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Soviet Union [USSR] Climate
Notorious cold and long winters have, understandably, been the
focus of discussions on the Soviet Union's weather and climate.
From the frozen depths of Siberia have come baby mammoths perfectly
preserved, locked in ice for several thousand years. Millions of
square kilometers experience half a year of subfreezing
temperatures and snow cover over subsoil that is permanently frozen
in places to depths of several hundred meters. In northeastern
Siberia, not far from Yakutsk, hardy settlers cope with January
temperatures that consistently average -50° C. Transportation
routes, including entire railroad lines, have been redirected in
winter to traverse rock-solid waterways and lakes.
Howling Arctic winds that produce coastal wind chills as low as
-152° C and the burany, or blinding snowstorms of the
steppe,
are climatic manifestations of a relatively unfavorable position in
the Northern Hemisphere. The dominance of winter in the Soviet
Union is a result of the proximity to the North Pole--the
southernmost point of the country is about on the same latitude as
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma--and remoteness from oceans that tend to
moderate the climate. As a result, cold, high-pressure systems in
the east--the "Siberian high"--and wet, cold cyclonic systems in
the west largely determine the overall weather patterns.
The long, cold winter has a profound impact on almost every
aspect of life in the Soviet Union. It affects where and how long
people live and work and what kinds of crops are grown and where
they are grown (no part of the country has a year-round growing
season). The length and severity of the winter, along with the
sharp fluctuations in the mean summer and winter temperatures,
impose special requirements on many branches of the economy: in
regions of permafrost, buildings must be constructed on pilings,
and machinery must be made of specially tempered steel;
transportation systems must be engineered to perform reliably in
extremely low and high temperatures; the health care field and the
textile industry are greatly affected by the ramifications of six
to eight months of winter; and energy demands are multiplied by
extended periods of darkness and cold.
Despite its well-deserved reputation as a generally snowy, icy
northern country, the Soviet Union includes other major climatic
zones as well. According to Soviet geographers, most of their
country is located in the temperate zone, which for them includes
all of the European portion except the southern part of Crimea and
the Caucasus, all of Siberia, the Soviet Far East, and the plains
of Soviet Central Asia and the southern Kazakh Republic. Within
this belt are the taiga, the steppes, and the deserts of Soviet
Central Asia. In fact, the climate in much of this zone is anything
but temperate; it varies from the moderate maritime climate of the
Baltic republics, which is similar to the American Northwest, to
the continental climate of the east and northeast, which is akin to
that of the Yukon Territory. Leningrad and Yakutsk, although
roughly on the same latitude, have average January temperatures of
-7C and -50C , respectively.
Two areas outside the temperate zone demonstrate the climatic
diversity of the Soviet Union: the Soviet Far East, under the
influence of the Pacific Ocean, with a monsoonal climate; and the
subtropical band of territory extending along the southern coast of
the Soviet Union's most popular resort area, Crimea, through the
Caucasus and into Soviet Central Asia, where there are deserts and
oases.
With most of the land so far removed from the oceans and the
moisture they provide, levels of precipitation in the Soviet Union
are low to moderate. More than half the country receives fewer than
forty centimeters of rainfall each year, and most of Soviet Central
Asia and northeastern Siberia can count on barely one-half that
amount. The wettest parts are found in the small, lush subtropical
region of the Caucasus and in the Soviet Far East along the Pacific
coast.
Data as of May 1989
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