Russia weather can not possibly be described with a single word, or with in the confines of a single line. No surprises there really, especially when one takes into account it’s enormous size. By far the largest country in the world, covering an area almost twice as big as the USA and with eleven time zones, weather in Russia is largely a continental affair, with long winters and short summers. Understandably, the operative word here is cold. And while Moscow in winter retains its postcard-like charm, despite the on-slaughter of modernization brought on by the excesses of the post –glasnost years, more than half of the country is covered by snow for six months each year. Characteristically, in some areas the snow is permanently frozen to depths as far as several hundred meters!
Russia weather average yearly temperature of nearly all of European Russia is below freezing, while the average for most of Siberia is freezing or below. To give an example of the extreme conditions so typical of Russian weather and which one can come across during the long winter, the Sakha Republic, where the Northern Pole of Cold is located has the honor of registering the record low temperature of −68 °C or −90.4 °F. Average January temperatures are -8°C in St. Petersburg, -27°C in the West Siberian Plain, and -43°C at Yakutsk in east-central Siberia, while the winter average on the Mongolian border is barely warmer.
As mentioned earlier, Russia weather is largely continental. Which is true, but only to a certain extent and certainly for the most densely part of European Russia, in the south of West Siberia and in the south of the Russian Far East, including the cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, where the weather is known to be quite humid. Elsewhere, sub-arctic weather can be found in most parts of Northern European Russia and Siberia between the Scandinavian Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean, while winters are severe in the inner regions pf Northeast Asia, and more moderate elsewhere. In the strip of land along the shore of the Arctic Ocean, as well as the Arctic islands the weather is predominately polar, while a small portion of the Black Sea has a humid subtropical climate with unusually wet winters. Because of the extreme weather conditions in Russia, transportation routes, including entire railroad lines, are redirected in winter to traverse rock-solid waterways and lakes.
Needless to say, the long and cold winter that dominates Russia weather, has a profound effect on all aspects of life in the Russian Federation, forcing necessary adjustments to where people live and work, what kind of crops are grown and where they are grown, how building are constructed, what materials are used for machinery etc. Furthermore, there is an increased demand for energy, health care and textiles to counteract the extended periods of darkness and cold.
In many regions of East Siberia and the Far East, winter is dry in comparison to summer, while other parts of the country experience more even precipitation across seasons. Winter precipitation in most parts of the country normally falls as snow.
Spring and autumn in Russia are short to the point of being almost absent, serving instead as small intervals of moderation between the two prevailing seasons, winter and summer. There are, obviously important exception to the general rule: because of its moderate maritime climate, the weather of Kaliningrad Oblast on the Baltic Sea is almost identical to that of the American Northwest, while Russia’s most popular summer resort can be found on a narrow, subtropical band of territory on the Black Sea.
And while the winters in Russia are freezing cold, the summers are equally hot. For example, it’s not surprising for Moscow’s weather to reach temperatures well over the 30°C mark during the summer season, while other parts of Central Russia where thermometers are pushed to their limits during winter (registering temperatures around the -30°C mark), summer heat goes all the way up to 30+ C. As a general rule, Central European Russia weather is characterized by warm summers, while the mildest conditions are found along the Baltic coast, and cool summers across the northern regions of Russia and along the Arctic coast summers are cool.
The steppe lands of Southern European Russia are hot and dry during the summer season, while the lowlands bordering the north and northeastern Black Sea have heavy rainfall all the year round. Although summer in Siberia tends to be rather short and wet, it is also warm, even pleasant. The weather of the Russian Far East varies greatly from one location to another: the temperatures can rise up to a scorching 40°C at many inland areas, in contrast to the coastal regions where thanks to the cold waters of the East Sea, temperatures are kept at a much cooler and wetter state.
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