Geography, Site, and Climate

Moscow, the capital of Russia, is located on the banks of the Moskva River, which flows for just over 500 km through the East European Plain in the Central Federal District of Russia.

Moscow's road system is centered roughly around the Kremlin at the heart of the city. From there, roads generally radiate outwards to intersect with a sequence of circular roads (“rings”).

The first and innermost major ring, Bulvarnoye Koltso (Boulevard Ring), was built at the former location of the sixteenth century city wall around that used to be called Bely Gorod (White Town). The Bulvarnoye Koltso does not form a complete circle, but instead a horseshoe-like arc that goes from the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour to the Yauza River. In addition, the Boulevard Ring changes street names numerous times throughout its journey across the city.

The second primary ring, located outside the Boulevard Ring, is the Sadovoye Koltso (Garden Ring). Similar to the Boulevard Ring, the Garden Ring follows the path of a sixteenth century wall that used to encompass part of the city. The Third Transport Ring was completed in 2003 as a high-speed freeway.

The Fourth Transport Ring is under construction to further reduce traffic congestion. The outermost ring within Moscow is the Moscow Automobile Ring Road, which forms the approximate boundary of the city. Outside the city, some of the roads encompassing the city continue to follow this circular pattern seen inside city limits.

Moscow has a humid continental climate with warm, somewhat humid summers and long, cold winters. There are no severe frosts or excessive heat, although deviations from normal seasonal temperatures are quite frequent. December, for example, might bring along long-run thaws. In summer, periods of heat might be alternated with the sudden cold weather and protracted rains. On average Moscow have 194 days of above zero and 103 days of below zero temperature every year. Monthly rainfall totals vary minimally throughout the year, although the precipitation levels tend to be higher during the summer than during the winter. Due to the significant variation in temperature between the winter and summer months as well as the limited fluctuation in precipitation levels during the summer, Moscow is considered to be within a continental climate zone.

As the result of global warming, average temperatures of the first half of the year (January - June) in Moscow have recently gone up (average temperatures in January - March during the last 12 years are 2.3 degrees higher than the average temperature during previous 30-year period), while such months as November and December are growing colder (average decrease of temperature is 0.5 degrees).

- Chung (Joyce) Leung