We are facing global climate anomaly - meteorologist

Several weeks of sweltering heat which have gripped Central Russia have again stirred up the debate about global warming.

Meteorologist Vadim Zavodchenkov, from an independent weather information service, explains what has been behind the seasonal shift and predicts where it could lead the coming winter.

“There are several factors there,” Zavochenkov told RT. “First of all, of course, it’s down to nature. There's also the human factor, as people's influence on nature is rarely positive. But there also a more global factor that I want to mention. The earth as apart of the universe is affected by outer space.”

The scientist claimed solar activity and its variations are among the strongest impacts on Earth and said that now the sun is in one of the longest calm periods of its cycle for decades, which affects the air streams’ circulation.

“Russia among others has been badly affected by this meridianal form of circulation this year,” said the meteorologist. “We've seen a very cold winter as air steams came from the north, and now this abnormally hot summer as south streams came.”

The world is facing a global anomaly, said Vadim Zavodchenkov, speaking of temperature extremes in Russia this year.

“Moscow has hit temperature records not only across Russia, but on the planet. Moscow is a northern city and the temperature here has stayed above 30 degrees for over a month. For this climate zone, it’s a world record. It is partially global warming everyone is talking about. But global warming alone cannot explain the anomaly we're witnessing this year. It’s more to do with the calm phase of the sun and other factors put together.”

“The worst part is that a lot of those hard carbon monoxide emissions are now stuck in the atmosphere,” the meteorologist said, speaking of Moscow’s smog, which is currently minimal but may return soon. “When they mix with steam in the atmosphere, they create carbonic acid, which then turns into acid rain. It's rain that burns trees and fields.”

Many people are concerned, that heavy rains and storms will replace fires in Russia in the nearest future. But Zavodchenkov does not believe so:

“We are used to air streams going from west to east,” he said. “So many think if Poland is flooded and heavy storms have covered Latvia it is all heading towards Russia. But luckily the sun phase works for us this time, because air streams will take those that produce cyclones to the north. Central Russia will be far away from the storms and heavy rains. So we should not expect another polar catastrophe.”