As world leaders continue to debate and solicit pledges for a reduction of carbon emissions in the near future, present concerns have arisen, as the Arctic region recorded its highest ever temperature readings on Tuesday.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the temperature registered in the Arctic region reached a sweltering 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

The reading which was recorded in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk on June 20, 2020, was officially verified by the WMO as the warmest temperature ever experienced in the frigid region.

The WMO, in sounding alarms for the worrying trend, said the readings are “more befitting the Mediterranean than the Arctic”. 

Noting that the new record was set during last year’s heatwave which swept across Siberia and stretched north of the Arctic Circle, which funnels sharp attention to the urgency of the climate change crisis.

“This new Arctic record is one of a series of observations reported to the WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes that sound the alarm bells about our changing climate. In 2020, there was also a new temperature record (18.3°C) for the Antarctic continent,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas.

The Arctic is among the fastest-warming regions in the world, heating at twice the level of the global average, the WMO noted.

Taalas said they are currently “seeking to verify temperature readings of 54.4°C recorded in both 2020 and 2021 in the world’s hottest place, Death Valley in California, and to validate a new reported European temperature record of 48.8°C in the Italian island of Sicily this summer”.

Global weather records take months, even years, to verify the WMO concludes.