MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF JANUARY 2019
Air Temperature
The only regions where the monthly-averaged air temperature was less than normal were Chukotka and, partially, North Yakutia. The climate was abnormally warm in the rest of the country. The normal value was exceeded by +2…4° in the European part and by +4-6° in Asia. Yet, the latter does not mean that it remained so during all January.
In the first decade of January, an increased average temperature was observed in the North and South of the ETR and in most parts of Siberia and Far East (with the anomalies of decade-averaged temperatures reaching +4…8°). In the meantime, the temperature in the Central Region, South Urals and South Siberia was close to normal, or even somewhat less than that in some places.
In the second decade, warmth pervaded almost all the territory of Russia excluding its North East. The daily maxima were recorded in the Upper Volga Region, Trans-Baikal, Evenkiya, Amur Region and Kamchatka. The warmth anomalies in this decade were in excess of +4-8°. Yakutia, Kolyma and Chukotka were the only regions where the weather was noticeably colder than usual (with -2…-4° anomalies). In Yakutia, the temperatures dropped below -50°.
In the third decade, the warm weather only survived in the South of the ETR, Southern Siberia and the South of the Far East (the anomalies of decade-averaged temperatures being +4…10°), whereas the rest of the country was flooded with cold air, and the temperature became normal or even 2-6° below it in the North. In this decade, the coldest temperatures reached -30° in Central Russia and -40° in the Russian North, with the temperature minima recorded in the North of West Siberia and severe colds down to -55° observed in Yakutia. But at the same time, exceptionally warm weather came to the Trans-Baikal, Omsk and Irkutsk regions, to the South of the Khabarovsk Territory, to the Primorye, to the Northern Caucasus and to Crimea.
The monthly-averaged temperature in all Federal districts reached neither extreme positive values nor extreme negative ones. Quite habitually already, this January turned out to be anomalously warm. This occurred for the fifth year in succession; all in all, only four Januaries in the XXI century have featured the monthly-averaged temperatures below their normal values.
MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AS OF DECEMBER 2018
Air Temperature
The air temperature during all December was close to normal in the European territory of Russia (ETR) excluding its North. Of course, the weather was sometimes colder for several days only to become warmer after an inflow of warm air. As a result, the monthly-averaged air temperatures in the ETR were almost normal albeit that accompanied by weak positive anomalies. And the North, namely, the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions as well as the Komi and Karelia republics, was the only exception where the monthly-averaged air temperatures exceeded their normal values by 2-6° or more, with the peak daily temperatures recorded therein.
Siberia rendered an entirely different picture where the cold in the first and third decades contrasted with the anomalous warmth in the second decade, the anomalies of decade-averaged temperatures being as low as -10…-12° in cold periods and as high as the same values negated in warm ones. Moreover, the substantial warmth and the equally strong cold were alternating at a surprisingly high rate from time to time. For example, the daily maximum of air temperatures recorded in Turukhansk in the end of the second decade dropped down in a matter of few days to the daily minimum in the third decade. The coldest temperatures were -40° or below.
The air temperatures in Yakutia were even lower: below -50°, though their monthly-averaged values in the Republic of Sakha were somewhat higher than usual. These values in all territories of the Far Eastern Federal district other than its northern-most East lands were above normal. The only overly cold region was Chukotka where the monthly-averaged temperature was 2-6° below the normal value.
The average December temperature in the country as a whole was close to normal, with its anomaly less than one degree.