As expected, extremely high temperatures were reached in NW Russia today. Locations as far as almost 65° N pushed above 30 °C!

31 °C in Koynas, Arkhangelsk Oblast at 64.8 °N, just south of the Arctic circle 13:10 UTC! Map: Meteociel.

A corridor of exceptionally warm airmass is reaching far into NW Russia, with daytime highs pushing up to 30-31 °C! This is exceptionally warm weather for this region, about 25-30 °C above average for this time.

Temperature anomaly map for Europe today. The temperature anomaly indicates the difference between the actual temperature and the long term average for the date. Note the extremely high positive temperature anomaly in NW Russia! GFS model guidance. Map: Wxcharts.

Temperatures will remain very high for another two days, although not as high as tomorrow. Maximum temperature anomaly will be between 15 and 20 °C, still very high, which will translate into daytime highs in the low 20s.

Temperature anomaly map for Europe for Monday and Tuesday at 12h UTC. GFS model guidance. Map: Wxcharts.

Why is this happening? Here is our discussion from several days ago: