Climate Russia
Russia has an image of a country of eternally cold: the Far North suffers from the harsh winters and short summers of the polar climate, and it can be very cold, down to -50°C in the Murmansk region. Umyakon and Verkhoiansk in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) are known to be the two coldest places in the world: temperatures as low as -70°C have been recorded there. In fact, like the all-nighters and polar nights that make up the Petersburg seasons, Russia is a land of contrasts and conceals a wide variety of climates.
The different climates of Russia
Central Russia is characterized by a continental climate. Spring and autumn are very short. Winter lasts from November to April, summer from mid-May to September. In the south, climates can be almost tropical in some gulfs along the Black Sea coast. It should be noted that the mineral water region of the Caucasus (Kislovodsk, Pyatigorsk) benefits from an exceptional amount of sunshine with an average of more than 280 days per year: a good way to regain strength during the long Moscow winter without going as far as Thailand. Siberia is subject to a harsh climate: almost everywhere, the average annual temperature is 0°C, but it can drop as low as -18°C in the northeast. The winter is always long and cold. Summer is hot in the northern part of Siberia: it can be 30 °C to 35 °C in Novosibirsk, for example. The harshness of the Siberian climate is reflected not only in the deep freezing of the ground every winter, but also in the formation of an "eternal frost" (permafrost) in the underground layers. In the north, the "frozen territory" covers more than 6,000 km² and the thickness of the frozen layer varies between 200 and 500 m underground (down to -1,500 m in the Markha River basin).
Global warming
In recent years, the effects of global warming have been felt particularly dramatically in Russia, even though the country is not yet prepared to deal with them
Thawing permafrost. Permafrost, this layer of frozen earth of variable thickness, covers a significant part of the Russian subsoil (around 60%). In addition to the rise in Siberian waters, its recent thaw caused by global warming has other dramatic consequences. As it thaws, the permafrost releases large quantities of methane and mercury, which are particularly toxic, as well as CO2, which is twice as present in the permafrost as in the atmosphere, thus accelerating the warming process. But it also has other surprises in store, as permafrost has also preserved viruses in the ice, some of which are still unknown. In 2016, following a particularly hot summer, the body of a 75-year-old reindeer contaminated with anthrax thawed and raised fears of an epidemic. A child who had been exposed to the bacillus died and some 2,300 reindeer at risk had to be slaughtered to preserve the animal and human population
Forest fires. In 2019 in Siberia, more than 15 million hectares of forest went up in smoke: the equivalent of a country the size of Tunisia. Forest fires are frequent in the region, but in recent years they have reached an ever-increasing intensity, with 2019 being a record year. Their resurgence is directly linked to the rise in average temperatures, which dries out the Siberian air in an unusual way. In 2019, the authorities initially refused to intervene, as the fires did not directly threaten any homes and it was therefore economically preferable to let them go out on their own. But the fire gained momentum: the smoke cloud travelled from the Urals to the west coast of North America. As the fires burned, they released massive doses of carbon dioxide and stimulated the melting of the permafrost, accelerating the warming process. This is a vicious circle from which Siberia will only be able to escape with a significant investment by the state in civil security, which is not yet the case: in 2019, the state finally sent the army to fight the fires, several weeks after they broke out. You should therefore be particularly careful if you plan to travel to Siberia in the summer.
