 Siberia is typically classified as a polar region , owing to the dryness of the winter climate and has glaciers only in the high Altai Mountains , Verkhoyansk Range , Cherskiy Range and Suntar @-@ Khayata Range , plus possibly a few very small glaciers in the ranges near Lake Baikal , which have never been monitored and may have completely disappeared since 1989 . Between the years 1952 and 2006 , the glaciers found in the Aktru Basin region shrank by 7 @.@ 2 percent . This shrinkage has been primarily in the ablation zone of the glaciers , with recession of several hundred meters being observed for some glaciers . The Altai region has also experienced an overall temperature increase of 1 @.@ 2 degrees Celsius in the last 120 years according to a report from 2006 , with most of that increase occurring since the late 20th century . 
