Weather and climate of Omsk

Omsk is an important industrial and economic center of Western Siberia. The territory it occupies exceeds five hundred square kilometers. The nearest neighbors are the Tyumen, Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions, the Republic of Kazakhstan. The status of the municipality he received in the late XVIII century, after almost fifty years became the regional center.

Landscape and natural resources

Transport accessibility is provided by the Trans-Siberian Railway, the navigable channel of the Irtysh River and a developed network of highways of federal and local significance. Other large water arteries of the region are Om, Uy, Osh, Ishim. Near the metropolis there are lakes with fresh and salt water.

The latter contain huge reserves of sodium chloride. The lion's share of their shores is bare, only a small fraction is covered with scanty vegetation. Omsk lies on the plain. In its depths lie the deposits of granite. There is diabase, shale, gneiss and peat. The soil is clayey and sandy soils.

The city is located in the forest-steppe zone. It is surrounded on all sides by forest tracts. In its vicinity grow pine, birch, aspen, fir, spruce and cedar. What is the climate in Omsk? Now we'll figure it out. The breadth of the settlement coincides with the geographical location of such cities as Kaliningrad, Manchester, Vitebsk, Ryazan and Copenhagen. But their meteorological characteristics are strikingly different from the weather conditions of Western Siberia.

Key Features

Since the city is located in temperate Nordic latitudes, the climate of Omsk is characterized by sharply continental features. Winters in the city are severe and frosty. They last much longer than in other parts of the north of Russia. They are characterized by extremely low air temperatures. Spring in Omsk comes later than the neighbors. In addition to sunny days, it brings prolonged cold snaps to these regions. The same can be said about the autumn months.

At the same time, there are rare visitors in the city. The continental type of Omsk climate is explained by the influence of air currents. They come from temperate latitudes. Rains and snow in the city are replaced by endless winds. Hurricanes throughout the calendar year freely penetrate into the flat territory of Omsk.

From the north come the cold currents. From the south - dry and mostly warm. Their frequent change provokes constant fluctuations in temperature conditions. This explains the climate of Omsk. Most clearly they are felt during the off-season. Squalled winds now and again sweep over the city.

Temperature values

If we compare the temperature of the hottest and the coldest months, the difference in values will be of the order of 40 ° C. It is almost always a degree four degrees colder than in populated areas, concentrated at a similar latitude. In winter, the thermometer's column fluctuates between -9 ... 25. In summer, only occasionally it falls below the 10 ° C mark and reaches 23 ° C - this is the volatile Siberian climate of Omsk. The most stable month, from the point of view of meteorology, is September. Temperature jumps are minimal at this time.

In January, the average value is -20 ° C. This is the most junior month. The hottest is July. The thermometer is held at 19 ° C. At the same time, the historical maximum, which was recorded in Omsk, is 38 ° C. For more than one hundred and fifty days in a row, the temperature of the city and the region is above + 5 ° С, and only one hundred days - above + 10 ° С.

Winter cold, regardless of the calendar date, returns to the west of Siberia until the very end of spring. The climate of Omsk is such that autumn frosts do not make you wait long. They begin already in the last days of August. Due to strong winds, cloudiness in the region lasts almost nine months on average. It almost never exceeds 60%. The clearest months are April and March. In November and October the sun peeps out from behind the clouds least often.

There are few precipitations in Omsk, but they do exist. Their average annual volume is 400 millimeters. This is fifty percent less than in the central part of Russia. More than half of the rains fall in the summer. They are stormy in nature and fall upon the city all at once. In the areas adjacent to the metropolitan area, a drought that provokes forest fires is observed year after year.

Seasonality

The climate of Omsk is also characterized by the formation of seasonality. Winter lasts five months. It begins in November, and ends in late March. Most often during this period, the weather is cold and frosty. The first snow can fall in September, but a full snow cover is formed by the first days of November. His maximum reaches in mid-March.

Winter and spring

In winter the city is in the power of the Siberian anticyclone. The wind blows from the south-west side. As such, there are almost no thaws. The climate of the city of Omsk is characterized by a short and swift spring. It lasts for a couple of calendar months. Comes in April and surrenders its position in May. As soon as the snow is melted, the air temperature begins to increase rapidly.

In April, it is warmer by 10 ° C than in March. In the middle of spring there is a turning point: the daily temperature readings pass the zero boundary. The spring weather and the climate of Omsk are also unstable, like the autumn days. Summer warm morning can quickly change to a frosty noon.

The cold air masses are bringing cold, continually breaking into these parts from the north. Within one day, the difference in thermometer readings may be twenty degrees. In spring, gusty winds blow from the south-west of Siberia. In May, dust storms occur , which serve as harbingers of arid summer. With the onset of July in Omsk comes this summer.

Summer and Autumn

In June, the duration of daylight hours is approximately 18 hours. In July - thirty minutes less, and in August - 15.5. There are no sharp changes in temperature at this time.

Autumn is as short in the west of Siberia as spring. Beginning in September, it ends in October. The steady clear and cloudless weather is gradually replaced by torrential rains, and the sky is tightened by leaden clouds. The closer to winter, the greater the amplitude of the temperature "swing". Increasingly, there are frosts.

First snow

In the cold years a stable cover is formed already in October. The maximum height of the nap is 77 centimeters. The total number of snowy days is 160. The heavy snowfalls occur in December and January. By the beginning of February, the height of the cover is 33 cm. This month is also the largest humidity. Its average value is 81%. Blizzards occur every three days. The most foggy is August. The mist is in October.

Old residents of Omsk testify that in the city from year to year it becomes drier and hotter. This is confirmed by the statistics of meteorologists Omsk. Climate and ecology are inextricably linked. Scientists explain such anomalous warming by the unfavorable situation in the metropolis and the region. The fault is the emissions of industrial enterprises and the irrational use of the region's natural resources.

Ecological situation

Despite the abundance of water bodies located in the western part of Siberia, scientists are sounding the alarm. Many of the region's rivers are threatened with complete extinction. Their beds are almost completely overgrown with bushes and trees.

Pools of large rivers continue to be polluted by industrial enterprises of the region. The situation is aggravated by the discharge of sewage and agricultural fertilizers washed away from agricultural fields and poisons. In the waters of the Irtysh, chemical compounds dangerous to human health are regularly recorded. The state of some of its tributaries is critical.

The water of the water area is considered dirty. It contains petrochemical products, heavy metal compounds, phenols, manganese, organic. Among the many reasons that led to the disastrous ecological situation, the lack of a centralized sewage system in populated areas, active residential and commercial development of water protection areas.

The disruption in the use of agricultural land, which lead to the entry of mineral substances into the Irtysh, also has a disastrous effect.