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

Air Temperature

At the beginning of the first month of winter, abnormal colds spread over the entire ETR territory, as well as the Urals, the south of Siberia and the Far East. Record-breaking frosts were reported in the south of West Siberia, in Altai, along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and in Kolyma where the thermometer readings dropped to -53° sometimes. In the first decade of December, only Eastern Siberia, Yakutia and Chukotka were in the zone of excess heat, and the events of record-breaking warmth were even recorded in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Although the weather in most of Russia remained abnormally cold in the second decade, relatively warm air already reached the ETR, and the decade-averaged temperatures exceeded the normal values in this territory. But in Yakutia, the weather became so cold that the air temperature as low as -61° was measured there on the night of December 12. Recall that the absolute minima of air temperature are -62.8° for December at the cold pole and -67.8° for winter in the Northern Hemisphere. In the last decade of the year, warmth occupied almost all Russia, with the temperature maxima recorded both in its west (in the Kaliningrad and Black Earth regions) and in the east (in Yakutia and Kolyma). Cold air still prevailed in Trans-Baikal only.
In overall, this December turned out to be abnormally warm in Russia due to very warm third decade. The monthly-averaged air temperatures exceeded their normal values in the north of the ETR, in the Urals, in Siberia and in the Far East. The south-east of the Volga region as well as the south of the Urals and of Western Siberia were the only areas were this month was colder than usual.

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

Air Temperature

Abnormal heat that expanded from the Baltic Sea to the Sea of Okhotsk at the end of October persisted and even intensified in the first decade of November. New daily maxima of air temperature were recorded in the north-west of the ETR, in the Russian North and in the Arctic. In the second decade, this abnormal heat in the ETR became weaker, and in the third one, it faded away everywhere excluding the southern regions. At times, new temperature maxima were measured in the Crimea, Astrakhan Region and Northern Caucasus. In the second half of the month, the unprecedented cold weather came to the north of the country, as well as to the Urals and the territories to the east of them, the frosts reaching -35…-45°, or below -50° in Yakutia. But ultimately, the competition between the heat and the cold ended in a tie: the monthly-averaged air temperatures were close to normal in most of Russia, below normal in the Ural Federal District and partly in the north of the Far East, and higher than normal – noticeably higher indeed – in the Arctic and in the south of the Far East where November 2022 was among the Top Ten warmest in the entire history of meteorological observations, i.e., since 1891.
This autumn in Russia can be considered abnormally warm even though the average temperature in most of the country was close to normal, against the background of positive or negative anomalies in some or other areas. But the weather in the Arctic, in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and in Yakutia was by as much as 2-4° warmer than usual.
The temperature averaged for the past eleven months was the second highest in the ranking list since 1891. The temperature forecast for December suggests that the year 2022 would not likely be warmer than the current leader 2020.