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

Air Temperature

Hot weather that persisted in the central and northern regions of the ETR at the end of July spread to almost the entire ETR by the beginning of August. The air temperature in the central region reached 30-35°, and the anomalies of decade-averaged temperatures in the first decade amounted to 2-4°. In the following days of the month, the weather became even hotter. New temperature maxima were recorded in the ETR areas from the Kola Peninsula to Kalmykia. Sometimes, the air temperature exceeded +40° in the south, and rose to +25° and above in the polar regions in the north. The anomalies of decade-averaged temperatures topped +5-8°. So this August was ranked the hottest in the entire history of meteorological observations in the whole ETR and in the North-Western Federal District, the second hottest in the Central Federal District, the third and fourth hottest in the Southern and Volga Federal Districts, respectively, and the fifth hottest, in the North-Caucasian one. In 2022, August in the ETR was warmer than July.
The situation was quite different in the Urals and to the east of them where abnormally cold weather prevailed for most of the month. Daily temperature minima were set in Chukotka due to the frosts as low as -3°. Frosts were also observed in the south of the Urals and across many regions of Siberia. The weather was abnormally warm along the Arctic coast only.
Regarding Russia in overall, this August became the fifth warmest in the meteorological annals since 1891. The monthly-averaged temperature was 2-5° higher than normal everywhere from the western border to the Urals, and along the coasts of the Arctic seas. In most of the Siberian Federal District and in the western regions of the Far Eastern one, negative anomalies of at most 1.0-1.5° took place.
August concluded the calendar summer which turned out to be the third warmest in the history of meteorological observations in Russia, right after 2021 and 2016. Restricting to its European Territory, this summer was awarded the same rank, while in the north of the ETR, it was hottest in history for the second year in a row already, beating the previous highest achievement of 2021 by more than half a degree. The normal season-averaged temperatures were exceeded by more than 2° in roughly the same areas as in August. This summer was abnormally warm in large parts of Yakutia and of the Khabarovsk Territory as well: there, the figures were 2 or more degrees higher than normal, similar to the ETR. However, the summer in some regions of Siberia, specifically, in the Omsk and Novosibirsk Regions, was colder than usual.
In China, the heat increased with the onset of August, and the temperatures in many regions of the country remained at a level close to 40°: in Shanghai, for a record number of days. The thermometer readings in the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Guangxi and Guangdong repeatedly rose above 40°. As a result, this August in China turned out to be the hottest in the history of meteorological observations, surpassing the record-breaking achievement of 2006. In most parts of the country, the normal monthly-averaged temperatures in August were exceeded by 2-4°. The hottest August in history was also recorded in Japan.
The monthly-averaged temperatures in the countries of South-East Asia were close to normal.
The same can be said about most of India, but in Pakistan, the weather was noticeably cooler than usual due to a powerful monsoon: the monthly averaged temperatures in some regions of the latter country were 2° below normal.
Heat reigned in the Near and Middle East where the monthly-averaged air temperature was 2-4° higher than normal, and new daily temperature maxima were set. The thermometer readings sometimes rose to 45° in Israel and to 44° in Jordan. In Iran, a temperature of +53.6° was measured; this is one of the highest values ever recorded on the planet Earth.
The weather in North Africa was very hot in the north: the air heated up to 40-45°, and the anomalies of monthly-averaged temperature exceeded 2°. But in the south, the weather was cooler than usual in the countries of the Gulf of Guinea and the countries located closely to the north of them.
In most of Central Asia, the temperatures were higher than normal, but by different amounts: by 2-5° in the west of Kazakhstan and by 1-2° in the central regions. In the eastern regions, even subnormal values were recorded. The temperatures were above-normal in Turkmenistan and in the north of Uzbekistan, and close to normal or even less than that in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Hot weather occupied Europe where the monthly-averaged air temperatures were 2-4 or more degrees higher than normal almost everywhere. This August was the hottest in the history of meteorological observations on the continent. In England, the source of the River Thames dried up for the first time in history because of the heat in the area. The temperatures in a number of locations on the continent would rise up to 45° and above. August 2022 was the hottest in Belarus and Belgium, the second hottest in Spain, France, Sweden and Germany, and the third hottest in the Netherlands.
In the Western Hemisphere, this August was the hottest in Canada. The anomalies of monthly-averaged air temperatures in the west of Canada and of the US were +2-4° and higher. The same applies to the east of these countries (the province of Quebec in Canada and the territory of New England in the USA). The average temperature in the central regions of both countries was also above-normal, but less significantly so. In Mexico, the normal values were exceeded too, by two or more degrees in places.
On the average, the weather in the Arctic was 1.5° warmer than usual. However, the normal values were exceeded by 2-4° in the Russian sector, and by two or more degrees on the Arctic islands of Canada.
Considering the Northern Hemisphere, this August was the hottest in the history of meteorological observations since 1891. In fact, this was true for the whole summer as well, but the record in this case was shared by the summer 2020 and summer 2021, meaning that such record-breaking hot summers were observed in the Northern Hemisphere for three years in succession. This summer was the hottest in China and Europe, the second hottest in Canada and in the US, and the third hottest in Russia. The average summer temperature in Europe and in the ETR was 2-4 or more degrees higher than normal. The same anomalies were observed in the Near and Middle East, in China, Yakutia and Kamchatka, in the north of Japan, in the north of Canada, in the western United States, as well as in Mexico.
This August in Moscow turned out to be the hottest in the meteorological chronicle of the capital (its average temperature was +21.9°, amounting to an anomaly of +5.5°), hotter than the previous record-breaking August 2010. The summer in the capital (temperature equal to +20.5° and anomaly equal to +3.4°) was the fourth hottest after 2010, 2021 and 1972. The summer 2022 was reported to be unprecedented regarding the sunshine: 1012 sunshine hours, i.e., 30% greater than normal.

Sea Surface Temperature

Negative SST anomalies in the equatorial zone of the Pacific Ocean still occupied a large area that included tropical latitudes as well. Anomalies of absolute values higher than 1° reappeared. Various mathematical models of La Niño development indicated that this phenomenon would last until the end of the year. In the temperate zone, very large positive anomalies in excess of 3-4° were observed over the surface covering the entire area from East Asia to North America. The average SST anomaly reproduced its absolute maximum set in 2019 and 2020. Recall that this anomaly in July also reached the maximum value.
In the Atlantic Ocean alike, very high positive anomalies of up to +2…3 and more degrees were observed at temperate latitudes. These anomalies reached +4…6° in the Arctic and two or more degrees in the west of the Mediterranean Sea.

Precipitation

Even though heavy rains in the ETR fell from time to time in the north-western region (in the Leningrad and Arkhangelsk Regions and in the Komi Republic) at the beginning and end of the month, as well as in the centre and south of the ETR (the Voronezh and Tver Region, the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Crimea) in the middle of the month, this August should be considered dry since the monthly totals were essentially subnormal almost everywhere, and not a drop of rain fell in some places. The latter concerns a number of regions of the Volga and Southern Federal Districts. Soil drought took place in Chuvashia, whereas two normal monthly precipitation totals fell in twelve hours in Yalta on the Black Sea coast.
A similar picture was observed in the Urals where the normal precipitation figure was reached in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District only.
Neither Siberia was indulged with rains: their normal or above-normal amounts were measured in Taimyr, Evenkiya and the Tomsk Region only.
The territory of the Far East was inundated with rains: the normal rainwater amounts were exceeded twice in Kamchatka and by 1.5 times in Yakutia, in the Magadan and Sakhalin Regions and in the Khabarovsk Territory. Precipitation was normal in the rest of the Far Eastern Federal District excluding Buryatia and Trans-Baikal where just a few rains were observed. In the Khabarovsk and Primorye Territories, on Sakhalin and in the Amur region, intense rains fell from time to time bringing up to 70 or more millimetres of atmospheric moisture per day.
In most of China, the weather in August was dry, and the normal monthly precipitation figures were reached in the north-east of the country only. In the neighbouring Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Islands, rains were abundant. A powerful flood never seen since 1942 came to Korea where more than 90 mm of precipitation per hour fell in certain places, and up to 142 mm of daily rainwater accumulated in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The normal monthly totals were exceeded by 2-3 or more times in the north of Japan; in contrast, a drought was reported in the east of China.
Heavy rains were observed in the countries of South-East Asia. At the end of the month, they caused floods and landslides in the north of Laos and Vietnam, as well as on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. These rains brought more than 400 mm of precipitation to some locations. Numerous damages and deaths were reported.
In South Asia, the monsoon proceeded with its destructive activities, causing most harm in Pakistan; there, heavy downpours ended up in a natural disaster that killed dozens of people, and the normal precipitation totals were exceeded by 2-3 times. Heavy showers also led to floods in Sri Lanka where more than 240 mm of daily rainwater was measured in places, and in the east and south-west of India where rivers overflowed their banks. The precipitation totals were 1.5-3.0 times their normal values the south of India, and reached the normal values in the central regions of the country and in Nepal.
Dry weather with zero precipitation in many places prevailed in most of the Near and Middle East as well as in Central Asia. Yet, occasional heavy rains did take place, resulting in floods in the north-west of Yemen, in the north of Iran where the fatalities were reported, and in the north of Turkey where a number of districts were flooded in Istanbul. Rains also fell in the central regions of Kazakhstan where the normal monthly precipitation figure was achieved.
African countries located along the Mediterranean coast received almost no atmospheric moisture in August. The vast majority of meteorological stations reported zero monthly precipitation totals, with the exception of the stations in the north-west of Algeria where the rains did take place. The drought in Morocco was deemed the worst one in the past thirty years. On the other hand, precipitation was normal or above-normal to the south of Sahara. Torrential rains in Niger and Sudan caused floods and landslides that killed dozens of people and destroyed agricultural lands.
A severe drought came to Europe. German meteorologists reported that nothing like that has been seen in Germany since the start of regular meteorological observations in 1891. The rivers dried out so that the water levels in Rhine, Danube, Rhone and Loire reached their historical minima. The weather service officers in Hungary considered the drought in their country as the worst in the last hundred years, and the European Union declared the drought of this year to be the most severe in 500 years. The monthly precipitation totals in August were significantly higher than normal almost everywhere save for Greece and individual regions of Ukraine, Spain and Italy as well as of the Scandinavian countries. However, occasional heavy rains did take place in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in England and in France.
A drought considered the worst of all droughts seen before was observed in the north and north-west of the US. In August, rains were altogether absent along the Pacific coast in California, and were very rare in the states of Oregon and Washington. In the rest of the country, rains were regular; their amounts were normal almost everywhere and above-normal in the southern states, in particular, 2-3 times above in some areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. The precipitation figures were normal in most of Canada: the weather was dry in the west of the country only. Precipitation in the northern states of Mexico was 2-3 times above normal.
In Moscow, rains were very rare in August. The monthly precipitation total amounted to 4 mm, implying that this month was the second driest August in the meteorological chronicle of the capital, yielding to August 1938 only the total amounted to just 1 mm. As for the whole summer, 149 mm of rainwater fell: this is 60% of the normal value.