Temperature hits 100 F degrees in Arctic Russian town

MOSCOW (AP) - 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.

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.

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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