth – that’s not that bad. An you don’t need that much vodka to stay alive.
Russia is a big country that consist of time zones likewise the climate is significantly changing from place to place. So, let’s get first preceiptions of temperature in the major russian cities.
Saint-Petersburg
It’s famous about the weather. I bet you heard about the white nights during the summe. It’s mild time when you could enjoy the city and see the magic of movable bridges during your night walks but there’s nothing comparable with the ‘black days’ during the winter! So, never try it! Around -10°C wind and snowy rains. Completely wet shoes and clothes and has no ability to get warm again. If you decided to visit it during the winter – take tons of socks and spare shoes with you, waterproof jackets, windblock stuff and hang around the best bars with live jazz.
Moscow
There is humid continental climate with warm and long summer and short winter. Coldest time for Moscow is Dec-Feb, when the average temperature is -10°C. Extreme is -20°C for few winter days usually in February. During the summer daylight lasts more than 18 hours and you can spend whole day observe the city and for a warm night get into the nightlife of the biggest city of Russia.
Let’s move a bit further to East – Ural mountains.
Yekaterinburg.
Summer here is shorter than in Moscow and lasts usually from May till September. Warmest days in July with extreme +30°C and average +20°C during the day. Due the mountains around could play with the weather and better to take a jacket with you even it’s pretty hot during the day. Temperature here get down below zero usually in October. Coldest time is Nov-Feb with average -15°C. Extreme cold few days here could be -30°C during the day time with some wind. In case you’re willing to go travel Russia in winter – you can ask for some warm clothes for you. We have some stuff you could use to survive.
But probably you want to know about the coldest place in Russia where the still ~500 people live in – it’s Oymiakon village. Absolute minimum temperatures during the wintertime go below -65°C degrees (-85°F).
Here you can check the average temperature map of Russia according the month.