Moscow: Cold Snap Leads City to Turn On Heat Early

For the past two weeks, Alexandra Shuvalova has spent almost every evening sitting in a bathtub filled with piping hot water.

"I even read books in the tub. Any other place in the apartment is too cold for me," said Shuvalova, a 36-year-old nanny.

Moscow is caught in the grip of an unusually early winter chill and, with most apartments hooked up to the city's centralized heating system, residents are just plain cold. Authorities have avoided turning on the heat because of a rule that requires the outside temperature to remain below 8 degrees Celsius for more than five days in a row.

But City Hall decided this week to turn on the heat for all apartments by next Wednesday -- two weeks earlier than usual. In the meantime, residents are shivering, buying electric heaters or just slipping into the hot tub, like Shuvalova.