Summer Heatwave Sweeps Russia, Breaking Dozens of Temperature Records

Around 40 daily temperature records were broken across Russia and annexed Crimea on Tuesday as hot summer weather gripped the country, the Phobos weather center said Wednesday.

The unprecedented temperatures have engulfed Russia from its central regions to the Far East, reaching a maximum of 38.7 degrees Celsius in the village of Mamakan in southeastern Siberia’s Irkutsk region.

“A powerful wave of records is continuing for the fourth consecutive day and showing no signs of ending,” Mikhail Leus from the Phobos weather center said on his Telegram channel.

This beginning of July in Russia — which meteorologists are dubbing “the hottest in the entire era of global warming” — has been even hotter than early July 2010, a year when Russia experienced one of the world’s deadliest heat waves in history.

Temperatures in Moscow hit 32 C on Tuesday — the highest temperature ever recorded on this day in 134 years.

In the southern Krasnodar region, thermometers measured 35.9 C and 34.3 C in the towns of Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Anapa respectively, while the Far East port city of Vladivostok witnessed a new record of 27.4 C.

Abnormal heat extended to the annexed Crimea, where meteorologists recorded 35.3 C in the city of Simferopol and 35.1 C in the town of Yalta on Tuesday.

Hot, dry weather is also fueling the spread of wildfires in the Far East Zabaykalsky region.

The extreme heat is expected to continue throughout the week, with temperatures in Moscow hitting 31.1 C on Wednesday morning.