Fires are already erupting in Siberia this spring, sending billowing smoke into the western United States. One of the regions with the largest number of extinguished forest fires was in Omsk Oblast. Videos from the Siberian Times showed wildfires raging across the Omsk and Tyumen oblasts in Western Siberia, while satellite data showed several fires across the landscape beginning in the first half of April.
The concentration of the heat-trapping gas topped 420 parts per million, while the planet has warmed more than two degrees. This is the highest daily average concentration to be recorded. Data was collected at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Severe snow and dust storms hit Mongolia over the weekend and earlier this week. Wind speeds reached 34 meters per second. The storms and blizzard resulted in the death of nine people and a five-year old child in Dundgovi Province. Hundreds of others have gone missing.
The Kostanai Region declared a state of emergency on Sept. 4 after forest fires burned a record 43,000 hectares (the size of Сarribean Barbados island) and forced an evacuation of 1,841 people.
The fires affecting Moscow are concentrated in the Ryazan region, some 250 kilometers to the south. This is not the first time smog has appeared in Moscow in recent months, with local authorities advising residents to wear masks to protect themselves earlier this month.
Officials say a wildfire in Southwest Washington that ballooned Sunday, causing regional air quality issues, may have been started by a firework or firearm.
The driest summer in 150 years has turned Yakutia into a tinderbox and seen wildfires tear through the region.
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