“Exceptional and prolonged” temperatures in Siberia, have left parts of the Arctic warmer than sub-tropical Florida, and fuelled “devastating” wildfires for a second consecutive year, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday, while warning also of rapidly decreasing sea ice along the Russian polar coast. According to the UN agency, temperatures in Siberia have been more than 5°C above average from January to June, and in June up to 10°C above average. The cause of the prolonged furnace-like conditions, is the “blocking” action of a vast weather front over the Arctic, along with a “persistent northward swing of the jet stream” which has been sending warm air into the region, journalists heard.
By UN News. July 24, 2020.
