Extreme Drought around Tomsk, Russia in Summer 2012 in Comparison with Other Regions in Western Siberia

Abstract

The objective of this study is to clarify the regional difference in hydrometeorological parameters in Western Siberia (WS), an area which suffered from severe drought in the summer of 2012. The drought was especially apparent in middle WS. Regional differences in the hydrometeorological parameters have not been fully investigated so far; therefore, we investigated them based on the temporal variation in the hydrometeorological data. All of WS experienced an extremely hot summer in 2012, particularly in June and July. In middle WS, the snow water equivalent in March 2012 was the third lowest recorded from 1985 to 2019. The runoff during April–September 2012 was smaller than the long-term mean. Precipitation during April–August 2012 was also continuously lower. All this resulted in a severe drought in the summer. In particular, precipitation in July 2012 in middle WS was among the lowest recorded for the period of 1966–2019. These characteristics were unique to middle WS in July 2012. North and south WS did not suffer from a severe drought in 2012 because substantial precipitation was observed in summer. The findings of this study will contribute to the prediction of future hydrometeorological events, as extreme phenomena are more likely to occur in accordance with the progress of global warming.

Keywords

• severe drought
• Tomsk
• Western Siberia
• snow water equivalent
• runoff
• temperature