Overview
- Residents reported a purple-pink sky at dawn over central Moscow, with sightings noted in the Basmannaya area.
- Phobos meteorologist Evgeny Tishkovets said rays of the 8:03 a.m. sunrise tinted high cumulus clouds, with the glow reflecting off lower stratocumulus layers.
- He said the display signals a sharp weather shift toward colder conditions with likely snow by Saturday morning, and noted a yellow weather-danger level is in effect.
- Alexander Shuvalov of the Meteo forecasting center described the coloration as a rare alignment of cloud types and a clear horizon and said it can precede an approaching front bringing precipitation about a day later.
- Shuvalov added that the hue itself does not drive temperatures and that the effect may have been absent west of the city where cloud cover was thicker.