Temperature record of 1988 beaten in Moscow

MOSCOW. Aug 25 (Interfax) - Moscow's main weather station (VDNKh) has reported an outdoor temperature as high as 30.3 degrees Celsius on Thursday afternoon, which beats the 34-year-old record, the Russian Hydrometeorological Research Center (Hydrometcenter) said in a statement on its website.

The temperature reached 29.3 degrees Celsius in Moscow on August 25, 1988, Hydrometcenter said.

The new record was set for the past 70 years of weather monitoring by Moscow's main weather station, it said.

Weathermen forecast that temperatures might soar to 32-34 degrees Celsius in Moscow on Thursday.

The absolute temperature record for the day [for 143 years of weather monitoring in Moscow), 33.9 degrees Celsius, was set on August 25, 1897, the city weather bureau told Interfax.

"The record set at the end of the 19th century is unlikely to be beaten," a bureau source said.

In his words, Moscow has been conducting continuous instrumental weather monitoring since 1879.

The city has declared an elevated (orange) level of weather alert until 2 p.m. on August 28 because of the current heat wave.

A level-5 wildfire alert has been declared in the city as of August 20.