Moscow Got 6 Minutes of Sunlight in December
“When they hear about this, many people say, ‘It’s clear now why I was depressed,’ ” said Roman
Vilfand, the director of Russia’s Weather Service, according to the news agency Tass.
But the dearth of sunlight undoubtedly has contributed to a surge in visits to psychiatrists in Moscow
even beyond the expected seasonal rise, the daily newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets reported.
Temperatures in some places have plummeted to minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 65
degrees Celsius), claiming at least two lives over the weekend, Interfax reported
Mr. Vilfand attributed the gloom to warm Atlantic air masses
that continually swept over the region with strong, damp winds that thickened the cloud cover.
“And this at a time when the country is rising from its knees
and has won the war in Syria...” an anonymous commenter wrote in response to the Moskovsky Komsomolets article.
