UN Recognized New Temperature Record in Arctic | News from Germany about Russia | Dw

In the Russian city of Verkhoyansk, located 115 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, on June 20, 2020, an air temperature of 38 degrees Celsius was recorded. This is a new temperature record for the Arctic, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO, UN entity) announced on Tuesday, December 14.

A report on the organization’s website notes that for most of last summer, average temperatures in the Arctic zone of Siberia were 10 degrees Celsius above normal, exacerbating wildfires and causing the loss of sea ice. Warming in the region was instrumental in making 2020 one of the three warmest years on record.

“This new record for the Arctic is the latest in a series of observations made to the WMO Archive of extreme weather and climate events that are a wake-up call for our climate change,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

Other temperature records

According to Taalas, in 2020, a new temperature record for the Antarctic continent was also recorded, at 18.3 degrees Celsius. WMO is now verifying two more temperature readings: 54.4 degrees Celsius recorded in 2020 and 2021 in Death Valley in California, and 48.8 degrees Celsius recorded in the Italian island of Sicily this summer. These indicators can be recognized as a record for the whole world and for Europe, respectively.

“The WMO Archive of Extreme Weather and Climate Events has never conducted so many simultaneous studies,” said the WMO Secretary General.

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