VERKHOYANSK, Russia – In a release from the World Meteorological Organization Tuesday, it confirmed that a reading of 100.4°F in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk on June 20, 2020 is now the warmest temperature on record in the Arctic Circle.
The town is located 70 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and the meteorological station has been recording since 1885.
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The organization says this happened during a prolonged heatwave in Siberia; one that led to fires, sea ice loss and 2020 being one of the three warmest years on record. Previously, the WMO confirmed a record high temperature in Antarctica that happened in 2020 too.
The World Meteorological Organization, in its release, stated that the Arctic among the fastest warming regions in the world.
Dr. Blair Trewin from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology states, “Verifying records of this type is important in having a reliable base of evidence as to how our climate’s most extreme extremes are changing.
Currently, the WMO is investigating two separate readings of 129.9°F in Death Valley, California from 2020 and 2021 and a reported European temperature record of 119.8° on the Italian island of Sicily this past summer.