The swelling Tom River in southwestern Siberia has led to a partial dam collapse in the city of Tomsk. This year’s heavy rainfall, combined with abnormally warm spring weather, has led to severe flooding in Russia’s Urals and western Siberia. So far, the floods have submerged around 15,600 homes and 28,000 land plots in 193 Russian towns and cities across 33 regions.
The mayor of the southern Russian city of Orenburg urged residents to evacuate immediately on Friday as water in the nearby Ural River reached critically dangerous levels and was not expected to recede until next week.
Temperatures in Russia’s capital hit an all-time high of 32 degrees Celsius on Tuesday – Moscow’s hottest day in over 130 years. The heatwave follows a spate of volatile weather in the city and other parts of Russia. In June, after severe rainfall flooded parts of the city, Moscow was struck by Storm Edgar, which killed two people and injured dozens more. A rare tornado was also sighted in the Moscow region.
Around 40 daily temperature records were broken across Russia and annexed Crimea on Tuesday as hot summer weather gripped the country. 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.
Environmentalists say the latest flooding may have sent radioactive substances into the river, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of people living near the banks of the Tobol downstream. State nuclear agency Rosatom, whose subsidiary operates the mines at the Dobrovolnoye uranium deposit, denied that its mining facilities were impacted by the flood.
Wildfires in Russia have burned across a combined area the size of Greece so far in 2020, surpassing official estimates threefold. Experts warn that this year’s blazes could become the most destructive in history.
Gallery | The forest fires have covered an area larger than Greece and are emitting black smog that harms nearby populations.
For the first time since records began, the Laptev Sea has not yet formed sea ice by the end of October. Scientists attribute the lack of ice to early summer warming and an extreme heatwave in Siberia, as well as warm Atlantic currents flowing into the Arctic.
The 93-degree temperature was recorded at 2:13 p.m.
Wildfires are still burning in Quebec's northern zone, with 11 fires still considered out of control early Tuesday morning. However, the provincial forest fire prevention agency, SOPFEU, said rain since Sunday and rising humidity have helped stabilize the flames for the time being.
The B.C. Wildfire Service says the cold front in northern B.C. is expected to generate strong winds, thunderstorms and the potential for dry lightning in the region plagued by drought.
The temperature in Verkhoyansk hit 38 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to Pogoda i Klimat, a website that compiles Russian meteorological data.
The Russian archipelago of Severnaya Zemlya saw the largest temperature anomaly on the planet last 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.
The science director for Cook Inletkeeper, a nonprofit organization that monitors the health of Cook Inlet, wrote a paper two years ago on what salmon streams might be like in the future with climate change.
The wildfires can burrow into rich organic material, such as the vast peatlands that ring the Arctic, and smolder under the snowpack throughout the frigid winter.
The United States’ northernmost city plummeted to a bone-chilling minus 20 degrees Wednesday morning, beating out the previous daily record set in 1973.
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