Arctic Swelters Under 38 °C Heat Wave

The possibly record-breaking temps follow the warmest winter on record in the region.

Written byAmanda Heidt

| 2 min read

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ABOVE: Modified satellite imagery of wildfires near Verkhoyansk, Russia, on June 16, 2019
FLICKR, PIERRE MARKUSE

The small Russian town of Verkhoyansk ushered in summer with a potentially record-breaking high of 38 °C this weekend (June 20), a searing exclamation point punctuating the region’s hottest winter on record.

The Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the globe, and National Geographic reports that winter average temperatures have already exceeded the 2 °C threshold set by the Paris climate agreement to limit catastrophic consequences. While the World Meteorological Organization is still working to verify Verkhoyansk’s record, scientists say it points to a troubling trend.

“The key point is that the climate is changing and global temperatures are warming,” Freja Vamborg, a senior scientist at the Copernicus Climate Change Service in the UK, tells the Associated Press. “We will be breaking more and more records as we go.” ...

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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