MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF JULY 2022

Air Temperature

The heat that spread over the north-west of Russia at the end of June still persisted there in the first decade of July. New daily temperature maxima as high as 30° and above were set in Karelia and in the Leningrad and Pskov Regions. Very warm weather came to the central and southern regions of the ETR as well, and new unprecedented maxima were also recorded in the Smolensk and Kaluga Regions as well as in the Krasnodar Territory. Yet, cold nights with new record-breaking minima were observed at the same time in the Arkhangelsk Region and the Komi Republic in the north.
In the second decade, cool weather with the temperatures either close to or somewhat lower than normal prevailed over most of the ETR but was defeated by warmth in the north where new positive extremes were recorded in some places. As for the third decade, the temperatures noticeably above normal persevered in the north and came back to the central regions again.
In the Urals and in Siberia, the weather oscillated between abnormally warm and cool. It was very cold at the end of the second decade in the south of Western Siberia: there, new temperature minima were even recorded in the Kemerovo Region. But eventually, the monthly averages of air temperature in this area were close to normal.

In the Far East, the weather remained very warm for almost the entire month excluding the north-eastern Russian regions in the second and third decades. At the same time, unprecedented temperature minima down to negative values were recorded in Chukotka. In contrast, new temperature maxima in excess of 35° were set in Yakutia, in the Magadan Region, in Kamchatka, in Primorye and in the Amur Region on different days of the month. As a result, this July in the south of the Far Eastern Federal District was the second hottest in history: the monthly-averaged temperature was even higher in July of the preceding year 2021 only. Thus, the crown of summer in the south of the Far East was exceptionally hot for two years in succession.
Regarding Russia as a whole, July 2022 was the fifth warmest alongside July 2021, but 2.4° colder than the record-breaking hot July 2010. The temperature in the Asian Territory of Russia (as was the case in 1991 and 1998) was the second warmest right after July 2012 when it was 0.1° higher in this area. The weather was significantly warmer than usual in the north of the ETR and in most of the Far East, and somewhat colder than that in the south of Siberia and in Chukotka.
Heat reigned in China where new maxima of monthly-averaged temperature were recorded for the second summer month in a row. The air temperature in the centre and in the east of the country (in the provinces of Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Yunnan) repeatedly topped 40-42°. The normal monthly-averaged temperatures in neighbouring Korea and Japan were exceeded by 2-4°.
In South-East Asia, the monthly-averaged air temperature was close to its normal value.
In India, the active monsoon prevented the Sun from breaking through dense clouds; for this reason, even though the air temperature was close to normal, it happened against the background of negative anomalies. In India, the average July temperature was subnormal in nine out of 22 years of the 21st century.
In the Near and Middle East, the weather was hot: the monthly-averaged temperature in many areas exceeded the normal value by two or more degrees.
In Central Asia, the air temperature was above-normal, two or more degrees above in certain locations. In the third decade, new temperature maxima were recorded all over this region for several days in a row. Sometimes, the thermometer readings rose to 45°, or to 46-47° in the deserts.
Even though the temperature roughly matched its normal value in most of North Africa, but in terms of the monthly averages, this value was exceeded by 2-3 or more degrees in the Mediterranean region, e.g., in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
Europe from the Atlantic to the eastern and south-eastern territories of the continent was occupied by the heat. The monthly-averaged temperatures were 2-5 or more degrees higher than their normal values. African heat that prevailed in June still survived in July in the west and in the centre of Europe. In the south of Spain, the air heated up to 45°, and the temperature remained above 40° for more than ten consecutive days. In Dublin, the capital of Ireland, the air heated above 33° for the first time in history, whereas in London, the thermometer readings crossed the 41° mark. At the same time, Eastern Europe suffered from cold spells: new daily temperature minima were recorded in the Czech Republic, in Romania and in Bulgaria, and the nightly temperature sometimes dropped to 0° in Poland.
Almost everywhere in North America (save for the coastal territories in the east of Canada and in south of Greenland) the average temperatures in July were above-normal. First of all, this concerns the western US and northern Mexico where the normal values were exceeded by 2-3 or more degrees. This July, US meteorologists recorded more than a thousand of unprecedented temperature events. The heat that took place in the country this July was recognised as one of the strongest in history. The average temperature in the USA was among the top three highest values in the meteorological chronicle since 1891.
As regards the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth, the average temperature in July 2022 regained, to an accuracy of 0.1°, its highest achievements previously set in 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
In Moscow, the average July temperature was 20.7°, corresponding to an anomaly of 2.5°.

Sea Surface Temperature

In the Pacific Ocean, negative SST anomalies still occupied a large area in the equatorial zone, but La Niña already demonstrated the tendency to its weakening. Very high positive SST anomalies in excess of 3-4° were observed in the tropical and moderate areas of the Ocean. The average SST anomaly in July reproduced the absolute maximum recorded in 2004 when El Niño intrinsically featuring high SST values was observed instead. Yet now, this temperature maximum was gained in the cold episode of the Southern Oscillation. The average SST anomaly increased by 0.3° compared to the previous month and by 0.2° compared to July of the previous year.
In the Atlantic Ocean, the average SST anomaly decreased as compared both to its June value and to the one observed in July 2021. The area of negative anomalies in the central part of the Ocean expanded but was split in several chunks divided by positive and near-zero anomaly strips. The water in the Arctic was very warm, with +5-6° anomalies in the Barents and Kara Seas. The temperature never observed before was measured in the western part of the Mediterranean Sea, and was reported to reach as high as +30° in coastal waters on some days.

Precipitation

In July, a great variety of monthly precipitation totals were observed in the ETR. Precipitation in the North-Western Federal District was generally normal. However, its amounts in the Komi Republic just slightly exceeded half of the normal figure, whereas in the Arkhangelsk, Vologda and Murmansk Regions, they reached 1.5 times the normal value. A new daily precipitation maximum was set in Karelia.
In the Central Federal District, precipitation was subnormal in the northern regions, and close to normal in other constituent entities of the Federation. Heavy showers occurred on some days: in the Yaroslavl, Tula, Kaluga and Tambov Regions they brought up to 30 mm of rainwater per hour, and up to 50 mm per day – comparable to the normal monthly amount in some locations.
Precipitation in the Volga region was normal in most areas, and was less than that in the Perm Territory, Bashkiria and Udmurtia only. Similar to the centre of the country, heavy showers were observed across this region, bringing up to 20-50 mm of daily rainwater to certain places in the Ulyanovsk, Penza and Samara Regions at the beginning of the month.
In the south of the ETR, heavy downpours hit the Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory, the daily precipitation totals amounting to 80-100 mm in some areas. In Sochi, 55 mm of rain fell in an hour. The normal values in the Krasnodar Territory were exceeded by 1.5 times in places, but were just reached in the rest of the region, or not even reached in monthly terms in Crimea. The republics of the North Caucasus received very scarce precipitation, less than half of its normal amount.
Precipitation in the Urals was also lacking. Yet in Siberia, its amounts were normal everywhere or 1.5 times greater in places, save for Taimyr, Khakassia, Tyva and the Novosibirsk Region where the monthly totals did not reach a half of the normal value. Very heavy rain fell in the Omsk Region at the end of the month, in some places, bringing more than 60 mm of rainwater in a single day, or more than 80 mm of rainwater in a day and a half.
In the Far East, despite occasional heavy showers in Yakutia, in the Amur Region, in the south of the Khabarovsk Territory, in Chukotka, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, the monthly precipitation totals amounted to their normal figures in Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory, Yakutia, Primorye and Sakhalin only, but were less than normal in the rest of the Far-Eastern Federal District. Snow was observed in Chukotka.
In most of China, and in Mongolia alike, the weather was dry, and the precipitation amounts were noticeably less than usual. The east and north-east of the country were the only areas where the normal precipitation figures were either reached, or exceeded by 1.5-2.0 times in places. Torrential rains hit Sichuan province, and caused floods and landslides that killed humans. Japan received a huge amount of precipitation in the middle of the month and at its end, the rainfall rate reaching 100 mm/hour. On the Island of Honshu and in the settlement of Hatoyama, 360 mm of rainwater fell in two hours: this is twice the normal monthly amount. The monthly precipitation totals came close to, or exceeded, the normal figures in Japan and North Korea, and were less than them in South Korea.
In the countries of South-East Asia, precipitation was either normal or above-normal. Heavy rains caused floods in Malaysia.
In India and Pakistan, monsoon showers were exceptionally powerful. The normal monthly totals were exceeded by 2-4 times. Devastating floods were reported in Pakistan.
In Iran, in the north of Arabia and in the UAE, a lot of precipitation 2-4 times the normal monthly amount caused large-scale floods and landslides that killed people. Two days of heavy rains in the UAE ended up in the largest rainwater amount over the past 27 years. In the emirate of Fujairah, 255 mm of atmospheric moisture fell to introduce a new record-breaking maximum for July. A shortage of rainwater was observed in the Near East where Turkey was the only country to obtain occasional downpours.
Atmospheric precipitation in amounts 1.5-2.0 times greater than the normal ones went to the western regions of Kazakhstan, while the weather in the rest of Central Asia was dry. No precipitation at all was recorded in many places in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Torrential rains in Afghanistan created severe flooding that destroyed agricultural lands and killed livestock. This natural disaster was deemed unparalleled in the last fifty years.
Dryness in the northern Africa came along with normal and partly above-normal amounts of rain in the Sahel region that raised great hopes for decent harvest in the region suffering from the lack of food.
In Europe, this July was marked with a lack of precipitation. Most countries experienced severe drought, and the normal monthly figures were nowhere gained except for the Scandinavian or Baltic countries, Belarus and sundry regions of Greece or Italy. The precipitation amounts in the rest of the continent were less than half the normal ones. Heavy rains fell in Belarus to set up new maxima of precipitation totals; at the same time, 70% of the Romanian territory was overtaken by drought that developed to disastrous scale in the northern Italy. The heat and the lack of rains caused the glaciers in the Alps to melt and collapse. A state of emergency was announced, and water consumption by the population was restricted. A draught like this one has not been seen for more than a hundred years in the northern Italy.
In most of the US, in the south of Canada and in the south of Mexico, the monthly precipitation totals were normal or above-normal. The normal quantities were exceeded by 1.5-2.0 times in the east of the USA. The states of New Jersey and New York suffered from heavy rains and floods. The monthly amounts of atmospheric moisture on the Pacific coast of the US, in Texas as well as in the most of Canada and Mexico were either less than normal or altogether zero in some places.
Moscow received 99 mm of rainwater in July. This is normal.