The Arctic is on fire: Siberian heat wave alarms scientists

MOSCOW: The Arctic is feverish and on fire at least parts of it are. And that's got scientists worried about what it means for the rest of the world.

The thermometer hit a

likely record of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Russian Arctic town of Verkhoyansk on Saturday, a temperature that would be a fever for a person but this is Siberia, known for being frozen.

The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that it's looking to verify the temperature reading, which would be unprecedented for the region north of the Arctic Circle.

The Arctic is figuratively and literally on fire it's warming much faster than we thought it would in response to rising

levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and this warming is leading to a rapid meltdown and increase in wildfires, University of Michigan environmental school dean Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist, said in an email.

The record warming in Siberia is a warning sign of major proportions, Overpeck wrote. Much of Siberia had high temperatures this year that were beyond unseasonably warm.

From January through May, the average temperature in north-central Siberia has been about 8 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) above average, according to the climate science nonprofit Berkeley Earth. That's much, much warmer than it's ever been over that region in that period of time, Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather said.

Siberia is in the Guinness Book of World Records for its extreme temperatures. It's a place where the thermometer has swung 106 degrees Celsius (190 degrees Fahrenheit), from a low of minus 68 degrees Celsius (minus 90 Fahrenheit) to now 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit).