The passing year was Russia's hottest in recorded history on the back of increasingly warm winters.
"The average temperature [in 2017] was the warmest of all these years," the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited Roman Vilfand, the head of Russia's meteorological center, as saying on Thursday.
He forecast above-average temperatures in January, particularly in European Russia, with a cold spell in the Far East Chukotka autonomous district.
Meanwhile, the Fobos meteorological center forecasts cloudy weather with a chance of wet snow on New Year's Eve in Moscow. The temperature is expected to be around zero degrees Celsius, which is around 6-8 degrees higher than normal at this time of the year.
"Nothing pleasant," its spokesperson told the RBC business portal.
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