Published 15.01.2024 December 2023 was rich in weather events. The reason for such a variety of atmospheric weather phenomena and temperature "swings" was the frequent change of cyclones and anticyclones.
The month was conditionally divided into two waves of heat and one wave of cold. During the heat waves, abnormally warm weather was observed, with snowfalls and blizzards, on some days there was a transition from snow to rain and ice. During the cold wave, on the contrary, the weather was characterized by "cracking" 30-40-degree frosts both in the north and in the south of the country. Therefore, records for maximum and minimum daily air temperatures were updated in December.
So, for example, in the period of December 3-6, records for maximum daily air temperatures were updated in almost the entire territory of Kazakhstan, in cities such as Atyrau (December 4 - +11.9 °C, the record of 2012 was blocked - +10.6 °C), Taraz (December 5 - +19.6 °C, the record of 2019 was blocked - +16.2°C), Shymkent (December 5 - +20.2°C, the record of 1980 was blocked - +17.0°C), Astana (December 6 - +3.1°C, the record of 1961 was blocked - +1.4°C), Pavlodar (December6 - +4.2°C, blocked the record of 1961 is +2.2 °C), Ust-Kamenogorsk (December 6 - +8.5 °C, the record of 2019 is blocked - +7.2 ° C), etc
In the period of December 21-31, another heat wave was observed, with which the thermometer columns reached +1+6 °C in the northern regions, +7+13 °C in the western regions, +3+9 ° C in the eastern, +14+21 °C in the southern, records were broken at a number of stations, for example On December 21, +4.5°C was recorded in Uralsk (the record of 2014 was blocked - +3.9°C), on December 25 in Shymkent - +20.6°C (the record of 2017 was blocked - +18.0°C), in Taraz it was +20.1°C (the record of 2017 was updated - +16.8°C), December 26 in Astana - +4.8 °C (1996 record was updated - +3.4°C), etc.
In the period of December 7-18, with the influx of cold air masses and the influence of the vast Siberian anticyclone, frosty weather was established on the territory of Kazakhstan. In most of the country, the thermometer columns dropped to -30-41 °C at night (on December 9 at the Ruzaevka weather station in the North Kazakhstan region to -41.2 ° C), in the southern regions of Kazakhstan to - 22-37 ° C (on January 14 at the Karatau weather station in the Zhambyl region -37.2 ° C). During this period, records were updated at a number of stations, on December 13 in the Turkestan region at the Shardara weather station, the air temperature dropped to -20.0 °C (the 1995 record was updated to -15.1 °C), on December 4 at the Taraz weather station it was -33.9 °C (the 1984 record was updated to -27.5 °C).
In addition to sharp fluctuations in the temperature background, such phenomena as snowfalls, blizzards, stormy winds, rains, ice, fogs were frequent in Kazakhstan. In some regions of the republic, precipitation exceeded the monthly norm per day. For example, on December 26, 18 mm fell at the Karabalyk weather station in Kostanay region, with a monthly norm of 20 mm, on December 28, in Aktobe region, 19 mm fell at the Nura weather station with a monthly norm of 15 mm, at the Irgiz weather station 16 mm, with a monthly norm of 14 mm.
In the capital, the lowest air temperature was recorded on December 12 and amounted to -33.2°C, the highest air temperature was recorded on December 26 and amounted to +4.8°C, on this day the record of 1996 was updated to +3.4°C. Precipitation fell - 61 mm, with a monthly norm of 25 mm.