Arctic temperatures hit a record 38 degrees last year, UN confirms

The UN on Tuesday officially recognised the 38 degrees Celsius measured in Siberia last year as a new record high for the Arctic, sounding "alarm bells" over climate change. The sweltering heat -- equivalent to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit -- was seen on June 20, 2020 in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk, marking the highest temperature ever recorded above the Arctic Circle, the World Meteorological Organization said.   This is the first time the WMO has added record heat in the Arctic to its archive of extreme weather reports, and it comes amid an unprecedented wave of record temperature spikes globally, the UN agency said.     "This new Arctic record is one of a series of observations reported to the WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes that sound the alarm bells about our changing climate," its chief Petteri Taalas said in a statement. Verkhoyansk lies about 115 kilometres (70 miles) north of the Arctic Circle and temperatures have been measured there since 1885. The temperature, which the agency pointed out was "more befitting the Mediterranean than the Arctic", was measured at a meteorological station during an exceptionally prolonged Siberian heatwave. The average...