MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE AS OF JUNE 2026

Air temperature

In Russia, the weather was abnormally hot in the Urals and in Siberia: there, the thermometer readings rose to +30-35° or above, and new daily temperature maxima were recorded. The decade-averaged temperatures were 2-8° higher than normal and, as a result, this month in the Urals became the warmest in the entire history of regular meteorological observations since 1891, while in Siberia, the second warmest after the record-breaking 2018.

In the ETR, warmth and cold alternated each other. In the north, warm weather in the first half of June with the decade-averaged anomalies of up to +2…3° yielded to coolness in the third decade. Air temperatures in the central region were mostly close to normal, but changed to noticeably colder ones by the end of the month. Meanwhile in the south, cold weather prevailed for most of the month, to become 2-4° colder than usual in the third decade at some locations. In the South and North-Caucasian Federal Districts, the monthly-averaged air temperature in June was subnormal.

In the Far East, the weather was notably warmer than normal in Chukotka only in the first half of the month, but elsewhere, it was approximately normal.

The Arctic region of Russia was very warm, with new air temperature maxima repeatedly recorded in Chukotka, by the lower courses of the Yenisei, on the coast of Yakutia, in the Polar Urals and on the Arctic islands.

Resultantly, the monthly-averaged temperature on the Asian Territory of Russia in June 2026 regained its record-breaking value set in June 2012, whereas for all of Russia, this month became the second warmest in the meteorological chronicle, yielding 0.1° to the same June 2012.

The monthly-averaged air temperature anomalies on the June map were arranged as follows: warmth in the Urals, in Siberia and in the north-east of the ETR (with anomalies of +2…8° or higher), and coolness in the south of the ETR and in the Far East. In the south of Trans-Baikal, anomalies reached -2°.

This June in Mongolia was cold, with the monthly-averaged air temperature 2-3° below normal. Slightly lower but still negative temperatures were observed in the north-east of China. As a counterbalance against this, high positive anomalies (up to +2…4°) prevailed in the east of these countries. In the rest of China, as well as in Japan and on Korean Peninsula, the monthly-averaged air temperature was close to normal.

Similar can be said about the countries of South-East Asia, except for the northern and central regions of Vietnam where the heat with temperatures up to 40° and above came as early as at the beginning of the month.

Temperature averages in June were nearly normal in India and in most of Pakistan.

The predominance of strong heat was observed in Central Asia, leading to new daily maxima of air temperatures in the east of Kazakhstan, in Uzbekistan, as well as in the central and southern Turkmenistan. In Kazakhstan, some of those maxima begot new maxima for June. The normal air temperature was exceeded by 2-4°. At the same time, the weather in the west of Kazakhstan and in the north of Turkmenistan was colder than usual, especially in Kazakhstan where the monthly-averaged temperature was two or more degrees lower than normal.

In the Near East, temperatures were also normal; similar can be said about North Africa, with the exception of the northern regions of Algeria and Morocco where the normal values were exceeded by 2° or more.

This June was extremely hot in Europe: its average temperature was the highest in the entire history of meteorological observations, and exceeded the normal value by 2 to 4 or more degrees almost everywhere on the continent. The heat prevailed from the first day of the month to the last. New national records of air temperature in June were set in many countries, such as France, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, and others. The thermometer readings often approached or topped the +40° mark.

As for the North American continent, June 2026 was all-time hot in Canada, surpassing the three-year-old maximum. In a large part of the country, especially in its north, the monthly-averaged air temperature was 2 to 4 or more degrees higher than normal. Across most of the US, the average temperatures were close to normal, exceeding the normal value by some 2° in the south-west only. However, the country was occasionally covered by heat waves, and on one of such occasions, new temperature highs were recorded on the eastern coast.

In northern Scandinavia and in the North Arctic, as well as in Siberia and in Canada alike, hot weather prompted June 2026 in the Arctic to the third hottest position in the history of regular meteorological observations.

June 2026 in the Northern Hemisphere was the second hottest in history, yielding to June two years ago only.

In Moscow, the average air temperature in June was +18.4°, implying an anomaly of +1.1°.

Sea surface temperature

El Niño, which activated a month ago, continued to intensify in June. It is apparent considering both the area occupied by high positive SST anomalies at the equatorial or tropical latitudes in the east of the Ocean, and the magnitude of the monthly-averaged SST anomalies themselves that exceeded +2…3°. High positive SST anomalies did also take place at the temperate latitudes and along the Asian coast in the South China, Yellow, Japan, Okhotsk and Bering Seas. The average SST of the Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere reached an absolute maximum in June 2026, surpassing the previous record-breaking value set in 2020.

The average SST anomaly of the Atlantic Ocean was +0.5°, which is far from the record-breaking value. In the north of the water body, as well as in the Mediterranean and other marginal seas of Europe, at subtropical and temperate latitudes in the east of the Ocean the average SST was 1-2° above normal. But on the other side of the Ocean in the western temperate latitudes it was by the same amount lower.

According to Copernicus Marine, an absolute maximum SST for June (+21.0°) was reached in the World Ocean this month, exceeding the previous maximum of 2023 and 2024 by 0.1°.

Precipitation

Russian regions where rainfall was abundant in June were the Urals and the Volga region. Torrential rains hit the southern Urals and Bashkiria as early as in the first days of the month. There, up to 50 mm of atmospheric moisture could accumulate daily in some places. In the Sverdlovsk Region, daily maximum precipitation totals were updated in the middle of the month. In the third decade, rains flooded Tatarstan, the Perm Territory as well as the Samara, Orenburg and Sverdlovsk Regions, resulting in new daily precipitation highs again: in this area, monthly precipitation was two to four or more times greater than normal.

Heavy downpours in the middle of the month took place in the north and north-west of the ETR where daily precipitation totals reached 30-40 mm. Precipitation in the Kaliningrad Region was almost thrice above normal in June.

Occasional heavy rains fell in the south of Russia: in the Krasnodar Territory, in Adygea, Dagestan and Karachay-Cherkessia. One day, a shower in Sochi brought 60 mm of rainwater for a single hour. At the end of the month, rain deluged the south of Siberia: the Omsk, Tomsk and Novosibirsk Regions, the Republic of Khakassia, and the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, where new maxima of precipitation totals were measured in certain places.

The weather in Central Russia was dry: there, the normal precipitation values were only reached in the Tver and Smolensk Regions. Precipitation was normal in the majority of constituent entities in the south of Russia, with the exception of Crimea and individual republics of the North Caucasus. In Siberia, dry weather basically prevailed. In the Far East, monthly precipitation totals were either normal or subnormal.

East Asian countries received a lot of rain: the normal precipitation figure in Japan, on the Korean Peninsula as well as in the north-east, south and west of China was exceeded by 1.5 to 2.0 or more times. At the beginning of the month, 105 mm of rainwater fell in Tokyo during three hours. In some regions of China, the precipitation intensity was 70 mm/hour, leading to numerous floods. The central regions of China and most of Mongolia remained dry.

In Thailand and Malaysia, the total monthly rainfall was normal, whereas in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, rains were rare.

In northern India and neighbouring Pakistan, the summer monsoon commenced; however, it did not yet arrived in the other regions of South Asia, which was quite unusually for June in this region.

The weather in the Near and Middle East was dry.

In Central Asia, rains inundated some areas leaving the others unvisited. They caused a massive flooding in Afghanistan, and tormented Kazakhstan where new precipitation maxima were recorded and up to 2-3 times of the normal rainfall amount accumulated per month. But in the other ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, almost no rain was observed.

In North Africa, many rains fell in the western areas and partly in the northern ones, resulting in normal or above-normal rainfall totals. In Senegal and its neighbouring countries, precipitation amounts were 2-3 times larger than normal. Similar anomalies were observed in Algeria and Tunisia.

Suffering from the heat, Europeans awaited rains, but only those living in Germany and parts of Eastern Europe were fortunate. In the middle of the month, downpours swept across Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greece, leading to widespread destruction, and in late June, rains caused flooding in the north of Italy. Almost no rain fell elsewhere. Many weather stations in Spain and Portugal reported no precipitation at all during the month.

The weather in Canada and the western United States was mostly dry, but precipitation in the east and south-east of both countries was normal or above than that. Moreover, this "above" means "in excess of two times". Showers flooded Mexico and Central America, where their amounts added to 2-3 or more times the normal figure. Tropical storm Cristina was to be blamed.

In Moscow, the monthly precipitation total was 72 mm, which is normal.