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The village of Oymyakon in Russia’s Far East, renowned internationally as the world’s coldest permanently inhabited settlement, has established a new high temperature record. As a result of the current weather, wildfires have broken out across the area.
Temperatures in the village, which is located in the remote Yakutia region or Sakha Republic, reached 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, breaking the previous record of 30.5 degrees Celsius established on the same day in 1949, according to local media.
Aisen Nikolaev, the president of the Sakha Republic, announced a state of emergency in the province on Monday after major flames raged over the weekend. Nikolaev reported on his Telegram channel that the Oymyakon area was among the hardest impacted.
Oymyakon is one of the coldest sites in the Northern Hemisphere, with a low temperature of -67.7 degrees Celsius (-89.9F) recorded in 1933. However, an unconfirmed record of -71.2 degrees Celsius was claimed seven years earlier.
Despite the harsh weather, Oymyakon boasts a permanent population of about 500 individuals.
Yakutia is particularly vulnerable to climate change since much of its infrastructure is built on permafrost. Experts worry that thawing might have serious social and economic consequences in the region.
