This month has seen more than twice the monthly average of rainfall in Moscow so far, and it is set to become one of the wettest Septembers in the 130 years since records have been kept, Interfax reported Thursday.
Less than three weeks into September, the amount of rainfall has already neared the level of September 1933, the second rainiest on record, and is likely to beat it to second place with more heavy rains set to hit the capital this weekend. The highest amount of rainfall ever recorded came in 1885, when the city saw 270 percent of its average for the month.
Intense showers are forecast to begin Friday and will grow even heavier over the weekend, with 15 millimeters of rain — or one-quarter of the city's average for the month — expected to fall on the city.
This year has already seen abnormally large amounts of precipitation fall on Moscow. Over the winter, an estimated 3 meters 29 centimeters of snow blanketed the city, one of the largest totals ever recorded, and March was the snowiest in the city for a half-century.
Some ecologists have linked the unusually wet weather to climate changes across the globe.
Regions in the Far East have experienced record flooding this year, and some climate scientists warn that other areas of Russia are becoming more at risk of severe weather changes in the future.
