Once the New Year began, cold Arctic air rushed to the ETR, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East, and brought the record-breaking frosts to the north-west of the ETR, to Central Russia and to the Volga region in the first decade of the month, dropping the thermometer readings close to -40° all over this area. The average temperature anomalies in the first decade were as low as -4…-15° in the ETR, and as -4…-8° in the Asian Territory of Russia.

In the second decade, the frosts became less severe, yet the average temperature in most of the country turned out to be 2-8° lower than normal.

The warmth came in the third decade, replacing the extreme colds recently observed here and there with the decade temperature averages 2-10 or more degrees higher than usual in the same locations, and resulting in new records of warmth in the south of Siberia and of the Far East. In the last days of January, numerous daily temperature maxima were set in the north and north-west of the ETR.

In terms of final monthly averages, two foci of cold weather with subnormal monthly-averaged temperatures were formed in Russia this January: the north-western and central ETR regions as well as the Volga region and the Urals from the west, and Yakutia, Kolyma, Kamchatka, Sakhalin and the Khabarovsk Territory from the east. And between them, i.e., in most of Siberia, as well as outside in Chukotka, the weather was abnormally warm. Negative anomalies of monthly-averaged temperatures amounted to -2…-6°, and positive ones, to more than 2°.

The air temperature monthly-averaged over the whole Russian territory was close to normal. None of the federal districts entered the top twenty warmest for the period from 1891 to 2024.

In most of China, the air temperature averages in January were about normal against the background of positive anomalies. Weak negative anomalies were observed in the south-west of the country only, whereas positive ones, in the north-west. Frosts in the north-east of China and in neighbouring Mongolia reached -40° on some days. The weather in Korea and Japan was warmer than usual, with up to +2° anomalies, but the colds would break through even there, dropping the thermometer readings in Seoul down to -10° sometimes.

The temperatures in the countries of South-East Asia were roughly normal.

In India, the average air temperature was about normal as well, backed by positive anomalies in most of the countries, and by negative ones in the north.

The weather all over the Near and Middle East and in most of Central Asia was noticeably warmer than usual, with the monthly-averaged air temperatures 2-4° higher than normal. Yet, the frosts in the west and north-west of Kazakhstan reached -30…-40° on certain days.

In North Africa, the maximum of monthly-averaged air temperature set in January 2010 was reproduced again, and the monthly temperature averages in a large part of the territory were two or more degrees higher than normal. In Morocco, temperatures above 30° were recorded, quite untypical for this North African country in January.

Europe was split into an abnormally cold north and a closely normal or even extremely warm south. The north suffered from severe frost down to -30° or below in the Scandinavian countries and to -18° in the north of Central Europe, viz., in Germany. In Sweden, subnormal monthly-averaged temperatures were recorded for the fourth month in a row. The Gulf of Bothnia froze completely as early as at the beginning of the month instead of the end of January as usual or even later in some years. The temperatures in the south and south-east of the continent, e.g., in Spain, Italy, Albania, Romania, Montenegro and Greece, exceeded +20° on occasional days. Once in a while, new temperature highs were recorded in Belgium and Denmark, and an unprecedented value of +30.7° measured in Spain became a new absolute maximum of air temperature in January in this country as well as a new highest temperature value ever recorded in January in Europe.

As for North America, the weather was very warm in the north-east of Canada where the monthly-averaged temperature anomalies were +4° or higher. In contrast, the weather in the west of the country was colder than usual: the thermometers in the province of Alberta indicated below -50°, setting new minima of daily temperature and resulting in frosts that have not been seen there for several decades. The average temperature in the US can be considered close to normal; the anomalies were positive in the northern regions of the country (in excess of 2° in the north-east), and negative in the southern regions. The colds spread to the north of Mexico where the monthly-averaged temperature was about +5° but normally amounts to +10…25° in this time of year.

This January, the average air temperature in the Northern Hemisphere reached a new record-breaking maximum for the ninth month in succession, i.e., since June 2023.

In Moscow, the average temperature in January was -10.1° implying an anomaly of -3.9°.

 

 Sea Surface Temperature

El Niño was still in place in the east of the equatorial latitudes of the Pacific Ocean. The SST anomalies were higher than +2°, and were positive everywhere in the Ocean with the exception of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific coast of Kamchatka. The monthly-averaged SST of the Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere reached its absolute maximum for the fourth month in succession.

The scene in the Atlantic Ocean was similar: the monthly-averaged SST was above-normal almost all over its surface in the Northern Hemisphere, and also was a new absolute maximum. The latter happened for the thirteenth mouth in a row since January 2023.

This month, precipitation in the ETR was abundant save for most of the North-West Federal District and for some areas of the North-Caucasian one: 1.5 times the normal figures in the Central and Volga Federal Districts, and two or more times in the South Federal District. Copious snowfalls in the first decade of the month covered the Crimea, Krasnodar Territory, Volgograd and Astrakhan Regions and Republic of Kalmykia, bringing up to 50 mm of precipitation per day to some places. In the second decade, this situation was reproduced in the south of Russia; for example, half the normal monthly precipitation amount fell for a single night in the Crimea. The height of freshly fallen snow exceeded 10-20 cm. In the third decade, the Volga region was a victim, with new maxima of daily precipitation totals set for three successive days in Kazan where the height of snow banks reached 80 cm.

Precipitation in the Urals was normal or above that, more than one and a half times above in the Chelyabinsk and Kurgan Regions. In the central regions of Siberia, a similar picture was observed, while in its south, the precipitation patterns were involved: e.g., the figures were almost three times higher than normal in the Republic of Altai, but subnormal in the republics of Khakassia and Tyva, as well as in the Irkutsk Region.

In the Far East, precipitation was about normal in the south of the region, above-normal in the north (in Kolyma and Chukotka), and noticeably less than half the normal amount along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. Heavy snowfall took place on Sakhalin where the snow cover increased by half a metre for one day.

A lot of precipitation in eastern Asia went to China and Mongolia: there, the normal quantities were exceeded by 1.5-2.0 or more times in some locations. Almost no rains fell in the countries of the South-East Asia. But in the twenties of the month, heavy rains swept across Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

In India, precipitation was only received by the north and south of the country. The weather in most of the Near and Middle East was dry; rains fell in the Transcaucasia, in Turkey, in the north of Iran and in the Levant countries only.

Precipitation in Central Asia was profuse in the northern Kazakhstan and spot-like in the Central Asian states.

In North Africa, normal precipitation was observed on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt only and almost absent elsewhere.

Precipitation in most of Europe was normal, slightly greater than that in some places (in Central and Eastern Europe), and slightly less in the others (in Southern Europe, including Italy, France and Bulgaria). In the first decade, heavy snowfalls hit the Black Sea countries (Ukraine and Moldova). Kishinev received 32 mm of precipitation per day in water equivalent; no such amounts have ever been recorded there before. Torrential rains poured in Great Britain and Ireland.

In Canada and the US, heavy rains fell in the east and west of the countries, topping the normal monthly rainwater amounts by 1.5-2.0 or more times. On the other hand, the weather in the central regions was dry. In the north-eastern US states of Massachusetts and Connecticut, the first month of the year was deemed the wettest in the history of observations. Snowfalls occurred in northern Mexico where such phenomena are considered to be extremely rare for this country.

In Moscow, 57 mm of atmospheric moisture accumulated in January. This is the normal figure.