August snow in Russia's Sakha Republic
© Instagram/alyonakhokhlova (screen capture)August snow in Udachny, north-west of Yakutsk.
Snow, at last. After a summer that didn't deserve the name, Russian weather skipped fall and decided to head straight for winter.

Using the #первыйснег (first snow) hashtag, Russian Instagrammers shared pictures on Tuesday of how their home towns look in the last gasps of summer. And even if the calendar says August, these images suggest something entirely different.

"Fall got lost along its way and winter came to us," one Instagram user from Neryungri in Russia's Sakha Republic wrote alongside a window view of buildings, cars and trees covered in white. Some commenters, already in festive spirits, wished her a happy New Year.


Meanwhile, in Udachny, north-west of Yakutsk, the freshly fallen snow was an excuse for some to dig out their winter jackets and strike a pose.

But not everyone on social media was ready to settle into full winter mode just yet. This man, in the city of Aldan, opted to document the first snow wearing a t-shirt - with not a single goosebump in sight.

Even the Siberian city of Norilsk - famous for its high levels of pollution - managed to produce a round of fresh and reasonably white snow.

And in Ekimchan in the Amur region, one Instagrammer took a pragmatic approach to the arrival of winter weather during the summer months: "Happy first snow, folks," she wrote alongside her video. "We'll be harvesting those potatoes from underneath the snow."