Climate of Russia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The climate of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

is formed under the influence of several determining factors. The enormous size of the country and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in the dominance of the continental climate

Continental climate

Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...

, which is prevalent in European and Asian Russia except for the tundra and the extreme southeast. Mountains in the south obstructing the flow of warm air masses from the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

and the plain of the west and north makes the country open to Arctic and Atlantic influences.

Due to the moderating influence of the Atlantic or Pacific, the most populous areas of the country in European Russia

European Russia

European Russia refers to the western areas of Russia that lie within Europe, comprising roughly 3,960,000 square kilometres , larger in area than India, and spanning across 40% of Europe. Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south it is defined by the border with...

, in the south of West Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

and in the south of the Russian Far East

Russian Far East

Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...

, including the cities of Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

and Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, experience a humid continental climate

Humid continental climate

A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....

. (Köppen's

Köppen climate classification

The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

Dfb, Dfa, Dwb, Dwa types). Most of Northern European Russia and Siberia

Siberia

between the Scandinavian Peninsula

Scandinavian Peninsula

The Scandinavian Peninsula is a peninsula in Northern Europe, which today covers Norway, Sweden, and most of northern Finland. Prior to the 17th and 18th centuries, large parts of the southern peninsula—including the core region of Scania from which the peninsula takes its name—were part of...

and the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

has a subarctic climate

Subarctic climate

The subarctic climate is a climate characterized by long, usually very cold winters, and short, cool to mild summers. It is found on large landmasses, away from the moderating effects of an ocean, generally at latitudes from 50° to 70°N poleward of the humid continental climates...

, with extremely severe winters (Dfd, Dwd) in the inner regions of Northeast Siberia (mostly the Sakha Republic, where the Northern Pole of Cold

Pole of Cold

The Poles of Cold are the places in the Northern and Southern hemispheres where the lowest air temperatures have been recorded.- Northern hemisphere :...

is located with the record low temperature of −68 °C), and more moderate (Dwc, Dfc) elsewhere. The strip of land along the shore of the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

, as well as the Arctic islands

Russian Arctic islands

The Russian Arctic islands are a number of islands groups and sole islands scattered around the Arctic Ocean.-Geography:The islands are all situated within the Arctic Circle and are scattered through the marginal seas of the Arctic ocean namely the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian...

, have a polar climate

Polar climate

Regions with a polar climate are characterized by a lack of warm summers . Regions with polar climate cover over 20% of the Earth. The sun shines 24 hours in the summer, and barely ever shines at all in the winter...

(extreme polar climate (EF) on some of the islands and tundra climate (ET) elsewhere). A small portion of the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

coast, most notably in Sochi

Sochi

Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...

, possesses a humid subtropical climate

Humid subtropical climate

A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...

(Köppen's Cfa) with unusually wet winters. Winter is dry compared to summer in many regions of East Siberia and the Far East (Dwa, Dwb, Dwc, Dwd types), while other parts of the country experience more even precipitation across seasons. Winter precipitation in most parts of the country usually falls as snow

Snow

Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...

. The region along the Lower Volga and Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...

coast, as well as some areas of southernmost Siberia, possess a semi-arid climate (BSk).

About 65% of the Russian territory is underlined by permafrost

Permafrost

In geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...

Averages and records by city

See also