News agencies reported that meteorologists across the Nordic countries recorded near-record temperatures over the weekend, including 34 degrees Celsius in some places.
The latest numbers come after Finland’s National Meteorological Institute recorded its hottest June temperature since records began in 1844.
The city of Kivu in Lapland, Finland’s northernmost, recorded a temperature of 33.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the highest temperature since 1914 when authorities recorded 34.7 degrees Celsius, STT reported.
Several parts of Sweden also recorded record highs last month.
«June 2021 was the hottest June on record in my hometown of Stockholm by a large margin,» climate activist Greta Thunberg wrote on Twitter.
«The second warmest June was in 2020 and the third in 2019,» she added.
«Do I feel a pattern here? Maybe just another coincidence.»
Nationally, June 2021 was the third hottest ever recorded in Sweden.
The Norwegian Meteorological Institute recorded 34 degrees Celsius in Saltdal, a county near the Arctic Circle.
This is the highest temperature ever measured in the country this year, and only 1.6 degrees Celsius below the record in Norway.
Several parts of the world have already experienced severe heat waves this year.
Canada is battling a string of wildfires in the western province of British Columbia after temperatures fell to 49.6 degrees Celsius, a new national record.
On Thursday, the United Nations confirmed a new record high temperature in Antarctica, which was measured last year, at 18.3 degrees Celsius.