Why go
A Moscow visit and a journey described in Siberian history belong to very different climate settings. The contrast between continental interiors, northern coasts and the Black Sea explains why neither severe Siberian winter figures nor subtropical Sochi conditions describe the country as a whole.
The full story
Distance from the sea helps produce strong temperature contrasts across Russia’s continental interior. Southern mountain ranges obstruct warm air from the Indian Ocean, while the plains of the west and north remain open to Atlantic and Arctic influences. Winters generally become colder towards the north and east. Much of northern European Russia and Siberia has a subarctic climate. The Arctic coast and islands have polar conditions, while the Black Sea coast around Sochi has a humid subtropical climate with milder, wetter winters. The Lower Volga and Caspian coastal region are comparatively dry. Precipitation also varies. In parts of eastern Siberia and the Far East, winters are drier than summers; elsewhere rainfall and snowfall are distributed more evenly through the year. Snow is the usual form of winter precipitation across much of the country. Continental summers can be hot, including in Siberia, and spring and autumn often bring relatively brief transitions.