This winter is breaking records for temperature changes and weather anomalies. News lines are full of reports of snowfalls unusual for Europe and North America, prolonged rains and floods, and strong, almost stormy winds.
According to experts, the more frequent and abrupt change in weather processes characteristic of the winter in the 2020-2021 season is associated with an increase in the greenhouse effect. It is this effect that “shakes” the climate, and this process is further growing.
In Ashgabat, winter was also characterized by large temperature contrasts and anomalies.Unusually early, on November 18, the first snow fell in the city.New Year’s Eve and the first days of 2021, usually warm and sunny previously, turned out to be cloudy and cold.
The fallen snow did not melt for a long time, turning into a hard ice crust, which melted very slowly, even when the atmospheric air warmed up enough after frost.
In early February, the Russian news agency REGNUM, citing Meteozhurnal, reported that Ashgabat was experiencing the driest weather in the last 130 years. At the end of January 2021, there was tenths of a millimeter of precipitation in Ashgabat, which was the lowest indicator in the entire history of observations since 1891.
The climatic norm for Ashgabat in January was 22 mm. During the month, there were only four days with precipitations. Less than 0.1 mm fell on each day.
The report noted that according to the international rules for weather observation, precipitation in the amount of less than 0.1 mm is not taken into account “traces of precipitation” are recorded instead of the amount.
Earlier, the driest January in Ashgabat was observed in 1962, when 1 mm of precipitation fell. From August to January 2020, 41.1 mm of precipitation or 51% of the climatic norm fell in Turkmenistan.
The air temperature in February became like in spring early, and according to the Gismeteo forecast, in the remaining days of the calendar winter, it will fluctuate from 10-12 to 23-28 degrees Celsius.