Ground Temps Reached 118°F In The Arctic Circle Yesterday

Ground temperatures in Siberia have reached 118°F, Gizmodo reported while sharing the newly published satellite images. It should be noted that the temperature recorded is a land surface temperature, not air.

Although cities here in the U.S. — such as Phoenix, Death Valley, and even Salt Lake City — were in the news with insanely hot temperatures this week, Siberia heating up to 118° should terrify you. It terrifies me. Here I was, down in Baton Rogue, thinking I’m dying at 93° with 35% humidity (air not land surface) mere days ago.

118°? In Siberia?! Hot to touch?!

That satellite imagery looks unreal. It’s mostly red with orange and yellow outlines. The abnormal temperature was measured on the ground in Verkhojansk, in Yakutia, Eastern Siberia, by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel satellites, Gizmodo noted.

Other ground temps in the region included:

Govorovo — 109°F.
Saskylah — 98.6°F.

Notably, Saskylah had its highest temperatures since 1936. Although these temps aren’t as hot as Arizona’s, Arizona doesn’t have permafrost, which would destabilize the Siberian earth, expose frozen carcasses of many Ice Age mammals, and release methane into the atmosphere.

This isn’t the first time Siberia had these unusually hot temperatures. It happened a year ago. Also, it was in the 90s last month in western Siberia. Siberia has also been struggling with wildfires that produced a record amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Featured image courtesy of European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery.

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