The Russian Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya experienced the warmest October on record, with average temperatures on the islands 8 degrees Celsius higher than normal, according to Russia’s meteorological service Roshydromet.

Temperature maps from meteorologists show a belt of warm air stretching across large parts of the Arctic. The biggest abnormalities are seen around Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya, as well as further west in an area on the northeastern coast of Greenland.

Average temperatures up to 6 degrees higher than normal were registered across the northern Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. Almost the whole central part of the high Arctic region was at least 4 degrees warmer than usual, the maps provided by Roshydromet show.

If the trend continues in November and December, 2019 could be the warmest year on record in the northern hemisphere.

The warm Arctic weather has also been confirmed by the U.S National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The center said in a statement that “the summer of 2019 was exceptionally warm, with repeated pulses of very warm air from northern Siberia and the Bering Strait.”

However, not all of the region was warmer than usual. A belt of cold weather persisted over parts of northwest Russia and Scandinavia, and Norwegian meteorologists said October 2019 was the coldest in the country since 2009. Average October temperatures in Norway were 1.4 degrees lower than normal.