MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF NOVEMBER 2019

Air Temperature

At the beginning of November, warm Atlantic breath was still perceived in the central, eastern and southern ETR regions. In the first decade, the temperature maxima were often surpassed in many locations of the central areas, Volga District, Rostov Region, Kuban and Crimea. The decade-averaged temperatures exceeded the normal values by 3-6° or even more: the farther to the south, the larger the anomalies. There and than, the weather was cold in the Russian North only (with the anomalies of -1…-2°).
In the second decade, abnormal heat spread around to invade almost the entire European territory of the country save its near-polar regions, and the record-breaking heat was then observed not only in the Central and the Southern Russia, but also in the north-west of Karelia, in the Leningrad Region and in the Pskov Region as well.
At the beginning of the third decade, the weather suddenly changed its mood and became much colder in the centre of Russia. There, the Arctic air brought night frosts as cold as -8…-12° resulting in sub-normal decade-averaged air temperatures. Conversely, the north of the ETR received abnormal heat, and the air temperature in the third decade exceeded its normal value by 2-6° or more.

Whereas warm Atlantic cyclones in the first decade had been moving along the northern paths, protecting Siberia from Arctic invasions and setting new records of warmth in the south areas such as the Kemerovo and Irkutsk Regions or the Altai and Tyva Republics, severe frosts swooped over these areas later on, and the thermometer readings dropped below -40°. The record-breaking colds were observed in the Altai Territory as well as in the Tomsk and Irkutsk regions. Low temperatures persisted for quite a long period; as a result, the average air temperature in the second decade was 6-10° below the normal value from the Urals to the Lake Baikal and 15° below it in the north of the Irkutsk Region. In the south of Siberia, the weather remained cold until the end of the month, while in the north, it became warmer in the third decade and even demonstrated positive temperature anomalies in come places.
A region where the weather was always extraordinary warm in November is the north of the Far East. The unprecedented temperature maxima were observed in Chukotka and Kolyma. The anomalies of decade-averaged temperature reached +15°. At the same time, the temperature background was calmer in the south of the region. The decade-averaged temperatures either matched the normal values, or slightly deviated from them in one or the other direction.
In general, the air temperature in November was close to normal in most of the ETR, lower than usual in the Urals and in the south of Siberia, and much higher than that in the Far East. In the east of Yakutia, in the Magadan Region and in Chukotka, the monthly-averaged air temperature was 4-12° above its normal value.
November concluded the calendar autumn which, quite habitually already, turned out to be warm in Russia. The season-averaged air temperatures were above-normal across the whole country, especially along the coasts of the Arctic seas, in the north of Siberia and over the entire Far East. On the islands of the Arctic archipelagos, the anomalies were +5…6° or more. Yet, the temperatures were close to normal in the rest of the country thereby precluding this autumn from being one of the warmest in history. The average temperature in autumn is just at the bottom of the Top Ten of the highest-ranked values.
The temperature averaged for eleven months (January through November) of 2019 was the highest in the history of meteorological observations. Considering that positive anomalies of monthly-averaged air temperatures in most of the country are forecasted for December 2019, it is quite probable that the expiring year will be the warmest one in Russia.
In November, the weather was abnormally warm not only in the Far East of Russia, but almost all over East Asia. The monthly averaged air temperature in most of China exceeded the normal value by 1-2° or more. The anomalies were about the same in Korea and Japan. The weather was somewhat colder than usual in some places in Mongolia only.
The recorded monthly-averaged anomalies were +1…2° in the countries of South-East Asia, and a bit higher than one degree in India. On the other hand, the weather was noticeably colder than usual in neighbouring Pakistan as well as throughout Central Asia. In Kazakhstan, the air cooled down to -30° or below on certain days. In some regions of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, negative anomalies of air temperature could reach 3-4° or more.
The cold settled in Iran with the monthly-averaged temperatures 2° or more below the normal values, but did not reach the Near East where the weather was everywhere warmer than usual, by 2° or more on the average in some places.
In North Africa, this November was one of the warmest in history. The average temperature became the second highest one after the unrivalled value recorded in 2010. In the centre and in the east, the normal values of temperature were exceeded by 2-4° or more. However, November was cold in the countries in the north of the continent, especially in Algeria where the anomalies reached -2° or more in places.
In Europe, the weather was mostly warm. At the beginning of the month, Atlantic cyclones brought very warm air to these countries. New temperature maxima were recorded in the east of the continent, namely, in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the Baltic countries. However, frosts came in the middle of the month, and the thermometer readings dropped to -8…-12° in Ukraine, to +2° on the Côte d'Azur where the swimming season was still open, and to -10° in the Pyrenees. Such a temperature contrast during the same month ended up in the monthly-averaged air temperature close to normal in the west of the continent, and in its value exceeding the usual one by 2-4° in Central and Eastern Europe.
Canada and the USA played out an entirely different scenario in November. The weather was noticeably warmer than usual in the north of Canada: there, the air warmed up to 2-4° or in places to 6° above the normal value. In the south, in the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, and in a large part of the USA, the cold weather reigned in November, the anomalies of monthly-averaged temperature being -2…-4° or more. The air temperature averaged over the whole USA excluding Alaska was below normal. In the middle of the month, the ever lowest values were measured in the east of the country.
As for the whole Northern Hemisphere, September and October 2019 turned out to be the warmest months in the entire history of regular meteorological observations on the planet since 1891, and the monthly-averaged temperature in November entered the first triple of the highest values. Autumn 2019 became the warmest in the meteorological history of the hemisphere.
As already habitually, the largest positive anomalies of season-averaged air temperature (+4…6° and more) were observed in the near-polar region. In the Arctic, this autumn was the second warmest in the metrological chronicle after autumn 2016. The anomalies were somewhat less dramatic but still quite large (+2…3° and more) in the temperate and tropical latitudes including Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Near East, China and Japan, Mexico and the water area in the west of the Atlantic Ocean inclusive of the Caribbean Area. It was the second warmest autumn in North Africa and the fifth warmest one in Europe. On the other hand, there were regions where this autumn was colder than usual: the USA, India, Scandinavia and, partially, some areas in the west of Kazakhstan and the north of Uzbekistan. This also concerns certain water bodies of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The average temperature for eleven months (January through November) of 2019 in the Northern Hemisphere is the second highest in the ranking list compiled since 1891, slightly lower than the respective figure as of 2016.
In Moscow, the monthly-averaged temperature in November was +1.8° corresponding to the anomaly of +2.9°. This autumn was very warm in the capital and took the third warmest seat of honour after autumn 1938 and autumn 1974 in the entire history of meteorological observations. The average temperature for eleven months (January through November) hit the record-breaking value and paved the way for an incomparably warm year.

Sea Surface Temperature

The mean SST anomaly of the Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere remained very high. In October, it reached the second maximum in the ranking list, and in November, it regained the absolute maximum first recorded in 2015. Large positive anomalies (+1…2° and above) were observed in the east of the Ocean from Alaska to near-equatorial latitudes and in the west along the Asian coast from Kamchatka to China. Water was abnormally cold chiefly in the central part of the Ocean, and along the coasts of Mexico and of Central America.
The phase of the Southern Oscillation was still neutral.
In the Atlantic Ocean, the anomalies were much weaker than in the Pacific. Most of the water area in the north of the Atlantic Ocean and in the tropical zone demonstrated negative SST anomalies. Above-normal temperatures were recorded along the US coast and in the marginal seas, namely, the Mediterranean, Black, North and Baltic Seas.

Precipitation

As to the amount of precipitation, the ETR in November may be partitioned into "wet" north and "dry" south. The monthly precipitation totals in the Novgorod, Pskov, Vologda and Kostroma Regions were much higher than the normal figures. This said, their main quantities were attributed to the first decade. New daily precipitation maxima were recorded. For example, in some locations in the Novgorod Region, up to 50 mm of precipitation fell per day, and more than twice the normal monthly amount accumulated in the first decade. Such abundance of rains led to a rapid rise of river levels. Water flooded roads, bridges and even the city of Veliky Novgorod in part. In the Volgograd Region, the situation was similar, while in the Kostroma Region, heavy rains were followed by ample snowfalls.
Yet, rains were rare guests to the south of Tver, Kostroma and Yaroslavl. The monthly precipitation totals in the areas down to the Caucasian Ridge amounted to less than half the normal values, and were altogether zero in some areas of the Trans-Volga Region. A severe drought was observed in the Krasnodar Territory where sizeable rains fell on the last day of November only. The precipitation amounts were normal or above-normal in Dagestan.
In the Urals and in most of Siberia, normal precipitation amounts were reported. Even though the areas with above-normal precipitation were found in this vast territory, the areas with sub-normal precipitation were present there as well. The first ones included the Sverdlovsk, Tomsk and Novosibirsk Regions and the Republic of Altai, and the second ones, the Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Omsk Regions and the Republic of Khakassia.
The Far East was often visited by rains and snowfalls. New record-breaking precipitation totals were recorded in some locations of the Primorye and Khabarovsk Territories and of the Amur Region with the normal monthly values exceeded by 2 or 3 times. The precipitation was scarce in the north-east only, viz., in Chukotka.
In China, the precipitation was feeble everywhere excluding the north-eastern provinces Heilongjiang and Kirin where it was normal or higher than that. In the south of the country, it amounted to 10-15% of the normal value.
A similar picture was also observed in the countries of Indochina. In Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, the precipitation in November was just 20-30% of the normal value, and the north of Thailand and its neighbouring Myanmar were the only areas to reach their normal ratings.
In India, the summer monsoon was over, and the weather was dry. According to Indian meteorologists, this year's monsoon was one of the strongest for the last ten years. In November, a tropical cyclone brought heavy rains to Bangladesh. Up to 200 mm of atmospheric moisture could fell per day in some places.
The weather was dry in most of Central Asia. Precipitation brought to Kazakhstan by cyclones in November already included snow in addition to rains, in unprecedented amounts here and there. And if the record-breaking precipitation amounts were due to snow in Kazakhstan, they were due to rain in the republics of Central Asia to the south of it.
It was dry in the Near East in November; precipitation was received by the south of Arabia only.
Likewise, the weather was dry in most of North Africa. Precipitation in normal amounts went only to certain areas on the Mediterranean coast and the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. Snowfalls coming to Algeria and Morocco were a rare event for these sub-tropical countries in November. Yet, this event occurs more and more often in recent years.
Bypassing the atmospheric block in Eastern Europe, Atlantic cyclones moved along the northern and southern paths and brought atmospheric moisture to the countries of Scandinavia and to Southern Europe. Venice went under water after enduring rains and driven-in winds in the lagoon that caused the largest flood over the last 50 years. The monthly precipitation amount was reached in just one day on the French and Italian Riviera. Heavy snowfalls that hit Spain, France, Italy and Austria led to a collapse on the highways and to the destruction of power lines. In places, the monthly precipitation totals exceeded their normal values by 2-3 times or more in the countries of Southern and Central Europe, and by 1.5-2.0 times in the Scandinavian countries. But in the east of the continent – in Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova – they barely reached half the normal monthly amount.
In Canada, the precipitation was about normal along the coasts of both oceans and in the far north only, and was in lack elsewhere. In the USA, the precipitation amounts were normal or above-normal in the states leaning towards the Atlantic Ocean and in the south-west of the country, and were sub-normal in the rest of the territory. This November was the third "wettest" in the history of meteorological observations in the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, and the fifth "driest" in the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
A lot of rain went to Mexico and to the countries of Central America.
In Moscow, the monthly precipitation total was 34 mm amounting to 58% of the normal value. In overall, this autumn was relatively dry, summing up to 67% of the normal precipitation figure. During eleven months, Moscow received 521 mm of atmospheric moisture, which is ¾ of the normal annual figure.