NOVOSIBIRSK, December 19 (RIA Novosti) - An abnormally warm winter has gripped Russia's Western Siberia since the start of December, the local weather service said Tuesday.

After some of the coldest temperatures on record last winter, the first winter month of this year has seen temperatures in Novosibirsk in Western Siberia rising above minus 3 degrees Celsius (26.6 degrees F).

According to the weather service, winter in the first 10 days of December was six to eight degrees warmer than the multi-year average of minus 16-18 degrees Celsius (3.2 - minus 0.4 degrees F) in Western Siberia.

At the same time, the weather service said nighttime temperatures were higher than the multi-year average on some days, but failed to hit record highs.