Russia's capital got 6 minutes of sunlight in December

Jan. 16 (UPI) -- December was the darkest month in Moscow's history, as the city went almost the entire month without sunlight.

The last month of the year is usually the darkest throughout Russia and Moscow usually sees about of 18 hours of sunlight during that time. But in December 2017, the sun only shined on Russia's capital for six minutes.

Roman Vilfand, head of Russia's meteorological center, told the Moscow Times the lack of sun could be caused by "anomalous warm temperatures -- 5.8 degrees higher than average -- and cyclones that caused clouds to block out the sun."

The previous record in Moscow was set in 2000, when the city received three hours of sunlight.