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Russia’s warmest winter on record — report

The past three winter months saw the highest temperatures and became the warmest on record

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Russia has experienced a second warmest winter in a row. If last winter set new temperature records, the past three winter months saw the highest temperatures and became the warmest on record, Roshydromet meteorological service said.

"According to the data of climate monitoring carried out by Russia’s Roshydromet, air temperatures over the past three winter months were 4-5C above the long-term average in most of the country’s regions," the service said.

In Siberia, Taimyr and Yamal, they exceeded 7-8C above the average, while the Arctic islands in the Barents and Kara Seas set a new high, with 10-12C above the average.

"Seasonal air temperatures have never been so high," meteorologists say.

"Statistics shows that the past winter has become the warmest in the Central and Siberian Federal Districts, the second warmest - in the Urals Federal District and the third warmest - in the North-Western and Volga Federal Districts," they report.

A mean temperature has exceeded the long-term average almost in whole Russia, except Kamchatka and neighboring Kurile Islands along with coastal areas off the Okhotsk and Bering Seas, where the winter was 1-3C colder than usual.

An extreme warm winter was recorded not only in in Russia but in most parts of Eurasia and North America as well.

The winter was the warmest in the United States, Europe and the Arctic, the second warmest in Canada and the third warmest in India.

In the meantime, it happened to be the coldest in northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific and even possibly in Central Africa.

The past three winter months were the warmest on record in the history of weather observations in the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere.