Update on A Newcomer's Perspective
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5/25/2013
After initially expressing some trepidation concerning winters in Moscow, I've now lived here through two of them, and I have to say that my fears were unwarranted. I expected months of constant snow cover, daily car window brushing/scraping, and precarious commutes. We got a couple of decent snows each winter, but the roads were fine within a day. Other than that, you can expect a dusting of snow ~60% of the mornings in December and January.
It turns out, the climate is one of the best things about Moscow. The summers are short, with nice chilly nights...We don't even have AC; we just open the windows at night and close them during the day. Last year, we didn't see a drop of rain from sometime in June all the way into October. The winters are warmer than you would expect for this latitude. Our average highs in the dead of winter are still a couple of degrees above freezing. We have extended Springs and Autumns compared to many places I've lived, where they pass by in the blink of an eye. Compared to the mid-west/northeast, the summer highs here are about 5-10 degrees cooler (and with no humidity), and the winter lows are about 5-10 degrees warmer.
The only negative I can mention about the weather in Moscow is that you'll practically never see a thunderstorm here.
And after nearly two years in Moscow, I still stand by all positive things I said about this town when I first moved here.
Tom | Moscow, ID