Smoke from wildfires in Siberia drifted to Alaska last year as well, according to the National Weather Service, but Alaska already had hazy skies from local wildfires.

The blaze destroyed large swathes of forest this week.

Worrying videos and pictures show how the pristine polar region of northern Yakutia is ablaze.

Most of the blazes are in a region that saw possibly the hottest-ever temperature above the Arctic Circle this month.

Much of Siberia this year has had unseasonably high temperatures, leading to sizable wildfires.

The temperature in Verkhoyansk hit 38 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to Pogoda i Klimat, a website that compiles Russian meteorological data.

Several wildfires are raging around the country and the state weather forecaster, SMHI, has issued forest fire warnings for nearly all of Sweden.

A prolonged heatwave in Siberia is “undoubtedly alarming”, climate scientists have said. The freak temperatures have been linked to wildfires, a huge oil spill and a plague of tree-eating moths.

Wildfires in Russia have burned across a combined area the size of Greece so far in 2020, surpassing official estimates threefold. Experts warn that this year’s blazes could become the most destructive in history.

The wildfires can burrow into rich organic material, such as the vast peatlands that ring the Arctic, and smolder under the snowpack throughout the frigid winter.

Abnormally hot May weather resembles midsummer with air temperatures as high as +35C.

Fairbanks' May 10 temperature was two degrees below the daily record, while snow melt from an above-normal year is flooding Interior rivers.

Ketchikan became the first city in Alaska to hit 80 degrees this year on Saturday, as three other cities in Southeast Alaska also set temperature records.

With Russia on Covid-19 lockdown, 77 houses were burned down in Novosibirsk and Kemerovo regions.

Ecologist fears the Macleay River may take decades to recover, with heavy rains likely to affect other waterways

Tens of thousands of livestock and hundreds of unique bee hives have been destroyed on South Australia's Kangaroo Island along with thousands of koalas and kangaroos.

Mitchell Lyons captured video of a mob of kangaroos travelling at high speed to escape wildfires during the extreme 2019 Australian wildfire event.

Residents fled toward the waterside as winds pushed an emergency-level wildfire towards their homes. The town was shrouded in darkness from the smoke before turning an unnerving shade of bright red.

For the third year in a row, an enormous wildfire is destroying homes and properties in California, with smaller fires raging elsewhere in the state.

"During my childhood, Mt. Arrowsmith and surrounding peaks tended to have a fair amount of snow cover; it was into the summer months before it totally disappeared."