The highest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic was officially set at 38 degrees Celsius by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Tuesday. The UN body calls the extraordinarily high temperature “more befitting the Mediterranean than the Arctic.” The regional heat record was sounded on June 20, 2020 in the Russian city of Verkhoyansk, during an exceptional and prolonged heat wave.
The record is 18 degrees higher than the average daily maximum for June in the area. According to the WMO, the high temperature is an “alarm bell” for climate change. Last year’s extreme heat in the Arctic, according to the organization, contributed to the spread of wildfires, which swept across the forests and peatlands of northern Russia, releasing record amounts of carbon. The high temperatures in Siberia at the time led to a “massive loss of sea ice” and helped make 2020 one of the three warmest years on record, the WMO writes.
Verkhoyansk is located about 115 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. The meteorological station there has been measuring temperatures since 1885. The Arctic cold record has been 69.9 degrees Celsius since 1991. The Arctic is one of the fastest warming regions in the world, with mercury rising more than twice the global average.
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