Weather: Russian Bear at

Russian Bear in trainingThe giant is taking shape Russian Bear, a key atmospheric figure capable of influencing the climate in Europe and in Italy. While Italy is grappling with a phase of bad weather that is moving towards the South, extending our gaze to the entire hemisphere we can see how temperatures have dropped to -30°C in some areas!

But what does it mean Russian Bear? Meteorology enthusiasts call theRusso-Siberian anticycloneone of the main world baric figures which decisively conditions the winters of Asia and Europe.
In detail, as we can see in the map below, the Russo-Siberian Anticyclone is one large area of ​​high pressure (indicated with the letter A) with values ​​around 1050hpa and present on the boundless lands straddling Russia, Mongolia and China.Abnormal high pressure over Russia: the infamous Russo-Siberian anticyclone
The main feature of this atmospheric figure are the freezing temperatures which are achieved due to gradual cold sedimentation in the lower layers, in meteorological jargon “film cooling”. The presence of snow on large areas of the Siberian plain promotes radiative cooling (dissipation of heat towards space) e amplifies the albedo effect: that is, the snowpack reflects the sun’s rays in the upper atmosphere and the air temperature is unable to warm up but rather continues to cool down more and more.
The coldest air masses get trapped in the lower layers of the atmosphere. The increase in atmospheric pressure in this case is not justified by the presence of an anticyclone of a dynamic nature (as occurs here), i.e. governed by a mass of warm air, but it is the result of the weight of the cold air itself which, being very dense, causes a rise in atmospheric pressure.
Currently (map below) near the ground they are recorded temperatures around -30°C also in Moscow. Between the end of the week and the beginning of next, temperatures in the Russian Far East could drop further, reaching the threshold of -50°C in Yakutia in Oymyakon, Verkhoyansk and Tomtor, some of the coldest places in the hemisphere during the winter, when peaks of -70°C can be reached at the height of the season.Freezing temperatures in Russia, where they touch -40°C
Over the weeks, the high pressure could grow, extending up to the Ural Mountains area, thus arriving in Europe and determining the preconditions for waves of very cold air to head towards our continent.

But will this frost also reach the heart of Europe and Italy? The situation, as always happens when it comes to long-term scenarios, is very complex and impossible to predict in a definite way. L’hypothesis is that, between the end of January and the beginning of February, part of this mighty freezing bubble could slide first towards Eastern Europe and then towards Italy, thus giving way to a‘frost wave as already happened in the past (1929, 1956, 1985, 1996, 2012, 2018).
If this were to occur, it cannot be excluded that a cyclonic vortex continuously fed by these cold incursions of arctic origin, with the consequence of bringing back the snow up to very low altitudes (locally in the plains), especially in the Centre-North. Obviously, given the time distance, we invite caution, as the configuration could undergo significant changes. However, the system seems to exist.