2019 was hottest year on record for Russia

Global warming has sent temperatures rising around the world, with the United Nations saying earlier this month that 2019 was on course to be one of the three hottest years on record. This year was the hottest ever registered in Russia, the country's weather chief said on Monday.

Known for its cold winters, Moscow has seen its warmest December in a century this year. Moscow's average temperature for 2019 had hit 7.6-7.7 degrees Celsius, beating the previous record by 0.3 degrees.

Polar bears are shown scavenging on the carcass of a dead bowhead whale that washed ashore on Wrangel Island, Russia. Polar bears gorged on whales to survive previous warm periods in the Arctic - but that won't suffice in future.

"This year in Russia was the hottest for the entire period of instrumental observations," said the head of the Gidromedtsentr weather service, Roman Vilfand.

Weather records have been kept since 1879 in Moscow and since 1891 in Russia as a whole.

Moscow.

Even in Siberia, where winters are notoriously harsh, anomalously warm Decembers have become a recurring phenomenon in the last decade, said Anna Lapchik, who heads the Western Siberian weather service.

(Editor: Li Yunqi.)

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Source(s): AFP