MOSCOW – The Russian Arctic set record temperatures in June that sparked abnormal tundra fires, the head of Russia’s weather service said Tuesday, blaming climate change for the “fantastical” anomalies.
Russia’s northern territories, including parts of Yakutia region which borders the Arctic ocean, have faced a heat wave in recent weeks, and villages in the remote tundra are battling wildfires with some districts declaring a state of emergency.
“We had extremely anomalous weather” in June, Roman Vilfand said, adding that “previous records were broken easily”.
He noted one record in particular in the Arctic town of Verkhoyansk, where temperatures reached 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit)on June 17.
“That is a fantastical degree,”…
