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Russia Heat Wave Statistics Staggers the Imagination

IT IS AS IF THE RUSSIAN HEARTLAND SHIFTED ONE THOUSAND MILES SOUTH That the month of July 2010 was hot in Moscow could rank among the foremost understatements in the world of "weather speak." For one thing, the highest temperature on record (in roughly 130 years of Moscow weather records) was reached on July 29, this being 38.2 C, or 100.8 F. This broke the previous high mark of 37.5 C set only three days earlier, on July 26. This was nearly tied on July 28. All of this is extraordinary, given that the normal high for this, the hottest time of year, is only 23 C. Moreover, July 2010 was the hottest July in the climate record of Moscow, as well as the hottest month overall. Thanks to Loepa, writing from Brasil (of all places!), I have it that the old record for warmest month in Moscow was 23.3 C, or 73.9 F, versus normal of about 17 C, or 63 C. What about this July? How about 26.1 C, or 79.0 F. So that is nearly a 3 C (and more than 5 F) gap. It is as if Moscow were shifted a thousand miles to the south. For perspective, the normal average temperature of July in Washington, D.C., is 26.2 C, or 79.2 F, according to the ADC database. Moscow has thus experienced roughly the weather (less the usual steamy humidity and thunderstorms) that is normally expected in the city of Washington, D.C., which lies 1,890 km/1,170 miles nearer to the equator! ST. PETERSBURG HAS ALSO ENDURED EXTREME TEMPERATURES I do not have full climate records for St. Petersburg, but I do know about July 2010. The AccuWeather.Com database shows a monthly mean temperature of 24.2 C, or 75.5 F. Normal mean July temperature is 15.2 C, or 59.4 F. Yes, that is even higher above normal than was Moscow. The city of Indianapolis has a normal mean July temperature of 24.2 C. Yet Indianapolis is 2,250 km/1,400 miles nearer to the equator than St. Petersburg. I do not say that this is a rigorous "apples-to-apples" comparison. Rather, it is to get a rough idea of how skewed the weather has been this summer in the Russian heartland. AND IT IS NOT OVER YET... As of this writing, the highest temperature thus far on Wednesday, Aug. 4, is 36.6 C, or 98 F, in Moscow. St. Petersburg has reached 33.3 C, or 92 F. Searing heat has invaded eastern Belarus, where readings to 37 C or 38 C have been reached. In the Ukraine, the worst of the heat has backed westward to Kiev, where August 4 has become the hottest day (37 C to 38 C, or near 100 F) of the summer thus far. And near 40 C yet again in Luhansk. The GFS numerical forecast model shows widespread extreme high temperature departure, for at least another week, throughout European Russia along with stretches of her western neighbors.

Sizzling Moscow shrouded in polluting smog

A cloud of harmful smog has enveloped Moscow, raising airborne pollutants to four times the norm, officials said Wednesday, and prompting doctors to urge residents to stay indoors as the city swelters in a record heat wave.

A heat wave has hit central Russia breaking temperature records going higher than 30 C (86 F) for four weeks breaking all records for the last 130 years and smoke from burning forests around Moscow has reached the city.

High temperatures, which rose to a record 37.4 Celsius (99 Fahrenheit) yesterday in Moscow, have damaged 32 percent of land under cultivation and forced Russia to declare states of emergency in 23 regions. Grain prices may double this year because of the drought, according to the Grain Producers’ Union.

Inflation may quicken to 8.1 percent by December, compared with the government’s annual forecast of less than 6.5 percent, according to Yaroslav Lissovolik, Deutsche Bank AG’s head of research in Moscow. That will put pressure on the central bank to raise its benchmark rate by year-end for the first time since December 2008, said Natalia Orlova, Moscow-based chief economist at Alfa Bank, Russia’s biggest private lender.

Higher rates “may cause a correction in short-term sovereign bonds and, later, in long-term sovereign bonds,” said Evgeniy Nadorshin, senior economist at Trust Investment Bank in Moscow and an adviser to Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina. The government, which plans to sell 1.2 trillion rubles ($39.3 billion) of bonds on the domestic market this year to finance its budget deficit, may increase that figure to pay for subsidies and contain the drought’s fallout, Nadorshin said.

July 2010 has become the hottest month on record in Moscow, a source in the city's meteorological bureau said on Friday. A heat wave has gripped Moscow since mid-June and there are no signs the temperatures will fall below 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in the near future. "Temperatures like this have not been recorded in 130 years," the source said adding that next week temperatures may reach 38 degrees Celsius (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit). The worst drought in almost three decades came to the Moscow Region, which is also suffering from forest fires. The heat forced Muscovites to bathe in the city's fountains and to choose light beachwear for outings and even subway trips. Women abandoned high-heeled shoes in favor of flats and rushed to buy swimsuits forcing shops to order new batches of bikinis. The lucky owners of country houses, or dachas, have raided shops and online stores for inflatable pools, while it is almost impossible to buy an air conditioner or a ventilator in Moscow. Due to the heat, the Army has allowed its soldiers to roll up their sleeves and unbutton their shirts.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has declared a state of emergency in seven Russian regions because of wildfires fuelled by a heatwave. The death toll from the fires has risen to at least 34. The Russian emergencies ministry said 500 new blazes had been discovered over a 24-hour period, but most had been extinguished. Homes have been burnt in 14 regions of Russia, the worst-hit being Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh and Ryazan. The state of emergency was announced in a decree that also restricted public access to the regions affected. Moscow is again shrouded in smoke from peat and forest fires outside the city. The fires, caused by record temperatures and a drought, have affected cereal harvests, driving wheat prices up.

Russians are bracing themselves for another week of high temperatures, with forecasts of up to 40C (104F) for central and southern regions. Officials also expect stronger winds in some regions, which will fan the flames. By Sunday night, wildfires were still raging across some 128,000 ha (316,000 acres).

Thousands of people have lost their homes and nearly a quarter of a million emergency workers have been deployed to fight the flames. President Medvedev described the situation on Saturday as a "natural disaster of the kind that probably only happens every 30 or 40 years". Moscow doctors say the elderly and toddlers should wear gauze masks outdoors.

July 26 (Bloomberg) -- Muscovites sweltered as the temperature soared to a record 37.4 degrees Celsius (99.3 Fahrenheit), and the number of Russians who drowned trying to beat the heat reached about 2,000.

Today’s temperature in the capital was the hottest since records began 130 years ago, the Hydrometeorological Monitoring Service said on its website. It surpassed the previous high of 36.8 degrees set in July 1920 during the Civil War. The mercury may rise to 38 degrees on July 29, according to Gidromettsentr, the state weather service. Unusually high temperatures have contributed to record deaths by drowning across Russia, which increased by 688 in the past three weeks, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported on July 23, citing Emergency Situations Ministry data. Most of those who drowned were intoxicated, the government’s newspaper of record said. Another 39 people died yesterday, the ministry said on its website.

The heat wave has also hit Russia’s economy, with drought damage to 10.1 million hectares, or 32 percent of all land under cultivation, Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said on July 23. The ministry has declared weather-related emergencies in 23 crop-producing regions. Russian food grain prices may double in 2010 from last year because of the drought, the Grain Producers’ Union said in an e- mailed statement today. OAO GAZ, the van and truck maker controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, halted production for two weeks because of the heat. Workers were sent home today on a “corporate vacation” through Aug. 8, spokeswoman Natalya Anisimova said by telephone.

At a meeting of international sporting officials in Moscow on July 30, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that in 14 regions of the country, "practically everything is burning. The weather is anomalously hot." Then, as TV cameras zoomed in on the perspiration shining on his forehead, Medvedev announced, "What's happening with the planet's climate right now needs to be a wake-up call to all of us, meaning all heads of state, all heads of social organizations, in order to take a more energetic approach to countering the global changes to the climate."

Medvedev has not been the only person in Russia to link the ongoing heat wave to climate change. Alexei Lyakhov, head of Moscow's meteorological center, tells TIME it is "clearly part of a global phenomenon" that is hitting Russia. "We have to start taking systemic measures of adaptation. It's obvious now. Just like human beings at one point took steps to adapt to the Ice Age, we now have to adapt to this," he says, citing cuts to carbon emissions as one of the necessary adaptations.

Russia is experiencing the worst drought in almost 40 years, the presidential advisor on climate said Monday, RIA Novosti reported."The country has not seen such an overwhelming drought since 1972," Alexander Bedritsky said.

Some 14 regions across the country have been hit by an extended heat wave and crops in nine million hectares of the 48 million hectares of sown land have been destroyed. Farmers fear they will be unable to pay off loans due to the losses. Meanwhile, the heat wave continues in Moscow where the country’s chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko suggests introducing a siesta period like they traditionally have in some Latin American countries.