Intense Cold In Corners Of China, Russia Are One Big Exception To Generally Warm Global Winter

Reports out of northeastern China (pink and red areas)
indicate parts of the region might have had all
time record low temperatures for the nation.

 It's winter, and it has to be cold somewhere, 

Better elsewhere than here in Vermont, at least as far as I'm concerned. I'm definitely no fan of temperatures far below zero. 

In northeastern China in the past couple of days, the temperature got as low as 63 below zero. I hasten to add that this is not as of yet a confirmed report. 

If the report is true and the measurement is verified as accurate,  this would be the coldest temperature recorded in China any year, anywhere. A few other areas got under 60 below in this intense cold snap.

The deep chill is spreading into adjacent North and South Korea, and on to Japan, but the chill will not set as many records there as it has in China and Russia.

Yep, I mentioned Russia. That's because before the deep cold reached China, it was in part of Russia, namely Siberia.

Around January 18, the temperature reportedly dropped to 81 below in Tongulak, Russia. Now, that's normally a very cold place that often gets into the 50s and 60s below zero in the winter. (I would NOT be able to stand that!)

Still, that 81 below, if verified would be a record low for that town, and the coldest it has reached anywhere in Russia since 1982.

Part of the reason for this intense cold is the polar vortex has been far north and tightly wound for weeks.  That has helped keep the mid-latitudes warm. Often, the polar vortex will stretch, or pieces of it will break off, causing nasty cold spells in Canada, the United States, Russia or parts of Asia.

Of course, those blasts of Arctic air get rid of some of the intense cold in the polar vortex. For weeks now, though, the polar vortex hasn't stretched, wobbled or broken, so the air under it has just been getting colder and colder and colder in the darkness of an Arctic winter. 

Now, the polar vortex is finally showing some signs of instability.  The cold in Siberia and China was probably the first effect of that. 

Meteorologists see signs that parts of the United States, especially northwestern and central parts of the nation, could see some pretty intense cold by in the final days of January and the first few days of February. 

However, we don't know quite yet exactly how cold it will get and how widespread the chill will get.

Now that I've mentioned a possible all time low temperature for a nation, I'm sure some wags or idiots will announce that proves climate change is a hoax.

Um, no. 

The amount of climate change we've had so far definitely tilts things so that the chances of record warmth are greater than that of record cold. But climate change does not entirely get rid of the chances of dramatic dips in temperature. 

One example of the this is the number of nations or territories that experienced all time hottest temperature records compared to the number that saw all time record lows.

Eleven nations and territories saw all time record highs in 2022, while three saw all time record lows.