The warm spell, which is more typical for the October-November period in this part of the country, began in December and continued into January, with the mercury climbing to 8 degrees Celsius (46.4 Fahrenheit), a 50-year high, January 10.
"January 10, with a temperature of plus 8, was the warmest in the first 10 days of January in the entire history of meteorological monitoring in Moscow," the hydro-meteorological bureau for Moscow and the Moscow Region said.
Weather experts also said the temperature did not drop below 5 degrees Celsius (41 Fahrenheit) last night, beating the record set January 11, 1991.
"The temperature will continue to rise because a strong southwesterly wind is bringing more warm air to the capital," an official with the meteorological bureau said.
The bureau said Muscovites would be able to enjoy the unusually warm weather for at least another 10 days, with a brief sub-zero spell.
If the forecast comes true, it will disrupt a Russian Orthodox tradition to celebrate Epiphany January 19 by plunging into ice-holes in freezing temperatures in a move that symbolizes the baptism of Jesus Christ in the river Jordan by John the Baptist.
The current high temperatures in some cities of European Russia have led to never-before-seen phenomena, including blossoming flowers and swelling buds in the city of Kursk, 370 miles southwest of Moscow.
"Such a winter was only registered in the Kursk Region about 50 years ago when the average December temperature was 0.5 degrees Celsius (32.9 Fahrenheit)," Maria Polyokhina, deputy head of the hydro-monitoring center in Central Russia, said, adding that, unlike Moscow, Kursk had had no snow this winter whatsoever.
Last year, conversely, most of Russia was gripped by bitter cold as temperatures plummeted to minus 34°Celsius (minus 29.2 Fahrenheit) on the night of January 19-20, beating the minus 32°C (minus 25.6°F) record registered for the same day in 1927.
