Wildfire smoke reaches the North Pole for 1st time in recorded history

(Image credit: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)

published 10 August 2021

With hundreds of blazes burning in Siberia, for the first time in recorded history smoke from wildfires has reached the North Pole.

The smoke traveled more than 1,864 miles to get to the North Pole, NASA said in a press release. The smoke is also covering areas of Mongolia and is visible in some western regions of Greenland and Canada.

The fires are burning in the Sakha Republic, an unusual occurrence because of how much snow covers the ground and the fact that its northern region is one of the coldest places on Earth, NASA said. Climate change has resulted in the area reporting higher temperatures, with the ground temperature reaching a record high of 118 degrees Fahrenheit and the air temperature hitting 89.4 degrees in June, NPR reports.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.