MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF AUGUST 2020
Air Temperature
Air Temperature
In most of the ETR, cool July weather preserved for the first half of August. Even frosts were observed sometimes: hardly surprising for anybody in the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Regions or in Karelia, they definitely were rare guests in the areas such as the Moscow Region. The weather was warmer than usual in the North Caucasus and in the Kaliningrad Region only: there, new temperature maxima were recorded. In the second decade of August, the decade-averaged temperature anomalies reached -2…-3° in the Volga Region. The warmth came forth as late as on the twenties of the month, and the closer to the end of summer, the higher the temperature. And on the last day, new daily maxima were recorded in the midlands. In the third decade, the normal temperatures were exceeded by 2-3° or more in most of the ETR.
Hot weather prevailed in the Urals and Western Siberia from the first days of August. Sometimes, the thermometers readings rose to record-breaking levels in excess of +30…35°, and even crossed the 39° mark in Yekaterinburg. There, the average temperature was 3-7° higher than normal in all decades. Further to the east, cold weather prevailed in the Far Eastern Federal District. New daily temperature minima down to -8° were observed in Yakutia, and frosts, in Primorye and in the Khabarovsk Territory. The anomalies of decade-averaged temperatures reached -2…-3°. The Far North and the Arctic islands of Russia were the only exceptions to enjoy extraordinary warmth for almost the entire month. The ever highest temperatures were recorded in the areas from Novaya Zemlya to Chukotka. In some places, records were set for ten or more days in succession.
MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF JULY 2020
Air temperature
Air temperature
With the beginning of July, the heat in the ETR intensified and spread as far as the Urals and the coast of the Kara Sea in the north. The anomalies of decade-averaged temperature were +2-3° in the central region, +4-5° in the south and +5-8° in the north. New daily temperature maxima were recorded in the Volga Region, in the Urals and in the Rostov, Volgograd and Lipetsk Regions. The air heated up to +40° or above in places. The decade-averaged air temperatures were close to normal in the west of the ETR only including Karelia and the Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod Regions. The weather became colder in the second decade, and the decade-averaged air temperatures returned to their normal values over the most part of the ETR already. The anomalous heat solely survived in the south, in the Volga Region and in the Urals. Hot air fluxes from the Western Kazakhstan resulted in record-breaking temperatures in the Middle and Southern Urals where the thermometer readings rose above +40° sometimes. In Orenburg, a new absolute maximum of air temperature in July was set. The temperatures in the Sverdlovsk and Orenburg Regions and in Bashkiria remained extreme for 5-7 days in succession. There, the average air temperature in the second decade was 6-8° above the normal value. The weather grew colder in the third decade. The average air temperature in the centre and the west of the ETR was subnormal. New daily temperature minima were recorded in the Pskov, Yaroslavl, Tula, Ryazan and Tambov Regions. The anomalous warmth remained solely in the south and along the coasts of the Barents and Kara Seas. Yet, considering the overall monthly figures, the air temperatures in the South, Volga and Western Ural Federal Districts were 2-4 or more degrees above the normal values. In the rest of the ETR, they were approximately normal, and in the Leningrad, Pskov and partly Novgorod Regions, lower than that. In the Volga Region, this July was the fourth warmest in the history of meteorological observations.
The monthly-averaged air temperature in most of Siberia was close to normal. Only in the central regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, this value was somewhat lower than the normal one: cold weather prevailed there for most of July. The anomalies of decade-averaged air temperatures in the second and third decades reached -2° or more.