MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The night of December 23 to 24 has been the coldest in Moscow this winter, the Russian Hydrometeorological Center told TASS.

"By midnight, thermometers at the capital’s main VDNH weather station dropped to minus 15.7 degrees Celsius (3.7 degrees Fahrenheit), the lowest temperature so far this calendar winter," the center told TASS.

Earlier, the Hydrometeorological Center said the coldest period was likely to occur between midnight and 3:00 a.m. Moscow time (10:00 p.m and midnight GMT), after which temperatures would start to rise, potentially reaching minus 5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) by Wednesday afternoon.

Previously, leading specialist at the Phobos Weather Center Mikhail Leus reported that the night of December 22-23 had also set a seasonal record. "Moscow’s base weather station recorded the first double-digit frost of the winter, with the lowest temperatures reaching minus 10.7 degrees Celsius (12.7 degrees Fahrenheit)," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

However, no absolute record is expected to be broken. According to meteorological data, the coldest December 24 in Moscow was recorded in 1892, when temperatures plunged to minus 37.3 degrees Celsius (minus 35.1 degrees Fahrenheit). The warmest December 24 occurred in 2015, with temperatures rising to 9 degrees Celsius (48.2 degrees Fahrenheit).