Siberia 10°C hotter in warmest May on record - EU

Temperatures soared 10°C above average last month in Siberia, home to much of Earth’s permafrost, as the world experienced its hottest May on record, the EU’s climate monitoring network said on Friday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said May was 0.68°C warmer than the average May from 1981 to 2010, with above average temperatures across parts of Alaska, Europe, North America, South America, swathes of Africa and Antarctica.

Globally, “the average temperature for the 12 months to May 2020 is close to 1.3°C above the [pre-industrial] level”, Copernicus said referring to the benchmark by which global warming is often measured. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nearly 200 countries have pledged to cap the rise in Earth average surface temperature to “well below” 2°C, and to 1.5°C if possible.

The heatwave across parts of Siberia and Alaska will cause particular alarm in regions that were engulfed by huge forest fires last year fuelled by record heat, and where Copernicus has warned that “zombie” blazes smouldering underground might be reigniting.

Copernicus recorded above average temperatures around much of the Arctic between March to May, although the spring was colder in northern Canada.