The UN officially recognized this Tuesday (14) the temperature of 38ºC recorded in Siberia last year as the new maximum for the Arctic region, which raises a warning about climate change.
The intense heat was recorded on June 20, 2020 in the Russian city of Verkhoyansk, which means the highest temperature in history above the Arctic Circle, indicated the WMO (World Meteorological Organization).
This is the first time this organization has included an Arctic heat record in its reports on extreme weather conditions. And it comes at the moment of an unprecedented wave of maximum temperatures around the world, the UN agency said.
“This new record in the Arctic is part of a series of observations recorded in the WMO’s Archive of Extreme Meteorological and Climatic Phenomena, which raises a warning about climate change,” agency director Petteri Taalas said in a statement.
Verkhoyansk is 115 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle and has records of temperatures dating back to 1885.
This record, which the agency says “is more Mediterranean than Arctic,” was recorded by a weather station during an exceptionally prolonged heat wave in Siberia.
Average temperatures in the Siberian Arctic region were 10°C higher than normal for much of the past (northern hemisphere) summer, triggering fires and significant sea-ice losses.
The heat wave also swayed 2020 to be designated as one of the three hottest years since records began worldwide.
Last year, the maximum temperature of 18.3°C was recorded in Antarctica, said Taalas.
WMO is still checking the record 54.4°C shown by thermometers in both 2020 and 2021 in Death Valley, California.
The organization’s experts are also trying to prove the 48.8°C mark in Sicily, which could be the record for Europe.
The OMM “never had so many simultaneous investigations,” Taalas reported.
a new category
The archives recorded temperature highs and lows, rainfall levels, magnitude of hailstorms, longer dry spells, wind gusts, lightning and mortality associated with weather incidents.
The inclusion of an Arctic record is a testament to the dramatic changes in the region.
Despite the increase in temperature in all regions of the planet, in some areas the process is faster than in others and in the Arctic the rate of change is twice the world average.
“This investigation highlights the increase in temperatures in a region that is very important from a climate point of view for the world,” said Randall Cerveny, an expert at the agency.
The mention of the Arctic implies that the two poles are now mentioned in the report, after in 2007 the WMO added the maximum temperatures recorded in the Antarctic region.
As this is a new category in the report, experts did not mention the previous record temperature for the region, but said there is no previous record of more than 38°C.
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