Climate

The greater part of Russia lies within the moderate climatic zone. The northern regions of the country next to the Arctic Ocean lie in the arctic and sub-arctic belts, while the southern regions including the Caucasus are in the sub-tropics. The climate is continental on the major territory of the country and sea-type in north-west. In the European part of Russia the climate is temperate, while in Siberia and the Far East, it is sharply continental with dramatic temperature gradients in the daytime and at nights, with hot summers and cold snow winters. In the south of the Far East, the climate is moderately monsoon.

The average temperatures in January range from 0 C - 5C near the northern spurs of the Caucasus Mountains to -40C -50C in Yakutia. Those in July vary from +1C in the northern coast of Siberia to +24 +25C in the European lowland.

The largest amount of precipitations falls in the mountains of the Caucasus and Altai (up to 2000 mm a year) and in the south of the Far East (up to 1000 mm).

Due to a great variation of the climatic zones, for practical information it is recommended to look at each particular region.