Omega blocking highs can remain in place for several days or even weeks [image credit: UK Met Office]
We note that’s the period of two solar cycles. Meanwhile it’s reported to be milder than average around the Arctic: December serving up baked Alaska and warming most of Arctic. Much is made of lower sea ice than a few decades ago. But could the two events be related, as a blocking high pressure system has hovered over Scandinavia and western Russia in the last two weeks?
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The cold spell that began on November 30 continues in Moscow, reports Gismeteo.
Yesterday was the sixth day of the cold anomaly. The average daily temperature has been 4°C to 7°C below normal.
It is mostly sunny and dry, with the mercury dropping to -10…-14°C at night (down to -18…-20°C in the Moscow region) and rising to -5…-8°C in the afternoon.
How often does this happen at the beginning of the calendar winter?
There have been cases of even colder weather in recent years, for example in 2018, but they were short-lived and lasted one or two days. Right now, Moscow is experiencing the longest cold spell in early December in the last 22 years.
As a result, ice has formed on the Moskva River. Transparent ice up to 6cm thick has been observed in the city center.
A powerful continental anticyclone that has been determining the weather all this time has started collapsing. The atmospheric pressure is gradually falling, and the cold weather has begun to subside.
However, the next two days (December 6 and 7) will remain cold, with the mercury to drop to -10…-12°C at night (down to -20°C in the Moscow region) and to rise to -6…-8°C and higher in the afternoon.
Full report here.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
“Longest early Dec cold spell in years” – so no doubt they’ll need their own gas.
Yes, I dunno. Rushing around here pre-Cold spell imminent. Imminent? +5C steady overnight ( Sea temps keep us above freezing. ) Clear skies and slight breeze. Thought the Arctic was melting ( no ice by year dotz) so where is all this cold supposed to be coming from? ( to tell the sheeple)
Aye the Solar cycles atc. no problems with that… just the sheeple who listen to and propagate the eco rubbish. Thankfully the ponds didn’t freeze for the Herons, Storks & Pelicans long gone. WindNills still anchored to the rust. Power demand over 40GW ( winter needs) and wind power ? Solar , anybody? going for free! no takers Puh humbug!
Seeing the swings but not the roundabouts?…
Sea ice in the Arctic is about sixth lowest on record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. It’s far below normal “but we’ve seen worse,” Thoman said.
. . .
Because of that reduced sea ice, much of the Arctic is now warming four times faster than the rest of the globe, which leads to an increase in “winter warm events,” said Danish Meteorological Service ice scientist Jason Box, who studies Greenland.
“Some people cry ‘come off it, it’s just weather’,” Box said. “However, record-setting weather like we’re seeing plenty of examples of in recent years does tell a real story of climate heating.”
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-december-alaska-arctic.html
Occurring at the same, but no mention of the unusually cold weather in western Russia in that report. Cherrypicking?
Sea ice ‘far below normal’ they say. Doesn’t look too bad here…what’s the big deal?
Why don’t they use 1991-2020 as the latest 30-year window? Lack of downward trend since 2007/8 perhaps, defying all the ‘death spiral’ hysteria?
Gismeteo also reports this…
Yakutia facing major anomaly
Today, 11:00
An unusual low pressure area has formed over Yakutia. We are talking about a very deep high cyclone. During the cold half of the year this weather system is usually observed over the Arctic, and it is called a polar (or circumpolar) vortex. Now the polar cyclone has reached Yakutia.
Jet streams and active cyclones are raging around it. Instead of moving to Alaska, Pacific storms are approaching northern Yakutia. As a result, it is unusually warm and snowy in the subarctic zone.
. . .
The circumpolar vortex has also brought record low temperatures to the Khabarovsk and Amur regions and to China. [bold added]
https://www.gismeteo.com/news/climate/yakutia-facing-major-anomaly/
The quoted -53°C (daytime) in the report sounds cold enough. Surely phys.org and the rest of the warmist media won’t ignore this event 😎
It seems the God wants to help Russian winter offensive in Ukraine by ending “Rasputica” (the muddy season with all paths and fields turned to swamps, pronounced “rasputitsa”, where put’ (like putin) means “path”, ras-put’-itsa is “bad paths season”) sooner this year by a high-quality freeze…?
Or are they just lucky?
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While the Russian pressure high is subsiding, there is a new huge pressure high west of Greenland, that will pump cold polar air into Europe in next few days…
The pressure low over East Siberia (Yakutia) will quite probably move over Alaska, or will it keep cycling over Siberia…?
MSL Pressure compared 2022-12-04 and 2022-12-06, north pole in center, equator at circumference, America left, Siberia right, Europe down, Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection:
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Oymyakon – the coldest inhabited place on Earth
One of the coldest places on Earth and the coldest area to be inhabited all year round is Oymyakon – “The Pole of Cold”. Inhabitants live in an area where the temperature can reach -70С (-95F).
https://www.56thparallel.com/the-pole-of-cold-the-coldest-places-on-earth/
But normally its coldest temps are in January, i.e. a few weeks later than early December.
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Central Russia on alert for cold weather
1 Dec. 2022
The calendar winter has begun with extremely cold weather. For the first time this season, the mercury has dropped to -20°C in the Smolensk, Moscow and Tver regions.
. . .
The weather has been determined by a powerful cold anticyclone. The atmospheric pressure is abnormally high.
https://www.gismeteo.com/news/climate/central-russia-on-alert-for-cold-weather/
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