The Weather

One of the popular misconceptions about Russia is that it has one season: winter. Maybe I’m wrong, and people assume that winter is 6 months long. So far I’ve been here two months and northern Siberia apart, the temperature is still above 0C throughout the country. Russia is a large country, and there are many regional climates, with the south being considerably warmer average temperature than the north. But, yes, European Russia does have an aggressively cold winter. This still has yet to arrive.
When I arrived in Kazan it was officially still summer. The daytime temperatures were over 20C, and not much rain. Well, most days were like that. The first full day was a little cold and wet. And then an unseasonable cold snap arrived and temperatures fell to 10 or so. The locals complained, the meteorological guys explained that it would be this way until October, and we had to put up with it. There were demands to turn the heating on early. I should explain that the city is responsible for heating housing blocks, and usually the heating gets turned on early in October. We got heat on 30 September. The next day, it was warmer both inside and outside. Typical.
Of course, after summer comes autumn and the weather gets colder, but slowly. I bought a very warm leather jacket at the markets and have worn it maybe 10 times – it’s too warm (both the weather and the jacket). I know it is only early November, but I probably won’t wear the jacket regularly for at least a fortnight.
As we have a continental climate, the weather is quite stable. If it’s fine in the morning, then chances are it will be fine all day, maybe even all week. What wind there is tends to be quite light. I grew up in Wellington, so any wind here gets treated as a breeze, because really, the wind ain’t that strong. The expectation among the locals is that snow will arrive soon. It used to be that snow would start about the time of the holiday to mark the October Revolution. But not this year, because it’s still over 10C.
Having said all that, mornings at the moment are cool, almost cold. KGU is on a small hill and catches any breeze going. The city has turned off the fountains, covered them up and is getting set for snow. For my part, I’m still wearing summer shirts under my jersey and light jacket, and dropping two layers of clothing the moment I arrive at KGU. Russian heat their houses and public buildings to a balmy 25 or so, and even walking around in outdoor clobber indoors can make me sweat. I also tend to walk up the stairs to my floor. Not that I’m a fitness freak, but there are only 4 lifts and there seems to be 10,000 students wanting to use them. It’s faster to walk anyway.
I have yet to see a really heavy downpour, but assume they do occur. The heaviest rain I’ve met was in Kaliningrad, and that is close to the Baltic. Of course, the landscape is kind of flat; being as Russia is essentially one great plain, so orogenic rain is not common here. I think Auckland gets more rain in a week than Kazan does in a month. I’ll talk more about the weather when the snow starts.
Next: Russian TV