UN evaluates reports of record Arctic heat in Siberia

GENEVA — The United Nations weather agency is investigating media reports suggesting a new record high temperature of more than 38 C in the Arctic Circle amid a heatwave and prolonged wildfires in eastern Siberia.

The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that it’s looking to verify the temperature reading on Saturday in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk with Rosgidromet, the Russian federal service for hydrometeorological and environmental monitoring.

The reports suggest yet another possible sign of global warming in the Arctic, which, the agency said, is among the fastest warming regions in the world and is heating at twice the global average.

“Apparently, this particularly region of eastern Siberia has very, very cold extremes in winter, but is also known for its extremes in summer, so temperatures above 30 C in

July are not unusual,” World Meteorological Organization spokeswoman Clare Nullis said. “but obviously 38 C is exceptional.”

“We’ve seen satellite images this morning, and it’s just one mass of red — it’s striking and worrying,” she told a UN briefing in Geneva.

The area has been hit by wildfires that have driven up temperatures.

“A WMO fast-response evaluation team has given tentative acceptance of this observation as a legitimate observation, which is consistent with current upper air observations at the time in Siberia,” WMO special rapporteur Randall Cerveny said in a statement.

“This will now be subject to a normal process for a detailed formal review by a panel of WMO atmospheric scientists,” added Cerveny, who is also a professor of geographical sciences at Arizona State University.