Since the start of the year, temperatures in northern Siberia have been unusually warm. According to scientists from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (Copernicus Climate Change Service, C3S), the average temperature for the first six months was more than five degrees Celsius above the mean for the years 1951 to 1980. In the small town of Verkhoyansk, a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius was recorded on 20 June. This broke the previous heat record within the Arctic Circle, set in Alaska in 1915, by a few tenths of a degree.

Siberia showed the greatest anomalies globally, it was reported. "What is concerning is that the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world," said C3S Director Carlo Buentempo at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Russian weather expert Roman Vilfand said that high-pressure systems had become much more common in recent years. In the Arctic, where it doesn't get dark in summer, this means persistent heat throughout the summer months.

Read the article at: orf.at

The original report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (Copernicus Climate Change Service, C3S) can be found at: climate.copernicus.eu