The Sea of Okhotsk is a shallow mid-latitude marginal sea bordered by the Asian Continent to its west and north. A strong thermal contrast forms in summer between the cool sea surface and the heated landmass, while the thermal gradient is reversed in winter. Under the influence of the continuous spill of extremely cold air form the continent and fresh water supplied by the Amur River, the Okhotsk region becomes the southernmost ice-covered maritime region in the Northern Hemisphere. With regard to how these seasonal characteristics of the surface thermal condition and their interannual variability in and around the Okhotsk region can be related to the variability in hemispheric-scale atmospheric circulation, we discuss the possible in fluence of the anomalous sea-ice extent on large-scale atmospheric circulation and the formation of the summertime cool surface Okhotsk High, based on data analysis and numerical experiments.