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31 Aug, 2016 09:21

‘Winter is coming’: Huge hail hits Moscow amid last days of summer torrents (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

‘Winter is coming’: Huge hail hits Moscow amid last days of summer torrents (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

“Weather, you are drunk, what are you doing?” “Winter is coming!” Russian social media is completely abuzz and stunned by heavy showers and enormous hail the size of small eggs and apples that have recently struck the Moscow Region.

Residents of Moscow and its suburbs have been releasing photos of Tuesday’s storm on social media.

Wind speeds reached almost 20 meters per second, Moscow meteorological services said.

A video posted by violetta (@vilkalexa) on

About 20 planes were unable to land at Moscow airports on Tuesday due to poor weather conditions, sources told Interfax.

“This is superhail! [They look like] golf balls! From Russia with love!” wrote one Instagram user. Another added: “The weather is dangerous this summer.”

A photo posted by @hannareitsch on

Users were adding and #farewellsummer #autumn2016 hashtags to ‘mourn’ summer which struck with such aggressive weather phenomena. Others posted #apocalypse and #abnormally hashtags, referring to decades-old daily precipitation records which have been shown this summer in Moscow.

Surprised commenters reported that some cars were damaged in the hail.

A photo posted by Yura Kochnev (@kochnev_yura) on

A photo posted by Jane (@janefaraday) on

Others tried to show that the hail wasn’t exactly small - it was nearly the size of an apple

A photo posted by Valery 🎀 (@leriaaa) on

or a matchbox

or an egg

A photo posted by @_nikiri_ on

And several hailstones could hardly fit a palm

A photo posted by Jane (@janefaraday) on

A photo posted by Mari (@mliya13) on

A photo posted by @sabonis_ on

Some users tried to make really cool ‘still life’ pictures showing hail and apples

or just hail on the grass

A photo posted by Nadezhda (@hanaeq) on

Powerful thunderstorms and showers have regularly hit Moscow this summer. The rainfall broke the all-time single-day precipitation high mark dating back to 1970, as parts of Moscow suffered the heaviest rains since records began.

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