AFP images from the city of around 13 million people showed residents struggling to make their way through heavy piles of snow on the streets in its central district.
Commuter trains in the Moscow area were delayed, AFP reporters witnessed, and cars were stuck in long traffic jams on Thursday evening.
"January was a cold and unusually snowy month in Moscow," the university said on social media.
"By January 29, the Moscow State University Meteorological Observatory had recorded almost 92 mm of precipitation, which is already the highest value in the last 203 years," it added.
Snow piles on the ground reached as high as 60 centimetres (24 inches) in some parts of the capital on Thursday.
Snow is mostly air, meaning the level of settled snow far surpasses scientific measurements of precipitation -- which measures the amount of water that has fallen.
The record snowfall was "caused by deep and extensive cyclones with sharp atmospheric fronts passing over the Moscow region", the observatory said.
"There was much more (snow) when I was a kid, but now we practically don't have any snow at all, there used to be much more," Pavel, a 35-year-old bartender and Moscow resident, told AFP, grumbling about a feeling of "emptiness" in the dark, snowy winter.
Earlier this month, Russia's far east Kamchatka region declared an emergency situation due to a massive snowstorm that left its major city partially paralysed.
Images, widely circulated online, showed huge snow piles reaching up to the second storey of buildings and people digging their way through roads as snow blanketed cars on either side.
Another Arctic blast bears down on US as snow cleanup drags on
Washington, United States (AFP) Jan 29, 2026 -
Another blast of Arctic air was set to spread across much of the United States from Thursday night, even as local authorities struggled to dig out from mounds of snow and ice days after a giant storm passed.
The National Weather Service said polar winds would surge down from the Northern Plains across the Midwest and through the Gulf Coast, with a significant storm set to bring more heavy snowfall to parts of the southeastern US by the weekend.
Temperature lows could be broken, especially in Florida, the agency said, warning of statewide impacts on vulnerable populations as well as the crucial agriculture industry.
Frigid temperatures in the largely subtropical state can "cold-stun" iguanas, causing them to fall off trees in what has been referred to as a "lizard blizzard."
The new cold front comes just days after a major winter storm, killing more than 100 people, according to tally of official figures and local media reports, as it blanketed a vast swath from New Mexico in the southwest to Maine in the northeast in snow, sleet and icy rain.
In the southern United States, hundreds of thousands of customers remained without power Thursday, according to poweroutage.us, with Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana hardest hit.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said it had cleared more than 3,000 downed trees "because clearing trees is the gateway to recovery -- protecting lives, restoring critical services, and helping power get back on."
Meanwhile millions were still digging out from hardened snow.
In New York, excavators scooped piles of snow into steaming orange trailers known as "hot tubs," which send the meltwater down into the city's sewer system.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was spotted traversing the city to shovel snow, earning praise but also criticism for not wearing a hat.
In the capital Washington, authorities were dumping truckloads of ice and snow at the site of the demolished Robert F. Kennedy stadium.
Washington residents have roundly criticized the official response, as numerous streets remained unplowed, snowbanks blocked road crossings and schools stayed shut for a full three days after the storm had passed.
Some research suggests climate change could be playing a role in disruptions to the polar vortex -- a vast region of cold, low-pressure air that normally circulates high above the Arctic.
Scientists advancing this theory argue that uneven Arctic warming across Europe and Asia can amplify large atmospheric waves, making it more likely for the polar vortex to wobble and spill south over North America.
New York breaks out snow 'hot tubs' to melt winter storm snowfall
New York (AFP) Jan 30, 2026 -
After more than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow fell over parts of New York during this past weekend's historic winter storm, the city is working to melt away the remains before the next blizzard strikes.
Though the storm has passed, temperatures remain below freezing, impeding natural snowmelt, with no relief in sight for the forecast.
The snow has been shoveled to the side, but it remains hazardous for both pedestrians and drivers, and needs an extra boost to go away in a timely fashion.
"The problem there is that if we don't melt it, then it'll sit there for a while," said Javier Lojan, who oversees New York's sanitation department, at a Wednesday press conference.
Their secret weapon? Giant snow "hot tubs" capable of melting between 60 and 120 tons of snow an hour.
Trucks filled with excavated snow dump their trailers into the machines, filled with water, to rapidly melt it. Although the ensuing steam gives the machines a jacuzzi-like appearance, the water inside is heated only to 38F (3C).
The water is then filtered and dumped into storm drains.
More than 2,500 city workers are mobilized for the 24/7 operation.
"Our priority right now is to get the bus roads open, because we want to make sure that people can get on and off the buses and get to work or school as needed," Lojan said.
The snow melters, which are used at other cities and airports across North America, have not been used at such a high scale in New York since 2021.
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