The air in the ETR was abnormally warm from the first to last days of April. The average temperatures in each decade were 2-6° higher than normal everywhere save for the northern regions, and numerous temperature maxima were recorded all month long in many constituent entities of the Federation. The thermometer readings in the south of the ETR rose above 30° sometimes, while cold weather prevailed in the north only: in the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Regions, as well as in the Republic of Karelia where unprecedented frosts down to -18° were observed in some places.

The weather in the Urals was cooler than usual for the most part, yet it changed to record-breaking warmth on occasional days, creating new daily temperature maxima in the Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Orenburg and Kurgan Regions as well as in the Republic of Bashkiria.

Siberia was a territory of multi-vector weather, ranging from rare colds with new air temperature minima in some cases, as in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District in the second decade, to temperature highs in other cases, as in the same places in the third decade when the average temperature exceeded its normal value by two or more degrees.

Similar to the ETR, the weather in the Far East was noticeably warmer than usual for almost the entire month, so that certain areas where the temperature averages were 2-4 or more degrees above normal could be pointed for any decade. Unparalleled warmth with new temperature maxima in many locations was hosted by the south of the Khabarovsk Territory, by the Primorye, Jewish Autonomous Region, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands, Yakutia and Kolyma.

As a result, most of the country was occupied by positive anomalies of monthly-averaged air temperatures: 2-6° in the ETR and Southern Urals, or 2° and higher in the Far East. Cold weather concentrated along the Arctic coast, in the Northern Urals and, partially, in Siberia.

The average air temperature of April 2024 in Russia was among the top ten highest for the entire period of regular meteorological observations since 1891. The same can be said about the ETR. This April was the warmest in history in the Central, Southern and North-Caucasian Federal Districts as well as in the south of the Far-Eastern one, and the third warmest in the Volga region.

This April, very high air temperatures were measured in East and South-East Asia. New maxima, higher than +30° in some places, were set in China, Japan and Korea. The monthly-averaged temperatures exceeded the normal values by 2-4 or more degrees in the southern, central and north-eastern provinces of China, and in Korea and Japan as well. In China, this April was the warmest in the history of meteorological observations; in the countries of South-East Asia, the anomalies were even higher, and exceeded +4°. The air in Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore would heat above +40°, and school classes in the Philippines were cancelled due to unbearable heat.

The air temperature was close to normal in most of India, but by about 2° higher than normal in the east of the country, and by roughly the same amount less than normal in the north-west. At times, the thermometers indicated above 45°, and new temperature maxima were recorded. The weather in neighbouring Pakistan was remarkably colder than usual, but this did not prevent from setting a new temperature maximum.

In the Near and Middle East, the heat was separated from the cold: the temperatures in the countries located in the north and west rose above 40° at times, new temperature maxima were set, and the monthly-averaged temperature was 2-4 or more degrees higher than normal. The eastern and southern areas were in conditions typical for this time of year, with the weather in Iran even notably colder (with anomalies down to -2°).

In the countries of Central Asia, warm weather prevailed in the west of Kazakhstan, in the north of Uzbekistan, and everywhere in Turkmenistan, with the normal monthly-averaged temperatures exceeded by 2-4 or more degrees. The temperatures in the rest of this region may be considered close to normal, or even less than normal in the south.

This April in North Africa was the warmest in the history of meteorological observations, beating the record dated 2015. The average air temperature was 2-4° higher than normal in the central and western regions of the continent, and close to normal in the rest of the territory.

In the first half of April, Europe experienced summer heat that created new maxima of air temperature along the paths from Spain to Belarus, Ukraine and Greece, and in repeated temperature boosts above 30°. The earliest date with a temperature above +29° was recorded in Poland, above 30°, in the Czech Republic, and above 33°, in France. But in the third decade, cold weather covered the continent, and new temperature minima instead of the maxima were now recorded. The thermometer readings dropped to -5° in Central Europe or to -10° in mountainous areas. Due to this shift, the air temperature averages in April ended up in values close to normal in Western and Central Europe, 2-3° higher than normal in Eastern Europe, and subnormal in Northern Europe. Eventually, this April became the third warmest in the history of meteorological observations in the continent, with April 2018 still at the leading position.

Throughout the North American continent, the average temperature in April was above-normal virtually everywhere, by 2-6 or more degrees above in Canada, and by about 2° in the northern USA. April 2024 became the third warmest in the history of meteorological observations in Canada, and was among the top ten warmest in the US. Abnormal heat occupied Cuba where the air temperature often exceeded 40° and new temperature maxima were established. In the Caribbean region, a new high of the monthly-averaged air temperature was set.

As for the entire Northern Hemisphere, the average temperature in April, as well as in the period from January to April, was the highest in history.

In Moscow, the monthly-averaged temperature was +10.8°, implying an anomaly of +3.9°. This is the third result after April 2000 and April 2001 in the meteorological chronicle of the capital. At the beginning of the month, new daily maxima of air temperature were set in the capital on three successive days.

 

 

According to the climatic data, El Niño still existed even though continued weakening. In particular, the latter was supported by the appearance of abnormally cold water off the coast of South America. Yet, the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere remained all-time high for the seventh month in succession already. The SST anomalies at temperate latitudes were in excess of +1-2°, with abnormally cold water forced northward to occupy the water bodies of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea.

As regards the Atlantic Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere, its monthly-averaged SST remained record high even longer, namely, for the sixteenth month in a row. Its equatorial and most of its tropical latitudes were occupied by high positive anomalies (+1-2° or higher). As in the case of the Pacific Ocean, negative SST anomalies were located in the north: off the coast of Greenland, in the Norwegian Sea and in the Barents Sea. The SST of the marginal European seas was abnormally high.

This April was wet in most of Russia: the monthly precipitation totals in the north-west of the ETR, in the north of the central region, in the Urals, in Siberia and in most of the Far East were significantly higher than normal, 2-3 or more times higher in some places.

Heavy rains and snowfalls were repeatedly observed in the north-western region of the country, resulting in the growth of snowdrifts and setting new maxima of daily precipitation totals. Similar trends took place in the Perm Territory, in Udmurtia, in the Sverdlovsk and Kurgan Regions, in Evenkiya and Khakassia, in the Kemerovo Region, in the central and southern regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in Buryatia, in the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Amur region, as well as in Kolyma and Kamchatka. At the same time, a shortage of atmospheric moisture was observed in the southern regions of the Central Federal District, in the Southern and North-Caucasian Federal Districts, in the Primorye and in Sakhalin; there, the precipitation figures were, for the most part, twice less than normal, or four times less than that in a number of constituent entities of the Federation, for example, in the Republic of Crimea.

The central and southern regions of China received a lot of rain: in some places, the precipitation amounts accumulated in April were 1.5-2.5 times the normal values. Torrential rains in the southern China kept on falling for several days and caused flooding that had not been seen there for more than fifty years. In the province of Guangdong, it was named the flood of the century, and resulted in numerous landslides. Precipitation in the rest of East Asia, and in almost the entire South-East Asia alike, was scarce.

Rains in India were rare, and fell solely in the states of Orissa in the east of the country and Rajasthan in the north-west along the Pakistan border where a doomsday deluge in the middle of the month killed dozens of people and poured two to four times the normal monthly precipitation quantities in 3-5 days. As reported by the Pakistan Meteorological Service, this April was the wettest in the history of meteorological observations in the country.

Record-breaking rains were observed in Iran and in the Persian Gulf countries. Some meteorological stations in the UAE recorded up to 200-250 mm of rainwater per day, moreover, twice the normal annual precipitation quantities pounced on Dubai during a single day. Unprecedented downpours in Oman converted deserts into lakes in a couple of days. Yet, the weather was dry in most of the countries of Western Asia; Azerbaijan was the only exception where new record-breaking precipitation totals were measured at the beginning of the month.

Dry weather prevailed in Central Asia alongside the most of Northern Africa where an unprecedented drought in Morocco deprived the country of up to 20% of its agricultural lands. Rains fell only in a number of countries in the Gulf of Guinea as well as in Kenya where they caused flooding that affected its capital Nairobi in particular.

The rainfall amounts in most European countries were normal, or increased in the east of the continent. In the south of Ukraine, new maxima of daily precipitation totals were recorded; in Belarus, this April became the wettest for several ten-year periods. Snowfalls were observed in the mountainous regions of the continent.

A lot of precipitation went to the western provinces of Canada, as well as to the US where the areas other than the western ones were also hit by heavy rains, and the normal precipitation amounts were exceeded by 1.5-2.5 times. A drought was torturing Central America and neighbouring Ecuador.

In Moscow, the total precipitation amount in April was 47 mm, which is approximately normal.