With the beginning of summer, warmth finally came to the European territory of Russia. It was not clearly apparent at once: the average air temperatures in the first decade closely matched their normal values save for the south where the weather was hotter than usual and new temperature maxima were recorded in the Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory. But the second decade was marked with the ultimate victory of warmth. The anomalies of decade-averaged air temperatures in the ETR exceeded +3…5°. New heat extremes were being recorded not only in the Southern Federal District now, but also in the North-Western one, in Saint-Petersburg for example. In the third decade, such excess heat survived in the western part of the ETR only, while the decade-averaged air temperatures to the east of Moscow became normal or subnormal. From time to time, colds would break through to Central Russia and the Volga Region– most vehemently, in the last days of June. In the Volga-Vyatka, Moscow, Ryazan and Vladimir Regions, the air temperature reached the lowest values ever recorded on those days by the morning. In the Volga Region, this June concluded with a negative air temperature anomaly.
In the Urals and in West Siberia, the weather surprised with the abnormal heat of May lasting for the whole first decade. Then, the air temperature returned to normal first, and later dropped as the Arctic colds came to this region in the third decade. The anomalies of decade-averaged temperature were -5…-7° or below.
In Eastern Siberia and in the Far East, heat prevailed in the north, and cold, in the south. All June was very warm along the Arctic Coast (with the anomalies of the decade-averaged temperatures reaching +5…10° or more). In contrast, the weather in the south of the Far East remained cold for the whole month (the anomalies being -2…-4° or lower), with the same anomalies observed in the south of Eastern Siberia in the first decade.

Yet, there was much more heat than cold, and June 2020 in Russia as a whole was marked as the third warmest in the meteorological chronicle, colder than June 2012 and June 2016 only. This time, warm weather in most of the ETR and especially in the north of Siberia, Yakutia and the Far East was opposed by cold one in the Volga Region, in the Urals, in the south of Western Siberia and in the south of the Far East. Of all regions, the Far East was characterised by most variable trends: in the north, this June was the warmest in the history of meteorological observations, whereas in the south, it was abnormally cold for the third year in succession.
All over East Asia, the monthly-averaged air temperature was above the normal value, by 2-4° in some regions. In the north of China, viz., in Inner Mongolia and in the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jilin and Liaoning, the thermometer readings rose above +40° sometimes. This June was the third warmest in the history of meteorological observations in China, yielding to June 2005 and June 2011 only.
In the countries of South-East Asia, the air temperature was normal, or above-normal in certain areas.
Due to the summer monsoon, the temperature in India dropped down so much that it became two or more degrees lower than the normal value in the state of Madhya Pradesh in the centre of the country. This June in India was among the thirty coldest ones in the entire history of meteorological observations. The temperature in neighbouring Pakistan was normal or increased in the south and less than normal in the north of the country.
In most of the Near and Middle East, the air temperature was above normal: by 2-3° or more in Iran, in the UAE, in Saudi Arabia and in the countries of the South Caucasus.
Numerous events of record-breaking air temperatures were observed in the republics of Central Asia. The air in Turkmenistan would heat to +45°. Bitter northern winds pierced into Kazakhstan and the east of Middle Asia at the end of the month and brought very low temperatures to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. New temperature minima were recorded in some places. In overall, the monthly-averaged air temperatures exceeded the normal value in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and in the west of Kazakhstan, while in the northern and eastern regions of the latter country and in Kyrgyzstan, they were close to normal, or less than normal in some places.
In Africa, the weather was markedly cold in Egypt where the monthly-averaged air temperature was 2-3° below normal on the Mediterranean coast and close to or higher than the normal value on the rest of this subcontinent. The excess above the normal temperature was most conspicuous in Algeria, Niger, Mali and Senegal where the anomalies of monthly-averaged air temperature reached +2° or more in some regions.
In most of Europe, the average temperature patterns were as usual in June. Heat waves still occasionally created new temperature maxima: sometimes in the east (Ukraine and Belarus), sometimes in the west (Belgium and the UK) and sometimes in the north of the continent (Sweden and Finland). Cold waves also occurred, one of them bringing unprecedented low temperatures to the Balkans and Romania. The monthly-averaged air temperature in the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, in Poland, in the Czech Republic, in Belarus and Ukraine was 2-4° above the normal value in places and, if slightly, below than that in the south of Italy and in Greece.
In the Western Hemisphere, the abnormally warm air concentrated in the east of the US and Canada. There, the normal monthly-averaged air temperatures were exceeded by 2-3° or more in a number of regions. The same was true for the Arctic region of Canada, for the west of the US along the Mediterranean Coast, and for the north of Mexico. Elsewhere in these counties, the temperature distribution was close to normal. The air temperatures, monthly-averaged over the whole territories of the US and Canada, entered the Top Ten of the highest values recorded for 130 years of meteorological observations.
In the Arctic, the monthly-averaged air temperature reached the record-high value for the third month in a row, reproducing the maximum recorded in June a year ago.
The average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere duplicated the record-breaking value of 2016 and 2019 to an accuracy of 0.1°. As for the first half year, it was awarded the second rank among the highest values, excelled by 2016 only.
The monthly-averaged temperature in Moscow was +18.9° with the anomaly of +2.3°. The first half of 2020 was the second warmest in the history of the capital, colder than in 1989 only.

The average SST in the Pacific Ocean reached its maximum value in the Northern Hemisphere, and was above-normal almost everywhere in this water basin. In particular, the normal values were exceeded by 1-2° or more at the subtropical, middle and northern latitudes. The temperatures in the marginal seas were above-normal in the east of Asia excluding the Sea of Okhotsk where the SST anomalies were negative (down to 1-2°). Such anomalies were also observed at the equatorial latitudes in the east of the Ocean: possibly, this marks the start of a new cold stage of the Southern Oscillation (La Niña).
Most of the Atlantic Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere was also occupied by abnormally warm water. Thought, the anomalies could only be considered high along the coast of Africa, in the European marginal seas from the western Mediterranean to the Baltic, North and Norwegian Seas, and in the middle course of the Gulf Stream. There, the amounts of abnormally cold water were noticeably larger than in the Pacific Ocean. Such water was still observed at mid-latitudes and now additionally appeared in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the Gulf of Mexico and in the north of the Ocean close to the Arctic region. The temperature was much higher than normal on the surface of the Kara Sea. Yet, the anomaly averaged over the whole surface of the Ocean increased to a certain degree since May, and was much higher than in June of the previous year.

After the abundant precipitation in May, rains that fell in the ETR in June looked like a feeble imitation. Their monthly totals over a huge part of the country were normal or slightly more than that. The normal values were exceeded by about 1.5 times in the central part including the Moscow, Ryazan, Kaluga and Tambov Regions. From time to time, heavy showers resulted in new daily maxima of precipitation. For example, 144 mm of atmospheric moisture accumulated at the Uzlovaya station in the Tula Region for several hours: such intensity of rainfall is comparable to the precipitation rate in tropical cyclones. The monthly amount of rain fell for a single night in Bryansk, and half the normal monthly amount accumulated in one day in the Kaliningrad Region. Rains were rare in the Central Black-Soil Belt, in some areas of the Volga Region and in the south of the ETR: in certain Federal districts, their monthly totals were less than half the normal value. However, heavy showers pelted from time to time even there. Up to 50 mm of rainwater accumulated daily in the Krasnodar Region, in the Republic of North Ossetia and in the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic, and up to 85 mm, in the Republic of Crimea. In the north, snow was still falling in the Nenets Autonomous District.
The precipitation in the northern regions of the Urals was normal or increased, while in the southern ones, much less than normal. In Siberia, the figures were close to normal excluding the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republics of Altai and Tyva where about half the normal amount was recorded. In Buryatia, winter returned and snow fell in the middle of June.
The precipitation was abundant in the south of the Far East. The monthly precipitation totals in the Primorye Territory, in the Sakhalin Region and in the Jewish Autonomous Territory where 1.5 or more times greater than usual. The amounts were normal in the Amur Region and in the south of the Khabarovsk Territory; yet, up to 50 mm of precipitation per day accumulated there in some places. The northern areas of the Far East (the Magadan Region, the Chukotka Autonomous District and the Kamchatka Territory) received less precipitation than they were normally allotted: there, the monthly totals were just half the normal amount or less. Even at the end of the month, snow was observed in Chukotka.
In China, a premature onset of the summer monsoon dramatically increased the quantities of atmospheric moisture. The monthly precipitation totals were 1.5-2.0 times the normal amounts over a huge part of the country and 3.0-3.5 times these amounts in the central provinces. Prolonged downpours caused floods that affected more than 1.5 million people in the province of Hunan and about 400 thousand people in the province of Jiangxi. In the south-western province of Guizhou, the water level in rivers topped the critical marks. Water flooded the fields and roads, destroying more than 1.5 thousand of houses and damaging 140 thousand hectares of agricultural lands. At the same time, the devastating drought reigned in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia in the south of the country, with just a few millimetres of precipitation accumulated there in June. In contrast, neighbouring literal Mongolia was overwhelmed by floods, with more than 70 mm of rainwater accumulated for one day in this arid country.
In South-East Asia, the weather was dry in the north of Vietnam and Laos, but the remaining territories were attacked by showers that caused floods and landslides. In Kuala-Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, more than 119 mm of rain fell per day given the normal monthly amount of 145 mm.
In India, the summer monsoon set in two weeks before its due climatic date. Rains were pouring all over the country except for the north-western state of Rajasthan. The monthly totals of rainwater were normal in most of India, but exceeded the normal value by 1.5-2.5 times in the centre and the north-east of the country. In the state of Assam, showers caused flooding which inundated almost three thousand hectares of agricultural lands and affected tens of thousands of people. The heavy shower in neighbouring Nepal brought 83 mm of rainwater, causing landslides and destructing the roads and buildings. A lot of rain (1.5-2.5 times the normal amount) fell in the northern regions of Pakistan.
The weather was dry in most of the Near and Middle East. Still, heavy rains fell in Yemen and Turkey. In Istanbul, they caused floods and killed people, while in the province of Bursa in the north-east of the country, landslides damaged thousands of hectares of agricultural lands.
Rains in South Africa where observed in the south only, specifically, in the countries located in the Gulf of Guinea and nearby. The precipitation totals in these countries were normal, or increased to 1.5 times the normal value in some places. Heavy showers in Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria caused floods: 260 mm of precipitation in two days amounting to half the normal monthly total was observed in the former country, and 90 mm for a single day, in the latter one. Rain flooded Lagos, the capital of the country. Casualties and missing humans were reported.
The weather in Central Asia was mostly dry. The monthly precipitation amounts were normal in Tajikistan and in certain regions of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan only.
On the European continent, rains were frequent in June. They brought from two to four normal monthly amounts of precipitation in many areas of France, Great Britain, Central European and Baltic countries, Greece and the south of Italy. Showers caused floods in Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia and Romania. In some areas, authorities declared a state of emergency and initiated evacuation of people. Agricultural lands were flooded, buildings and roads were destroyed, and people were killed. In the south of France, the situation was similar: up to 300 mm of daily precipitation, which is four times the normal monthly amount, was observed in some places. Floods inundated Corsica where the streets of the main city on the island turned into rivers. In Finnish Lapland, floods were caused not by rains but rather by high waters due to rapid melting of snow: its amount this winter was largest over the last sixty years. However, the weather in some areas of Europe was mostly dry in June: such weather was observed in a large part of Ukraine and Spain, in Portugal, and in the north of Germany and the Balkans. In the Carpathians and Pyrenees, it was still snowing at the beginning of the month.
In most of the USA, the monthly precipitation totals were normal or increased. Torrential rains poured in the south of the country. In New Orleans, 70 mm of rainwater fell per day. This resulted in flooding, with meter-high waves rolling over the streets of the city. Snowfalls that hit the states of Wyoming, Utah, Montana and Idaho tore power transmission lines and interrupted the road traffic. In certain locations, the snow cover was tens of centimetres high. Almost zero precipitation and strong winds in the south-east of the country led to forest fires in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. In Central America, heavy showers, floods and landslides were reported, whereas in Puerto Rico, a state of emergency was declared due to a drought that spread to 60% of the country. In Canada, rains primarily fell in the south and the west of the country where the normal precipitation amounts were exceeded by 1.5-2.0 or more times in some places; on the contrary, the weather was dry in the north.
In Moscow, 159 mm of precipitation accumulated in June: this is more than twice the normal amount, and is the fourth highest total recorded in the history of meteorological observations. This is solely excelled by 174 mm in 1942, 162 mm in 1991 and 161 mm in 1894. Thus, 70% of the normal annual amount was reached in the first half year already.