Wild Siberian Weather: Temps Swing 100F As Climate Change Kicks In

On weather maps, the high pressure area looks like a pockmark in the Arctic. The reddish, almost pink blotch goes from far eastern Russia across the Bering Sea and up into the Chukchi Sea, extending well north, into the Arctic.

The unusually strong high pressure area is sweeping anomalously warm air into Siberia, northeast Russia, parts of Alaska, and the Arctic Ocean. One community affected by the unusually high temperatures is the small Russian community of Omolon, where an all-time January high temperature record was reportedly set on Monday, when the temperature hit 3 degrees above Celsius, or 38.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

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That might still sound a bit chilly, but consider that the average daily high temperature there at this time of year is minus-32 degrees Celsius, or minus-25.6 degrees Fahrenheit, according to data from Meteo France, cited by meteorologist Bob Henson of Weather Underground.

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