MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF MARCH 2022
Air temperature
Warm weather that set in the European Territory of Russia in February remained warm at the beginning of March. In the first decade, new daily maxima of air temperature were recorded in the Komi Republic as well as in the Vologda, Tver, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Ryazan, Moscow and Smolensk Regions. The decade-averaged temperatures exceeded the normal values everywhere except for the Russian North and the Crimea. But in the second decade, the temperature patterns changed sharply. Cold weather prevailed in the central and southern regions of the ETR, daily temperature minima were recorded in the Middle and Lower Volga regions, and the air cooled down to -30…-37° in Udmurtia, the Kirov Region and the Perm Territory. In the south, night frosts were observed, new daily temperature minima were measured in the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, and the average temperature anomalies in the second decade could reach -5° or lower values. But in the north of the ETR, the cold of the first decade was replaced by the record-breaking warmth, and the decade-averaged temperatures were 1-2 or more degrees higher than normal. The third decade turned everything upside down again and brought back positive anomalies everywhere save for the southern regions. New daily maxima were recorded in Karelia, in the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk Regions, in the north-western region, in the north-east of Central Russia, in the Middle Volga and in the Republic of Mari El.
As a result of all these perturbations, the monthly-averaged air temperature was remarkably higher than normal (by two or more degrees) in Karelia and in the Murmansk Region only; otherwise, the averages were normal in most of the ETR, with weak negative anomalies in the south and partly in the Volga region and weak positive ones in the rest of the territory. This March was colder than February in the Central Federal District, and has not been so cold in the south of the ETR for more than ten years.
MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF FEBRUARY 2022
Air Temperature
The weather in Russia remained abnormally warm for almost the entire month. The average air temperatures in each of the three decades were above-normal; negative anomalies were observed only during the second one in the south of Siberia, in Kolyma and in Chukotka: frosts in the central regions of Chukotka were as cold as -42 to -48° sometimes. Still, the decade-averaged temperatures exceeded their normal values by 6-10° in the European Territory of Russia, and by 6-12° in the Asian Territory. As a result, the monthly-averaged air temperatures turned out to be higher than normal throughout the country: in fact, 4-8° higher in most of it. New daily temperature maxima were recorded in Central Russia, in the southern areas including the Volgograd and Astrakhan Regions, Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of North Ossetia, as well as in Yakutia where the air warmed up to -4° right in the middle of winter. The average air temperature of February was the sixth highest among those recorded from 1891 to 2020. February 2020 was 1.5° warmer, and was still recognised as the warmest one in Russia. In Central Russia, the monthly-averaged air temperature amounted to +0.4°, positive for the seventh time in 132 years of regular meteorological observations.
Eventually, this winter became the fourth warmest in the meteorological chronicle of Russia; only the winters of 2020, 2016 and 2015 were even warmer. The air temperatures averaged for this winter were higher than normal almost everywhere: by four or more degrees in the south of the ETR, in the Urals, in the south and west of Siberia and the south of the Far East, and by 4-6° or more in the Arctic. The extreme east of Chukotka was the only region where the past winter was somewhat colder than usual.