The World Meteorological Organization has confirmed last summer’s Arctic heat wave smashed the region’s temperature record, which soared to 100.4 degrees in June 2020. The unprecedented high was recorded in the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk. This is World Meteorological Organization spokesperson Clare Nullis.

Clare Nullis: “We saw devastating, very widespread Siberian fires, and we saw massive sea — Arctic sea ice loss at the end of the summer season. And this heat wave did play a major role in 2020 being one of the warmest three years on record. The heat that we saw in Siberia in 2020 would have been almost impossible without climate change.”