Siberia is suffocating with 40°C and records its worst heat wave in its recent history!

Since the beginning of June, Siberia has been experiencing temperatures that keep breaking their own records from one day to the next:

• 40.1°C in Klioutchi on Wednesday June 7,
• 39.6°C in Baevo on Wednesday June 7,
• 38.5°C in Barnaul on Wednesday June 7,
• 37.9°C in Jalturovosk on Saturday June 3.

These temperatures are 15 to 20°C above seasonal averages for the month of June. These weather stations have been active for 50-70 years, so this is the worst known heat wave in this region, and it’s only early June.

But what is happening in Siberia? It is in fact almost the whole of the Asian continent which is affected by masses of very hot air at altitude, associated with vast anticyclones. These continue to form and fluctuate over Asia: Kazakhstan, China, India, northern Siberia and Kamchatka. This abnormal heat will resist northern Siberia for at least another 10 days, with even a possible further intensification around June 20.

The historic heat wave of 2020 is largely beaten

This heat wave is reminiscent of the one that occurred in 2020, during which the values ​​reached 38°C. An event whose probability was judged to be 600 times higher due to global warming linked to human activity by World Weather Attribution. However, the heat wave of 2023 is once again bringing the climate of Siberia into a new era. Remember that the coldest regions of the planet, such as the Arctic, Canada and Siberia are those that warm up the fastest: 3 to 4 times faster than the rest of the world. Among the most harmful consequences of the heat on these polar regions, the melting of the permafrost, which then releases enormous quantities of methane (a greenhouse gas much warmer than CO₂) and CO₂in turn exacerbating global warming.