A set of Arctic islands north of the Siberian mainland saw temperatures as much as 10 degrees Celsius warmer than normal for the season last month, temperature maps from Russian meteorology service Roshydromet show.
It was one of the warmest October months on record for the Russian archipelago of Severnaya Zemlya, which also saw the largest temperature anomaly on the planet last month.
Judging from the data, this area had the world’s highest temperature deviation above normal that month.
Other surrounding parts of the Arctic were also extraordinarily warm in October. Temperature maps show that practically the whole northern Kara Sea and Laptev Sea was 6 and 8 degrees warmer than normal.
According to the meteorologists, this October was the second-warmest in the Arctic’s recorded history, with the previous record measured in 2016, the service said.
Other parts of the globe also saw October temperatures reach abnormal highs. The European part of Russia experienced an absolute record, while the northernmost parts of Canada saw average temperatures reach 6 degrees above normal.
The high temperatures of October follow several record warm months. September was the warmest in Russia on record and the same goes for several of the previous months.
Roshydromet has conducted and recorded temperature measurements since 1891.