Lake Baikal is situated almost in the centre of Asia and it is considerably distant from all oceans. Vast plains and plateaus are located to the north from the lake and don’t hinder the access of the cold Artic air. In the south on the contrary there are high ranges, behind which stretches the Mongolian desert of Goby. Prevailing in the northern hemisphere the west winds loose almost all moisture on their way from the Atlantic Ocean and bring very little of it to the lake shore. Thanks to peculiarities of the geographical location, the Baikal belongs to the zone of moderate sharply continental climate which is characteristic of most parts of the Eastern Siberia. However Lake Baikal itself has a considerable influence on the climate when not icebound. The climatic conditions of the big hollows are so unbelievable that it makes scientists examine the special type of a lake climate (limn climate). A big scope of water softens a continentality, increases moisture on the coast and promotes a rise of a temperature in winter and a reduction of a temperature in summer.

Average annual temperature on the Baikal is different in different parts of the Baikal but on the whole it is negative and doesn’t exceed -0,7ºC. There is one single place of the coast where the temperature amounts to +0,4ºC it is small Peschanaya Bay (Sandy Bay). A number of solar days also depends on a plot of the coast: most of all the Sun shines over island Olkhon and over strait Small sea, there are always clouds and it rains in southeast part next to the foot of mountain range Hamar-Daban. A number sediments falling out during a year differs from 200mm on the Olkhon to 1145mm on the Hamar-Daban.

A transparency of the atmosphere over the lake permits to see mountain tops remote on 200km, but only in that case if a fog doesn’t rise over a superficiality of water, what happens here very often. One more phenomenon of the lake is a forming cumulous clouds in winter as a result of a big evaporation of water.