MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF JUNE 2020
Air Temperature
With the beginning of summer, warmth finally came to the European territory of Russia. It was not clearly apparent at once: the average air temperatures in the first decade closely matched their normal values save for the south where the weather was hotter than usual and new temperature maxima were recorded in the Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory. But the second decade was marked with the ultimate victory of warmth. The anomalies of decade-averaged air temperatures in the ETR exceeded +3…5°. New heat extremes were being recorded not only in the Southern Federal District now, but also in the North-Western one, in Saint-Petersburg for example. In the third decade, such excess heat survived in the western part of the ETR only, while the decade-averaged air temperatures to the east of Moscow became normal or subnormal. From time to time, colds would break through to Central Russia and the Volga Region– most vehemently, in the last days of June. In the Volga-Vyatka, Moscow, Ryazan and Vladimir Regions, the air temperature reached the lowest values ever recorded on those days by the morning. In the Volga Region, this June concluded with a negative air temperature anomaly.
In the Urals and in West Siberia, the weather surprised with the abnormal heat of May lasting for the whole first decade. Then, the air temperature returned to normal first, and later dropped as the Arctic colds came to this region in the third decade. The anomalies of decade-averaged temperature were -5…-7° or below.
In Eastern Siberia and in the Far East, heat prevailed in the north, and cold, in the south. All June was very warm along the Arctic Coast (with the anomalies of the decade-averaged temperatures reaching +5…10° or more). In contrast, the weather in the south of the Far East remained cold for the whole month (the anomalies being -2…-4° or lower), with the same anomalies observed in the south of Eastern Siberia in the first decade.
MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF MAY 2020
Air Temperature
The abnormally cold weather which settled in the ETR in April remained cold in May. In addition, negative temperature anomalies were increasing and expanding over time. Whereas in the first decade they were observed in the south only, and the conditions in the rest of the ETR were close to normal, in the second and third decades they reached -2…-3° almost all over the ETR. Frosts in the second half of May were frequent in the North-West, Central and Volga Regions of Russia. The unprecedented minima of air temperature were recorded in many locations of this territory as well as on the Low Volga and the coast of the Sea of Azov. From time to time, warm air broke through to the south of the ETR and then, new events of record-breaking heat were identified in the North Caucasus. In Sochi, the temperature maxima exceeded +30°. On the monthly average, the air temperature everywhere from Karelia to the North Caucasus was about 1.0-1.5° below the normal value.
Just as in April, heat prevailed in the Urals and to the east of them. In the Ural and Siberian Federal Districts, this May was the warmest one in the history of meteorological observations, i.e. since 1891. In this area, the anomalies of monthly-averaged air temperature exceeded +4…+10°, reaching +12° or more in the second decade. The air temperature was over +30° in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and over +25° in Igarka and Taimyr. Due to such hot weather, the ice area in the Kara Sea shrank to its minimum for this time of year.