Moscow's 2017 December was its 'darkest' on record

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December set the record for the least amount of sunshine seen in Moscow, Russian weather experts say.

"The sun didn't come out even once for the entire month," said the weather website Meteonovosti.

According to Russia's main weather centre, the sun did shine for six minutes. But normally Muscovites get dozens of hours of December sunshine.

Russian winters are famously freezing, but this week the cold in Yakutia, in the far east, dipped below -60C (-76F).

It is about -7C in Moscow.

Yakutia - a remote region also known as the Sakha Republic - is historically the coldest part of Russia.

"Even for the Sakha Republic, famous for its harsh cold, this temperature is abnormal," Meteonovosti said.

On Tuesday, the temperature remained below -50C across the vast region, whose capital Yakutsk lies 4,900km (3,045 miles) east of Moscow.

Russian children are usually kept indoors and schools are shut when the cold plunges below -50C.

Roman Vilfand, head of the Russian Meteorological Centre, attributed Moscow's exceptionally overcast weather in December to big cyclonic air masses, which had moved in from the Atlantic.

Moscow's previous record for December darkness was in 2000, when the capital got just three hours with the sun breaking through the cloud.

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Source: Russian Emergencies Ministry