Cold Summers, Shrinking Monsoon Season: How Record Artic Warming is Changing the Climate All Over the World

In the first half of 2020, Central Europe, central Asia and some parts of Fareast Asia experienced atypically cold weather. At the same time, Siberia was unusually warm in winter and spring. This happened because a large high-pressure area loomed over Eastern Russia all through this year's spring season. It not only caused an all-time high temperature record in the Arctic Circle in Northern Siberia (with temperatures in May up to 10°C above average and temperatures in the town of Verkhoyansk reaching up to 38°C) but had repercussions for the entire Northern hemisphere and around the world. “Because a band of clouds formed on the periphery of this hot zone, reflecting solar radiation, central Asia, the coastal area of Eurasia as well as Central Europe significantly cooled down”, explains Elena Surovyatkina, Senior Scientist and expert for Climate Dynamics at the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research. [...]