Much of European Russia has warm summers and cold winters. In the polar north, summers are cool and winters are very cold. Northern Russia has temperatures regularly below those in Antarctica. Russia's weather was amongst its greatest defences: Napoleon could not conquer due to ice and snow, and Hitler's troops did no better against the Soviet army of Stalin during the winters of the early 40's.
             The town of Oymyakon is the coldest inhabited place on earth. Its winter temperatures drop to -65°C. Moscow's winter average is -12°C; the summer average is 24°C.
             Russia is in fact so cold that semiconductors are not widely used in avionics because they cease to operate at these sub-zero temperatures; instead, transistors are used.
             The European part, which this paper is based on, is located between 40N and 65N and 40E and 65E. ie. the boundaries are the Urals to the east, the Sea of Barents to the north, across to Finland, the Black sea to the west and the Caspian seas to the south.
             The European part is separated from the Asian part (Western Siberian Plains) by the Ural Mountains.
             Map of the Russian Federation. Note: European Russia is the shaded area west of the Urals
             The Russo-European Plain is separated from the Asian part of Russia by the Ural Mountains, but the central Urals are not high enough to block the flow of westerly air mass flows.
             Nearly half of the area lies below 200m and much of the area is situated well away from sea coasts. The countries that make up the region include Finland and the former USSR states of Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine,
             Different climates are experienced throughout Russia because it is a large country that spreads through 11 time zones – 10, 000km from east to west and 4, 700km from north to south. Due to Russia's vast landmass, the climatic zones are divided into two parts: the...