Scientists with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) are examining new data indicating that temperatures in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk — located north of the Arctic Circle — hit a record-breaking 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier this month.
Scientists with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) are examining new data indicating that temperatures in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk — located north of the Arctic Circle — hit a record-breaking 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier this month. The region has experienced a prolonged heatwave, which started in January and is expected to last through at least August.
Temperatures in the region, for example, measured 10 degrees C (18.5 degrees F) above average in May. Snow cover melted and river ice in Siberia broke up “exceptionally early” this year as a result of the heatwave, according to the WMO.
“It has been an unusually hot spring in Siberia, and the coinciding lack of underlying snow in the region combined with overall global temperature increases, undoubtedly helped play a critical role in causing this extreme temperature observation,” Randall Cerveny, a climate scientist at Arizona State University and the WMO’s special expert on weather and climate extremes, said in a statement.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
Image: A satellite image showing surface temperatures in Eastern Siberia on June 19. COPERNICUS/SENTINEL3
