March 06, 2020
On March 6, 2020, the Meteosat-8 satellite viewed Moscow and the western half of Russia as it experienced warmer-than-average temperatures for the 2019–20 winter season. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Moscow has an unseasonably warm high of 50 degrees Fahrenheit predicted for the upcoming weekend, well above the previous high temperature of 40 degrees set in 1995. Additionally, the maximum winter’s snow cover for Moscow has fallen dramatically. For New Years, most notably, Russia had to import artificial snow for holiday festivities.
The Hydrometcenter of Russia stated that air temperatures were abnormally warm for the country during the 2020 winter season, with a median winter temperature above 32 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time ever. Copernicus’ Climate Change Service adds that precipitation for most of Europe, including Russia, has been sparse for 2019 and the beginning of 2020. Copernicus, in its State of the Climate report, added: “…precipitation, soil moisture, and relative humidity were below average (indicating generally dry conditions).” The radical change from ordinary conditions is partly due to the Arctic Oscillation Teleconnection , which affects latitudes from 20 to 90 degrees N, and is currently in an extreme positive phase. While the pattern will result in normal to below-normal temperatures for Western Europe, it will also result in above-normal temperatures in Eastern Europe for the next 10 days.
In geostationary orbit at approximately 22,300 miles above the equator, the Meteosat-8 satellite operates over Europe, Africa, and the Indian Ocean. Meteosat-8 (launched from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou in 2002) is positioned at 41.5 degrees and provides full disc imagery every 15 minutes. Meteosat- 8 is equipped with the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI), which observes the Earth in 12 spectral channels and the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument, a visible-infrared radiometer for monitoring the amount of radiation on Earth. Meteosat-8 is one of the four geostationary satellites operated by our partners at EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites).