Temperature tops 100 degrees in the Russian Arctic

Updated: June 22, 2020 Published: June 22, 2020

Children play in the Krugloe lake outside Verkhoyansk, the Sakha Republic, about 2900 miles northeast of Moscow, Sunday, June 21, 2020. (Olga Burtseva via AP)

MOSCOW — A Siberian town with the world’s widest temperature range has recorded a new high amid a heat wave that is contributing to severe forest fires.

The temperature in Verkhoyansk hit 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 F) on Saturday, according to Pogoda i Klimat, a website that compiles Russian meteorological data.

The town is located above the Arctic Circle in the Sakha Republic, about 2,900 miles northeast of Moscow.

The town of about 1,300 residents is recognized by the Guinness World Records for the most extreme temperature range, with a low of minus-68 degrees C (minus-90 F) and a previous high of 37.2 C (98.96 F).

Verkhoyansk is about 1 degree latitude farther north than Fort Yukon, Alaska, which recorded a 100-degree temperature in 1915.

Much of Siberia this year has had unseasonably high temperatures, leading to sizable wildfires.

In the Sakha Republic, more than 275,000 hectares (680,000 acres) are burning, according to Avialesokhrana, the government agency that monitors forest fires.