MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Municipal services have removed nearly one million cubic meters of snow from the streets of Moscow over the past two days, marking the heaviest snowfall the city has experienced in decades, according to the Moscow Mayor’s Office.

Since the onset of the heavy snowfall on the evening of January 8, snow-melting stations have processed approximately 750,000 cubic meters of snow. To put this into perspective, if all the snow sent to melting stations were packed into standard gondola cars, about 8,522 such vehicles would be required, stretching over a distance of more than 109 kilometers.

Cleanup operations continue around the clock, as snowfall persists at a slightly reduced intensity. Experts warn that by Wednesday, January 14, an additional 12 centimeters of snow could accumulate.

The severe weather was triggered by a Mediterranean cyclone that struck Moscow and its surrounding areas on January 8. The snowfall began after 3:00 p.m. Moscow time in the southeastern and eastern districts of the Moscow region, quickly spreading across the metropolitan area. The heaviest snowfall occurred on January 9. Since the start of the year, Moscow has received over 35 millimeters of precipitation, which exceeded the January average of 53 mm by 67%.

According to the Russian Hydrometeorological Center, the January 9 snowfall ranks among the five heaviest in Moscow’s 146-year meteorological record. It is also one of the top three snowfalls of the 21st century. The storm set a new daily precipitation record for January 9, with 21.4 mm of snow and rain falling - surpassing the previous record of 12.9 mm set in 1976. This amount represented about 40% of the city’s average monthly precipitation.