LAUSR

Abstract The spatiotemporal analysis of the relationship between the total column water vapor in winter and the sea surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial Pacific was performed. It is shown that this relationship is manifested with a delay of not more than a month for the continents located at the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Depending on the sign of the temperature anomaly in the equatorial Pacific, in the atmosphere over the land in the zone of 30°–75° N in winter water vapor content decreases or increases, thus leading to the slowdown or enhancement of the effect of anthropogenic global warming. The long periods with the low intensity of El Niño and with the frequent occurrence of La Niña cause a trend towards a decrease in total column water vapor. This explains winter air temperature decrease over the land in the zone of 30°–75° N in the middle of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century. Changes in the phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation mainly characterized by one sign of the temperature anomaly in the equatorial Pacific are accompanied by a change in the winter air temperature trend in the middle and high latitudes but have little effect on the rate of summer air temperature growth.