A Siberian town with the world’s widest temperature range has recorded a new high amid a heat wave that is contributing to severe forest fires.
The temperature in Verkhoyansk hit 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 F) on Saturday, according to Pogoda i Klimat, a website that compiles Russian meteorological data.
The town is located above the Arctic Circle in the Sakha Republic, about 4,660 kilometers (2,900 miles) northeast of Moscow.
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The town of about 1,300 residents is recognized by the Guinness World Records for the most extreme temperature range, with a low of minus-68 degrees C (minus-90 F) and a previous high of 37.2 C (98.96 F..)
Much of Siberia this year has had unseasonably high temperatures, leading to sizable wildfires.
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In the Sakha Republic, more than 275,000 hectares (680,000 acres) are burning, according to Avialesokhrana, the government agency that monitors forest fires.
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An earlier version of this story was corrected to attribute the temperature reading to a website that compiles data, not Russia’s meteorological service.
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