Air temperature
With the beginning of March, abnormally warm air came to the ETR and propagated through the north-western, central and southern regions. New daily maxima of air temperature were recorded in Karelia, and in the Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod Regions, with the decade-averaged temperature 2-5° higher than normal. But it was not the case everywhere in the European territory: frosts down to -40° took place in the Russian North, and down to -30°, in the Middle-Volga and Cis-Urals regions, where the decade averaged anomalies in the north of these regions reached -15°. Similar colds were observed in Chukotka, but along the Sea of Okhotsk south of it, the air temperature was above-normal.
Starting from the second decade, abnormally warm air rushed to Russia, rapidly decreasing the area occupied by the abnormal cold and shrinking it to the Middle and Northern Urals as well as to the north of the Western Siberia in the mid-month, and solely to Taimyr with its adjacent regions in the third decade. All the rest of Russia in both its west and east was targeted by abnormal heat currents that persisted until the end of the month.
Daily temperature maxima were recorded in the north-west of the country, in the Volga region and the Cis-Urals, in the Middle and Northern Urals, in Siberia, in the Khabarovsk Territory, in Kolyma and Chukotka, and in Central Russia. New air temperature maxima for March and new record-breaking monthly temperature averages were measured in Yakutia and the Magadan Region, exceeding the normal values by 6-16° in some locations.
MAIN WEATHER AND CLIMATE TRAITS IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE AS OF FEBRUARY 2026
Air temperature
Cold weather that prevailed in the north of Russia late January became even colder with the beginning of February, covering the entire ETR now. Both there and in the northern Urals, new daily air temperature minima were recorded, the thermometer readings dropping below -40° in the Urals, or below -50° in the west of Yakutia. In the first decade, average air temperature anomalies reached -9° or lower on the Russian Plain. Further on, and until the end of the month, abnormally cold weather with new air temperature minima was observed along the Arctic coast. But in Central Russia, in the southern ETR and Urals, and in the south of Siberia, abnormally warm weather arrived in the second decade with daily air temperature maxima in southern Siberia, and with the decade-averaged temperature anomalies of +2-7° everywhere from the southern Urals to the Amur region or of +2-5° in the south of the ETR. However, everything changed abruptly in the third decade when the Arctic colds descended upon Russia. The decade-averaged air temperature became 8-15° lower than normal in the Urals and in Siberia. The temperatures remained normal in most of the ETR, and 2-6° above normal in the Far East. In Chukotka, Sakhalin, Primorye and the south of the Khabarovsk Territory, new temperature maxima were measured, the latter being new absolute maxima for February in a number of locations.
These variable temperature patterns during the month caused the cold and the warmth to compensate each other, so that the average February temperature in Russia was approximately normal. It was notably below normal in the north, in the central ETR and in the Urals, and above normal, in the Far East and in the North Caucasus. Similar can be said about the winter temperature averages: they were significantly lower than normal in the North-West, Central and Ural Federal Districts (with anomalies of -2…-6°), but higher in the Far-East Federal District (with anomalies of +2…4°). In the rest of the country, the temperature background in winter was roughly normal.
This February, the entire territory of Asia south of Russia received considerably more warmth than normal.