Аннотация:Regional climate change affects the state of inland water bodies and, first of all, their water balance, which is determined by a number of hydrometeorological and hydrogeological factors. An integral characteristic of changes in the water balance is the behavior of the level of lakes and reservoirs, which not only largely determines the physical and ecological state of water bodies, but also significantly affects the coastal infrastructure and socio-economic development of the region. The paper investigates the interannual variability of the level of Ladoga and Onega lakes, the largest lakes in Europe, located in the northwest of Russia, according to satellite altimetry data for 1993-2020. Water level analysis was combined with the analysis of interannual changes in near surface air temperature (SAT) over the White Sea and the territory of the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions and the Republic of Karelia. We analyzed the monthly average NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data for the period 1950-2020. The average SAT growth estimated using a linear trend was +0.24°С/10 years. Against the background of this linear growth, significant interdecadal changes in SAT are observed. The following periods are highlighted: the strengthening of the continentality of the climate (1950-1976), a more maritime climate (1977-1998), and the rapid growth of SAT (1999-2020). The transition from a period of increasing continentality of the climate to a period of a more maritime climate is associated with an increase in the influence of the North Atlantic Ocean on the region under study. A hypothesis has been put forward that the present period of rapid growth of SAT is caused by the transition of the climatic system of the western part of the Russian Arctic into a new phase state.