Climatic conditions over the territory of Russia.

The year 2006 in Russia was warm. The anomaly of the mean annual air temperature averaged over the Russian territory was 0.5° C.

In early 2006, most of the Russian territory experienced severe frosts. Record-breaking low mean-monthly temperatures were recorded in Western Siberia (Fig.1). Severe frosts were observed in this region on the first days of the new year. In the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area, the minimum air temperature dropped as low as -50…-58° C and in the Khanty-Mansisk Autonomous Area, -45…-58° C. In the Omsk and Tyumen regions, on the coldest days from 10 through 13 January, the temperature attained -46…-48° C. In the north of the Tomsk Region, from 10 through 16 January, severe frosts persisted, -40…-49° C. Six meteorological stations in the Tomsk Region recorded temperatures that were 0.1-0.4° C below the absolute minimum. Negative daily anomalies exceeded 25° C (see boxes in Fig.1).

Fig.1. Air temperature anomalies in January 2006.

Insets show show mean monthly and mean daily air temperature series in January 2006 at meteorological stations Aleksandrovskoe and Kolpashevo.

In the Kemerovo Region, stems of thermometers dropped to the mark -50…53° C. In the second and third ten-day periods, record-breaking anomalies (-15…-17° C) were recorded in the Tomsk and Kemerovo regions and in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. This is due to the fact that this winter the Siberian anticyclone moved far to the west of its usual position over Yakutia. The anticyclone center was over the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Therefore, here severe frosts persisted here for a long time. At station Bor, frosts below -30° C lasted 22 days – a record-breaking period. The same pattern was observed in the north of the Tomsk Region: at station Aleksandrovskoe, severe frosts persisted 24 days, with frosts below -30° C being recorded for 23 days.

Record-breaking low minimum air temperatures were recorded in the second ten-day period of January in the east of the Central Chernozem Region: on 19 January in Tambov (-37.4° C), on 22 January in Boguchar and Bogoroditskoe-Fenino (-35.5° C and -32.2° C, respectively). By 24 January, severe frosts reached southern regions: in Krasnodar and Adygeia, the recorded air temperature was -34° C and -29° C, respectively. Even on the Black Sea coast, in the vicinity of Anapa-Novorossisk, the air temperature dropped as low as -20…-25° C. The Astrakhan Region (Verkhny Baskunchak) experienced the record-breaking low minimum air temperature, 33.3° C. The lowest minimum air temperatures for the whole period of record were observed in the Krasnodar (-30.6° C in Armavir) and Stavropol (-24.3° C in Kislovodsk) territories. On 30 January, stems of thermometers in Krasnoyarsk dropped to -41.3° C. This is 1.3° C lower than the record-breaking temperature minimum for this day in Krasnoyarsk. In some of the settlements in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the air temperature dropped as low as -50° C. Moreover, it was the Evenki Autonomous Area, where the lowest temperature in Russia was registered on 30 January: in Kerbo settlement, the air temperature dropped as low as -58.5° C. For comparison, in Oimyakon, the town in Yakutia, which is the cold pole in the Northern Hemisphere, stems of thermometers did not drop below -45.4° C.

In most of European Russia, it was also cold in February. In the first ten-day period, severe frosts (-35…-40° C and, in places, -40…-45° C) persisted in the south of the Evenki Autonomous Area and in the central Krasnoyarsk Territory. Therefore, here mean monthly air temperature proved to be 1-2° C below normal. Cold weather was observed in central Kamchatka and in the northern Khabarovsk Territory, where mean monthly temperature anomalies were -2…-4° C.

In Western Siberia, particularly in the north, February was warm. In the north of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area, mean monthly temperature anomalies reached 6-8° C. In the north of Eastern Siberia, mean monthly air temperature in February was 3-5° C above normal. February was also warmer than normally in the Tyva Republic. In the north of the Far East region and in the Maritime Territory, mean monthly air temperatures were above normal. Maximum positive anomalies (more than 4° C) were recorded in the northwest of the Yakutia-Sakha Republic and in the east of the Chukotka Autonomous Area. In Chukotka, warm weather was accompanied by a large amount of precipitation (more than two monthly norms), frequent snow storms with wind speed attaining 23-28 m/s and 35-40 m/s on the coast, and poor visibility to 500 m. High precipitation was also recorded in the eastern Amur Region, central Khabarovsk Territory, Maritime Territory and on the western coast of Kamchatka.

In March, substantial part of European Russia experienced cold weather: the entire Northwestern Federal District and nearly the whole of the Central Federal District, except the Voronezh, Belgorod and Kursk regions. At the cold center, the anomalies attained -6° C. In Ural, warm weather was accompanied by substantial precipitation (200-300% of monthly norm). A monthly precipitation norm was also considerably exceeded in the Volga-Vyatka and Central Chernozem regions (250-300%). Very much precipitation (250-330% of monthly norm) was recorded in the southern Far East. Particularly intensive precipitation was recorded in Sakhalin and the Maritime Territory in the third ten-day period.

In April. Positive temperature anomalies were recorded in most of European Russia. East of Ural, the air temperature was below normal, with temperature anomalies being -6…-8° C in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area and in the vicinity of the Ob Bay. In the south of Western Siberia, cool weather was accompanied by high precipitation (170-230% of monthly norm), which, combined with intensive snow melting, caused torrential spring floods in the Kemerovo Region and the Altai Territory. Particularly serious hydrological conditions were noted on the Biya River near Biysk: about 500 houses were impounded in the town and people had to be evacuated.

In the last spring month, temperature conditions on the territory of Russia were largely close to normal.

Summer began with hot weather. Nearly on the entire Russian territory, mean monthly air temperatures in June were above normal. Although temperature anomalies were no higher than 5° C, positive anomalies over most of the Russian territory resulted in the fact that in 2006, the mean air temperature in June on the Russian territory became maximal for the period considered (1936-2006).

In summer, European Russia experienced very warm June: it proved to be the third in the ranked series (Fig.2). In early June, it was very hot in the south of the region: on 4-6 June, the temperature rose to 35° C in the Tambov Region and to 40° C in the Volgograd and Saratov Regions. In the period 1 to 6 June, hot winds were recorded in the Astrahan Region. On the first days of June, air drought set in North Caucasia: the maximum temperature was above 30° C for as long as 15-18 days, with no precipitation recorded. By the end of the second ten-day period, soil drought began in the Volgograd Region.

In July, the mean monthly temperature in the west of European Russia was 0.5-1.0° C above normal. In the Northwestern Region, from 8 to 12 July, mean daily air temperatures attained 24-27° C and the anomalies were 7-10° C. In the rest of the Region, July was slightly more cold than usually.

Significant precipitation deficit in the north of the North Caucasia Region caused soil drought in most of the Rostov Region and the steppe zone of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic and allowed soil drought to persist in the southern and Volga areas of the Volgograd Region. Soil drought was also recorded in individual regions of the republics of Mordovia, Chuvashia and Udmurtia.

The southern Khabarovsk Territory received more than two monthly precipitation norms, which caused high rainfall floods on the Territory’s rivers that had not been recorded since 1961.

In August, very hot weather set in the Southern Federal District. Mean monthly air temperature anomalies were 5-6° C. For a long time, diurnal air temperatures exceeded 30° C and in the first half of the month rose as high as 37-43° C. On 10 August, air drought started in the steppe regions of North Osetia: dry period lasted 25-35 days during which the maximum air temperature exceeded 30° C. Air drought was aggravated by soil drought. On 23-24 August, rains in the north and southeast of the Rostov Region stopped soil drought. Drought combined with hot dry weather on this territory lasted 34-40 days. On 24-25 August, soil drought was terminated in the northwest and east of the Stavropol Territory. In the east of the Territory, soil drought started as early as 1 June and persisted 84-86 days and since 28 July, soil drought was worsened by hot dry weather. The central Stavropol Territory and the lowland regions of Dagestan continued to be exposed to air drought that was accompanied by soil drought: stored productive moisture in the one-meter soil layer decreased to 40-50 mm and in places, to 30 mm and under.

August in central European Russia proved to be very rainy. The Kaluga, Tula, Oryol and Ryazan regions received more than two monthly precipitation norms. In Kaluga, the August of 2006 became most humid for the past century.

Fig 2. Weather in Summer 2006
a) Air temperature anomalies
b) Relation of monthly precipitation totals to normal over European Russia.

The graph shown illustrate the record wet conditions at meteorological station Kaluga.

In the Far East, warm weather prevailed in August. Mean monthly air temperature anomalies in the southern Khabarovsk Territory and in Sakhalin exceeded 3° C. The southeast of the Yakutia-Sakha Republic and the north of the Magadan Region and the Khabarovsk Territory experienced very warm weather. However, frequent rains were observed in these regions: some places received more than three monthly precipitation norms. Okhotsk, for example, received 72 mm of precipitation in 12 hours on 15-16 August.

September, like in the previous year, proved to be warm in most of the country, though mean monthly air temperature anomalies were lower than those in September 2005.

In the first ten-day period of October, cold weather set abruptly in the north of the Irkutsk Region caused genuine winter frosts to -18…-23° C. In Transbaikalia, air temperature dropped by 12-17° C. Strong winds and snow caused damage of power transmission lines and power supply failures. In October, the northeast of the Far East region experienced a strong heat center, where mean monthly temperature anomalies exceeded 6° C.

In November, the territory of Russia experienced two large heat foci divided by a sufficiently intensive cold zone. On the Arctic coast and on the islands, as well as in most of the Far East, November was very warm. The center of this focus was over continental zones of the Magadan Region and the Chukotka Autonomous Area. At the center, mean monthly air temperature anomalies attained 13-15° C. In the east and south of Yakutia, the Amur Region, the northern Khabarovsk Territory, the north of the Chita Region, and the southwest of the Magadan Region, warm weather was accompanied by a large amount of precipitation, which is absolutely not typical for this season, when the Siberian anticyclone is normally prevailing in these regions. As a result, monthly precipitation norms are exceeded two- and threefold and in places, fourfold. This November in Magadan, for example, following two very low-snow months of November, 161 mm of precipitation (358% of monthly norm) was recorded, which is only 5 mm lower than the 1995 absolute maximum.

The end of the year proved to be abnormally warm on most of the Russian territory (Fig.3). The mean monthly air temperature averaged over the territories of the quasi-homogeneous regions (region IV is the center and the south of European Russia, region V is the center and the south of Western Siberia) was maximal throughout the period of record (Fig.3b). Meteorological stations at the places of positive anomalies registered record-breaking mean monthly air temperatures (Fig.3a).

Fig.3. Air temperature anomalies in December 2006. . Insets show show: a) mean monthly and mean daily air temperature series in December 2006 at meteorological stations Kostroma and Kolpashevo; b) mean monthly air temperature averaged over the territory of quasi-homogeneous regions

In Moscow, for more than one hundred years of observations, the mean December air temperature did not reach such values as in 2006. It was 1.2° C. Mean daily air temperatures were above normal during the whole month, except for 26 December. Daily air temperatures that are maximal for the whole period of record were exceeded eleven times. On 15 December, the maximum air temperature attained 9° C.