After the hottest June on record in Finland and in several regions in Sweden, temperatures have been close to all-time highs in the Far North of Europe since Sunday, with a thermometer indicating between 30 and 35 ° C. In Kevo, in the far north of Finland, a new heat record was measured at 33.5 ° C on Sunday, the hottest temperature recorded in this part of the country since the record of 34.7 ° C in 1914, according to the STT agency.
Nationally, June was the warmest month on record since measurements began in 1844, with an average temperature of 16.5 ° C erasing a 1950s record, according to the National Meteorological Institute. In neighboring Sweden, June was again the hottest ever recorded in Stockholm (19.3 ° C on average) erasing the records of 2018 and then of 2019. “Are we noticing a trend? Well, probably still a coincidence, ”quipped Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter. Nationally, June 2021 was the third hottest on record.
34 ° C near the Arctic Circle in Norway
In Norway, the meteorological institute recorded on Sunday 34 ° C at Saltdal, in a county near the Arctic Circle, the highest temperature recorded in the whole country this year. That’s 1.6 ° C lower than the country’s all-time high. “Tropical nights”, meaning that the thermometer does not drop below 20 ° C, have also been recorded in several places in the kingdom.
The summer of 2021 has already been marked by an absolute record of heat in Canada, approaching 50 ° C in the shade, under the effect of a “heat dome”. According to a report released in May, the Arctic is warming three times faster than the planet, a surge from the thermometer faster than previously thought and far from over.